How Not to Train for a Half-Marathon

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Today is the first of November. The holiday season is officially upon us.  I know this because Target says it is.  I’m suffering from a severe sugar hangover from yesterday’s spoils.  Report Cards have been completed and Parent Conferences are scheduled.  And I have exactly one week until the Disney Wine and Dine Half-Marathon.

Vic, Brooke, Meri, and I will be converging in The Sunshine State to participate in race shenanigans and general tomfoolery.  I can’t wait to see my chicks!  And to enjoy Disney with my favorite people.  And the thought of running 13.1 freaking miles while I’m there is making me nauseated.  Why?  Oh, because I’ve pretty much blown off training.

This is frighteningly typical.  I am the worst procrastinator.  It’s what I do best.  And I usually come through in the bitter end, I do my best work under pressure.  The problem is, with running, this is a terrible strategy.  I am an expert at not training.  So here they are, my dirty little secrets.  The Do Not’s.  As a bad example, I feel it’s my duty to share my horribly ineffective habits.

#1 – Don’t Stop Running the Month Before

Yeah, it’s true.  I haven’t ran actual mileage since Ragnar last month.  I’ve continued my cross-training and various activities, like hiking and climbing, but I just haven’t hit the pavement.  I know I’m going to suffer for it.  My knees are going give out at about mile 10.  My back will start to ache from the hours of impact.  I know this because I do this to myself each and every time.  I can only hope my muscle memory kicks in and the dozens of squats pay off.

#2 – Don’t Feast on Graham Crackers and Milk Every Night 

My diet’s pretty much gone straight to hell.  I’m a stress eater.  And a bored eater.  And a celebratory eater.  And I’m not eating the things I should be.  As a result, I feel sluggish and swollen and just blah.  My mood is suffering, my energy levels have plummeted, and my digestive system is wrecked.  And it’s lame because I know how much better I feel when I fuel properly.

#3 – Don’t Try New Shoes, Especially if You Have Weird Feet

I’m compulsive when it comes to running shoes.  I’m always searching for the perfect pair.  My flat feet and overpronation make it difficult to find shoes that feel good.  So when I hear someone rave about a shoe, I simply must try it.  I will probably wear my trusty Saucony, but I’ve been walking and doing R.I.P.P.E.D. in the new Nike Free.  Whenever I switch it up, it takes a good 5-10 minutes of soul wrenching foot pain to adjust.

#4 – Don’t Stay Up Watching Netflix All Night

Yeah, good old insomnia is making a come back.  This is probably linked to my bad eating and sluggish energy levels.  I’ve been living on coffee the last couple weeks and I’ve watched a dozen independent documentaries on juicing and/or vegetarianism.  Not that I’m actually taking their advice or learning anything.  Except that I have a sick fascination with docudrama.  Getting proper sleep is going to be especially important for the Florida race since I’ll be dealing with a time change.  I’m gonna need a bed time this week.

#5 – Don’t Wear Short Shorts

This is mainly for those of you who, like myself, are boycotting the ridiculous thigh gap. Most of my races are ran in costume and forsaking comfort for costume awesomeness, while this may be super cute, is not always super wise. Don’t misunderstand, I’m a fan of super cute, but there’s nothing that says you can’t look super cute in capris.   Every time I race, I make a poor clothing choice and I spend the first three miles trying to figure out how to fix it.

You’d think I’d learn from my mistakes, but I swear there’s an inverse relationship between me having to do something and my desire to actually do it.  I still have a week to get somewhat on track.  And there’s no minute like the last minute, I always say.  Unless it’s the last minute of my half-marathons.  Then it’s the longest minute in the world.

Chick Chat: All Dressed Up for Halloween

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Happy Halloween, boys and girls! Or is it ghosts and goblins? Perhaps there are some vampires and zombies out there reading this as well.

Or maybe you’re reading this thinking, “ahmahgah, it’s Halloween and I have no costume! What am I going to DO?” while slapping your cheeks, a la Kevin McAllister in Home Alone.

Okay, probably not. But whether you’re looking for inspiration, a chuckle, or reading this simply because you love us (which I suspect is all of you), this chick chat is all about dressing up. Read on for some of the Chicks’ favorite costumes of yore…and more recent yore!

Meri

I had two tried and true costumes when I was a kid: gypsy and hippie. Some might say that they are very similar and to that, I say, true. My mom liked easy costumes and I usually just went along with it. Hey, when you’re getting to eat candy (a rarity in my house growing up), you get what you get and you don’t get upset.
Hottie-boom-body!

Hottie-boom-body!

Now that I’m an “adult” (loose interpretation), it’s less about me dressing up and more about the kids. We let them choose their costumes at this point.
Adora-kids.

Adora-kids.

My boys are cuckoo for Halloween so we begin discussing costuming options in September. This year they settled on being a pirate (surprisingly the harder of the two costumes to track down) and the werewolf. Not what I would have picked but I suppose we need to allow for independent thinking and all that.
Vic
Every summer, my sister would start planning her Halloween costume. She always created intricate, creative and unique costumes over three to four months. I was always impressed. She labored over what she would be months ahead of time, and she would repeatedly ask me about my plans. My response was ambivalent.  I didn’t know and I didn’t care. I usually figured it out the week before trick-or-treat night.  And while my sister was always stylish, I regularly placed comfort before style.

 Over the years, I was a genie, a vampire, a 50s rocker, a prairie girl. I was a turtle, a ballerina, a witch and Underdog. But most often, I dressed as a ghost.

As a young girl, I was obsessed with Casper the Friendly Ghost. I know I am totally dating myself here, but I loooooved Casper. Perhaps because he was bright, happy being in a season where the goal was to scare one another.  I think I went as the neighborhood’s friendliest ghost for three or four straight years – I used a plastic mask and a hand sewn… uh… sack, which I think was made from a white sheet.

I loved to trick-or-treat with friends and family, to flee from house to house gathering all sorts of goodies, then sorting them into piles once I was back home. Now, I love to hand candy out to the kids who come to my own door. (Albeit, six kids usually knock on my door. Those kids get awesome candy.)

I rarely dress up for costume parties as an adult. Trust me, when you’re an October baby, costume parties get really old, REALLY FAST. It – however – has happened several times. I’ve been a 60s mod girl, Little Red Riding Hood, but most often, I wear scrubs and pose as a doctor or surgeon.  Hubs has gotten in on that action as well.

BEST COSTUME EVER. I add a plastic stethoscope and voila. I am good to go.

Brooke

I have always loved Halloween, because I love dressing up and playing make-believe, and also it’s in the same month as my birthday, so it feels like a very long celebration. The candy is okay too.

We used to trick-or-treat at the mall when I was a kid, and my mom dressed me in some pretty cool costumes. One year, my brother and I were the cutest ever Raggedy Ann and Andy. When I was seven, my mom let me dress as a punk rocker, complete with pink streaks in my hair. My favorite though, was the year I turned six. My mom made a movie star costume for me, and let me wear dangly “diamond” earrings, a sparkling necklace and my grandmother’s fur coat, which was the softest thing I’d ever felt in my life. And she let me borrow her HIGH HEELS. I felt so special; wearing pretty make-up and mom’s shoes and jewelry.

One of my favorite adult costumes is one I wore last year, when I was pregnant. Josh dressed as Linus and I made a t-shirt with Snoopy’s face on my belly.

How cute is this?

How cute is this?

Jess

I have possibly the worst memory in the world, tied only with my mom (thanks for passing that along, Mama Jess), so it’s hard for me to drudge up the various things I dressed up as when I was little. There is one gloriously strange costume that sticks out for me, when I was 7 or 8. I was a bunny. And not just any bunny. I was Hammer Bunny. As in MC Hammer, people. I was kind of obsessed. Not sure why I had to throw the bunny angle in there.

You might wonder what this costume consists of. It goes a little something like this: a super-stylish white Hanes sweatshirt and sweatpants, most likely bought at Costco; white bunny ears attached to a headband (headband headache, CHECK); a rubber bunny nose with buck teeth that should have been called Sweat-Maker; and, of course, sunglasses. That was the MC Hammer part.

I wish I had a picture of that, but I’m sure I burned them all somewhere along the way. I did manage to dig up a random picture of me in what looks like a pilgrim costume, however.

I'm the short pilgrim.

I’m the shorter pilgrim.

I kind of lost interest in Halloween once I was too old to trick or treat. But since having Bug – and since this is his first Halloween, AHHH! – my love for this holiday has been renewed. Probably because I get to dress him up, parade him around, and then eat all of his candy. Hey, he’s too young for now! I’m doing him a favor.

My sweet baby elephant.

My sweet baby elephant.

All right, Scooters, it’s your turn! What are you going to be for Halloween this year? What was your all-time favorite costume? Tell us in the comments!

Avoiding Comparisons

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The last Monday of the month is reserved for breakfast at my MOPS (Moms of Preschoolers) meetings and this week’s discussion, on avoiding mother comparisons, fed me better than the french toast and hash brown casserole.

We talked about what made us feel inadequate when we’re faced with other moms- personally, I’m never the mom with the tidy house, and I usually feel like we’re arriving to school or ballet or the playdate late and a bit disheveled. When a mom seems to be able to do it all; drop the kids off at school in nice clothes and perfectly styled hair instead of mom-o-flage, volunteer, exercise, keep a clean house, have dinner on the table at 6 and then spend time with her husband, I seriously wonder what the heck I’m doing wrong. I’m always the one rushing around in a ponytail, with a million things to do, and wishing for more hours in the day!

These comparisons are almost impossible to avoid, in motherhood, and in running too. Even though this is a solitary sport, everything is about the numbers. How many races have you done this year? What’s your average pace? How many miles are you running?

With my first post-pregnancy race looming closer, it’s hard to think about the numbers. I’m running well right now- a lot better than I thought I’d be, if I’m being honest- but it’s not my personal best. Most of the time, I’m okay with that, but then I see someone else’s pace on daily mile or facebook or a blog post and I can’t avoid it. I know I’m a middle of the pack runner, and I’m happy with that. I don’t have the body, or the natural talent, or the time to train to be more right now. If ever. I run for me- it’s one of the only things I get to do that’s solely for me. But sometimes, when I hear what others are doing, those feelings of inferiority creep in.

I suppose there’s no real way to avoid this, short of selling my garmin, deleting facebook and not racing. Which, really? Not going to happen. I’m competitive and I like to best myself. (It’s all very “This is between me…And me!”)

And just like I do with the mommy doubts, I’ll remind myself that I’m doing the best I can, hopefully being the best me that I can be.

Avoiding comparisons…any advice? Favorite Thanksgiving episode of FRIENDS?

A Tale of Two Night Racers

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We’re talking about one of our favorite subjects today- food! How to eat before running a night race, to be exact.

VIC:

It took me years to figure out the best way to fuel for a morning race or long run. So when I signed up for runDisney’s Tower of Terror 10-miler, I knew I was wading into uncharted territory.

Sure, I’d be running in the dark. But I’ve done that before as I tackled many pre-dawn runs. Plus I knew the course would be well-lit and filled with Disney characters, so that wasn’t too much of a concern.

But how was I going to fuel? I was used to resting, waking and eating something small and settling – a bagel flat with peanut butter, a banana or a granola bar. So with a 10 p.m. race start, snacking the day away wasn’t really an option. Hydrating like crazy wasn’t a great strategy either, unless I wanted to spend my hours before the start repeatedly racing to a toilet.

I decided to eat a large lunch around 1 p.m. My meal consisted of a delicious mozzarella and tomato sandwich on foccacia bread, a light vegetable orzo salad and plenty of water. I also inhaled a bunch of bread. I nearly ordered a grilled chicken sandwich, but decided on the meatless option since I knew it would sit better in my stomach. Another option I would consider would be a very light pasta entrée (no gnocci, ravioli or alfredo sauce here!)

My theory on fueling with a meal on race day: the blander the better. Fewer frills on my plate means there’s less of a chance for an upset stomach.

(For the record, I ate an egg, cheese and turkey sausage biscuit and some fruit for breakfast that morning.)

I dined with friends at an eatery at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort and we all consumed gallons of water. I hydrated well into the afternoon, but stopped cold around 6 p.m. I didn’t want to keep heading to the toilet.

20131029-084955.jpgHydrating from the rocker

I attempted to nap around 4. That lasted all of 45 minutes. My roommate and friend Jen managed a two hour nap while I hydrated and chatted with friends in cozy rocking chair at our resort, Disney’s Boardwalk. I don’t think napping is vital, but laying down to rest, even just for a bit helped ease my brain about staying up until the wee hours of the morning!

Around 6:30, Jen and I each ate a bowl of instant oatmeal. I’ve eaten this in the past before many a long run and knew It would supply me with some much-needed energy in the coming hours. Jen and I also split a banana around 8:30 p.m.

When I head back to Florida next month for my next night race, I plan to utilize this strategy again. I’ll eat a large midday meal, the blander the better. I’ll nap – or try to nap the afternoon before the race. And I will eat some oatmeal 3.5 to 4 hours before the race is set to start. It worked for me in October! Fingers crossed that it will go smoothly too!

20131029-085714.jpgAnd this? I’ll be enjoying it after my run!

BROOKE:

Disney’s Wine and Dine half marathon was my first half-marathon back in 2011. It’s easy to find advice about fueling for a race online…but for a night race, specifically? Not so much. I remember googling different phrases to see if I could find anything on the subject and coming up empty.

Unlike Victoria, I still hadn’t figured out exactly what race day nutrition would work best for me, and I was extremely nervous about getting a belly ache during the race.

I’m an over-thinker. I love to ponder something for days. Weeks, even. Discuss pros and cons with my husband. Make a list or ten. I’m true to my Libra ways in this respect. After googling and discussing and writing it all down, I decided to treat this race like I would a morning run. I’d eat a large lunch, then not have anything but water for about six or seven hours before the race. At that time, I’d have my small breakfast-y type that I was already accustomed to eating before a long run.

I had an early lunch- around 11:30 or 12 (I can’t recall the exact time)- a simple pasta with red sauce and bread. Then water, water, water. At dinner time, I had my toast (and coffee, which was part of my “morning” ritual) and I brought my banana with me to the race start.

This nutrition strategy worked well for me, so I plan to do the same thing in a few weeks. I have the fuel figured out, we’re working on costumes and I already have dates set with my girls. The countdown is on!

Have you run a night race? Did you take a pre-race nap? How did you fuel? Roll call! Who is coming to Florida in two weeks?

 

Of course I fell. Now what?

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My foot slid out from under me as I skidded partway down my staircase Saturday afternoon.

The laundry basket I was hauling landed at the base of the stairs. I, fortunately only fell several steps before I managed to stop myself with my right foot. I laid on the stairs for a few minutes berating myself.

I cursed. (A lot.)

Ultimately, I got up and picked up the laundry. Then I sat down and rubbed my foot. The pain wasn’t bad, a blessing since the New York City Marathon is a week away. And you already know I’m concerned I’ll oversleep race morning.

But when I woke up Sunday, the top of my right foot and lower leg was throbbing.

Fantastic. Now what?

I rested up yesterday, only leaving my house for a trip to the grocery store. At my nephew’s suggestion, I tossed a bag of frozen peas on said ankle for a bit. Today, I’m wearing some KT Tape and compression socks at work. I plan to ice once I am home. It’s not swollen, but is tender. I’m thinking it will be fine by the weekend, but am worried it won’t be.

20131028-100110.jpgYep, I taped my foot. That’s where it hurts.

More than anything, I’m annoyed at myself for tripping and falling days before my marathon. I am kicking myself repeatedly for being so careless.

So I turn to you, fine friends of the interwebs. What should I do to make this tweak feel better? Do you have any tips for a klutz like me?

Guest Post: I am an Ironman

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On Sunday, Sept 8, 2013, I completed the Wisconsin Ironman.

Wisconsin is a full 140.6 mile Ironman which means a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and then you run a marathon.  At least that’s how I used to explain it to people.  (I would come to regret that phraseology later on.)

While the race started at 7 in the morning, the journey to get there started about 8 months earlier.

Many people tell you that it’s not finishing an Ironman that is as impressive as getting to the start line.  This is because you train more than you can ever imagine training for something in your life….at least for us “recreational” athletes.  My personal mindset was just to push through the training.  And try not to kill myself in the process.

Let me note that I am not a life-long athlete.  Before signing up for an Ironman, I had done one sprint tri two years before and hadn’t trained in the swim or bike since.  I had six marathons under my belt, but it had been a couple years since I trained seriously and injury free.  I suggest a year or two of tri-training before you undertake an Ironman. But it’s possible without it.  I’m proof.

Since I had no clue what I was doing, I thought it best to hire a coach.  I interviewed a couple of coaches and chose to work with Ben Proko of Trifit-XT.  Ben has plenty of experience and his coaching style is nothing but supportive.  His method uses metabolic data to assess your physical capability and he sets your training zones from there.  I am an engineer.  I like data and targets and measurable outcomes.  Sold.  Ben and his wife Katie (also a coach) were both important to my mental well-being.

Ben started me on a routine that basically repeated every week, just with increased time per activity.  I ran, swam and biked three times a week each, and also did a strength routine 2-3 times a week (until I got closer to a race.)  Yep.  That’s 12 workouts a week.  Two each day.  Six days a week.  And just like that, my entire life became about training.

At this point, I’d like to remind you that I still had a job.  In order to get into the office at a reasonable time, I was generally up around 4:15 am, got one workout in, went to work, and then left to do another workout.  This would often take me to about 7:30 or 8 pm, at which point I ate dinner, did laundry (LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of laundry), and packed my workout bags and lunch for the next day.  By 9pm, it was time for bed.  That is how your entire life becomes about training.

While I’m lucky that my workplace is flexible, my job is demanding and results-oriented and is sometimes designed to bring conflict into our organization.  I do not have a cake-walk job.  I missed some workouts…over 8 months of training, I missed quite a few.  Ben set the priority for me that running and biking needed to come first and so that’s where I put my first effort.  But slowly the strength workouts dwindled (um, yeah…even before Ben took them off the schedule) and it wasn’t unusual later in the program to miss a swim a week.  It’s a lot to try and do.  But if I had to work late and miss a workout, I worked late.  You have to find balance.

Before we get to the big race, I want to mention the half-Ironman I did in Galveston in April because it set my expectations for the full IM in September.  The water was a fraction of a degree above where they would let you wear booties and gloves…just at 65 degrees.  My wave got into the water at 8 am (to start at 8:05 am) and the cold water was an immediate shock.

I calmed down and felt ok.  Then I tried to put my face in the water.  Nope.  Not gonna happen.  I couldn’t breathe properly (or at all, really) with my face in frigid water. Great.  The gun went off, and I tried to swim.  Nope.  Still not able to get my face in the water.

Within a few minutes I realize I’ll wear myself out hyperventilating so I grab a kayak.  Yes, I grabbed a kayak two minutes into the swim.  I am so cool.  It wasn’t a panic attack.  My head was saying, “Really?  Really?  Like you’re going to quit now?  Just start moving forward and get through the water so you can get on your bike.”  And I did.  I swam about a third of a mile with my head out of the water, then FINALLY settled into some sort of breathing pattern.  I eventually started passing people from my age group and finished with about 10 ladies behind me.  I chaffed the CRAP out of the back of my neck from swimming with my head out of the water, but I survived.  I did the swim in less than an hour even with semi-dog-paddle technique and kayak-hugging.

The bike went well (Galveston is flat, but super windy) and during the run I came into my element.  I ran while all those fancy-attired cyclists were suffering.  I passed bunches of people.  BUNCHES. And I felt great.  I flew into the end of the race having done it in under 6:30.  I was feeling phenomenal and proud as anything of myself.  And at the end of the chute were two good friends from my running group in New Orleans, Betsy and Aaron.  It was the perfect finish.  Perfect.

Fast-forward 5 months and I arrived in Madison, Wisconsin for the full Ironman race.  I was worried about the swim and confident about the bike and the run.  (Silly me, it would turn out.) The Madison course is one of the hardest Ironman bike courses in the world.  I chose it because the weather would be good and I had relatives close by in Chicago to cheer me on.  And I didn’t know how hard the bike course was.  I suggest doing more research before choosing your first race.  I entered the wrong race for me.  Where am I going to get big hills near Houston, Texas?  But for now, I was here and ready to complete the course in front of me.

The morning of the race, I was quietly nervous.  I knew I could do this.  I knew it.  I think you can already guess how worried I was about the swim.  But the rest of the race could be done with sheer will and determination and reliance on 8 months of training.  I had finished marathons in heat and hills with little-to-no training.  I knew I had the ability to endure what was ahead.

Ironman events require that you finish within 17 hours.  The race starts at 7 am, and you have to finish by midnight or you don’t get your medal.  There are also cutoffs for each of the sports.  The swim has to be done within 2 hours and 20 minutes from the starting gun (and Wisconsin was a mass start, so everyone had that same requirement.)  If I made that cutoff, I knew I had the race.

As 7 am approached, we slowly made our way into the water and swam out towards the start.  For me, the deep water start was desirable.  I got accustomed to the water and now just needed to relax in the crowded mass start.

The gun went off.  And I started to swim.  I was in a regular breathing pattern immediately.  HOORAY!!  Even if I was breathing every two strokes instead of every three, there was no panic, no hyperventilation.  Within a few minutes, I knew I had the swim, and therefore the race.  I said a prayer of thanks to the tri gods.  Now I just needed to settle in and move steadily through it all….which is hard in the swim because there are no lane lines in the lake.  You try to sight something in front of you, but people are crawling past you and they realize they’re off course so they turn and you t-bone them.  And then when you’re done quietly cursing them, you realize you’re off-course and you turn and someone t-bones you.  It’s fun.  Most people just keep moving.  There are more aggressive conflicts in the front of the pack, but I’m not in the front of the pack.  When I finished (in an acceptable 1:45), I was ecstatic!

Just out of the water I saw my tri-training partner Anjy who came up all the way from Houston to be there on the side of the course.  She and I both stress out in the swim and it brought an even bigger smile to my face that she was right there cheering.  I ran out of the water and up the helix (a pretty word for “multi-story parking garage ramp”) and at the top I saw a bigger group, including my boyfriend Jim, an amazing triathlete that I met during my 8 months of training.  Jim scooped me up in a hug and spun me around.  He was thinking what I was…that the swim was over and I had the rest of the race.

madison2Jen greets boyfriend Jim after her swim

I moved through transition and got onto the bike.  It was a little disheartening that there were so many bikes gone by the time the time I got to mine, but later we heard rumors that over 200 didn’t even finish the swim…either missed the cutoff or crawled out of the water onto a boat. It was good to be moving in a comfort zone. The weather was in the mid-70’s and there was total cloud cover (I hate direct sunlight), but it was windy.  We had a tailwind out to the main loop that we biked twice, and then it was a headwind back when you’re most tired.  The hills were terribly hard but there were huge crowds at the top of the biggest.

Madison is a race where you constantly have to think and plan. It’s hard to take fuel when you’re climbing a hill or rushing down a slope so you have to plan to eat on just a few flatter surfaces.  I had done a training camp in July where I rode the Madison course and that was definitely a good thing to have done.  I never bothered to know marathon courses, but this was definitely different.

All over the course I had incredible support from family and friends.  My mom, aunt, all four cousins and my college roommate drove up from Chicago.  My sister flew in from Albany with her boyfriend.  Anjy and her husband were up from Houston.  I have never felt so deeply wealthy in my friends and family as I did on that course.  They rode a bus out to the bike course to see me through two loops.  It took me 6:47 to finish the hilly, windy bike course and they saw me probably just 20 seconds or so total.  How’s that for a dedicated fan base?

madisonJen zooms past her fans

The ride back from the loops was like a death march.  We were all tired and riding back to Madison into the wind in somber silence.  But I made it, got through transition, and stepped out to start the run.

This is where the words, “and then you run a marathon” bit me in the ass.  That’s a horrible way to visualize it when you’ve already been on the course for 9 hours.  It took some effort to push that thought away and put one foot in front of the other.  After all, in Galveston, this is where I made my mark.  I was a runner, first and foremost!  I thought about my running club, my closest running friends, my running partner Nick, and those who had turned triathlete like me.  They were all following my GPS tracker and I couldn’t let them down.  This would be the best part!

Or not.

The first two hours felt pretty good.  And then I slowed down. WAY down.  I didn’t hit the typical wall in terms of feeling overall sluggish and slow.  I wasn’t dehydrated.  My legs were just DONE.  I was a runner, but not so much after 112 miles on the hardest, hilliest bike course I could find.  My friends and family were out on the marathon course and since it’s a double loop, I got to see them about 4 times.  I tried to make sure I was running when I passed them, but they knew and I knew I was slowing way down.  A few of them stepped in and ran with me for a short while.

The second loop became about survival, about finishing.  I walked a lot.  I was nauseous until I gave up on Gatorade altogether and drank coke.  I discovered that grapes are the best thing EVER to eat at the end of an Ironman.  I had been here before in marathons…where you know you will finish, but that the finish line is a long way off.  I just moved through.  DNF was never a thought.  And soon I was within a mile of the finish.

On the way up the busy street to the capitol square, I passed people who had had WAY too much to drink, who pounded me on the shoulder and high-fived me too hard.  I was too tired to voice complaint.

When I hit the streets around the square, less than half a mile from the finish, I saw Jim with Anjy and her husband.  A block later, I saw a couple of my cousins and my aunt.  More familiar faces were in the finish chute.  My family had spread themselves out along the last stretch and brought me in.  It brings tears to my eyes now to think of it.  They very nearly carried me.

I crossed the finish line in 14:15 with my arms over my head in victory.  I cried a little.  I hollered in triumph.  I was done.  Volunteers catch you and deal with medals and foil wraps and finishing shirts and hats.  They took my picture.

jenfinishJen finishes the race!

I realized I was disappointed.  How crazy is that?  I didn’t feel the euphoria I experienced in Galveston.  Maybe it was because the last couple of hours were so slow, and that had surprised and disappointed me.  But then there, at the end of the chute was my cheer squad.  I saw and hugged Anjy first as she had been there with me at 4:30 am too many Saturdays and Sundays to count.

Then I saw Jim, who knew from his own hard training history what I had been through to get there. (Jim would also catch the brunt of my skepticism over my performance in the days to follow, God bless him.)  The rest of my family and best friends closed around me and I felt richer than anyone there.  I had survived 8 months of insane training balanced with a tough job in a new city…I even earned a promotion which I was offered the day I drove into Madison.  I had achieved balance.

As I stepped out of the chute, the thought occurred to me, “Is that it?”  Eight months of training, and 14 hours passed in a flash.  THAT’S how people end up doing this over and over again.  I think I probably will, too…someday.  For now, I am truly content to sleep in and relax in the evenings…though I’m already starting to train for the Houston marathon in January 2014.  But that’s nothing.  I can make it through anything.

Because I am an Ironman.

Jen is a senior commodity manager at Momentive Specialty Chemicals. She’s completed six marathons and numerous shorter road races and loves the triathlon, consuming good books and delicious food and traveling.

The Most Important Thing About Me

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My 8 year old daughter recently had to write a paragraph on the most important things about herself. I was excited to read this because my daughter is quite precocious.  She comes up with some pretty unique ideas and I couldn’t wait to read about her view on herself.  She included a lot of the typical 8 year old priorities: her pets, her toys, she wants to be a comedian when she grows up…but the MOST important thing about her was quite alarming.

She wrote that the MOST important thing about her was that she’s skinny.

Gasp! Choke!  Surely, this must be a mistake! My child can’t possibly be that shallow!

How could this have happened? I spent my young life with eating disorders and poor self-esteem and I spent my young adult life recovering from it.  It wasn’t until I read the book “Intuitive Eating” by Evelyn Tribole that I really made peace with food.  I’ve gone out of my way to promote healthy eating habits in my children.  I don’t make them eat when they don’t want to.  I limit their food choices.  I make sure they pay attention to their bodies when they’re choosing snacks.  It’s always been the one thing I want to protect my children from – food and body issues.  And yet, somehow, my daughter came to the conclusion that being skinny was the most important thing about her.

She's got spirit!

She’s got spirit!

My gut reaction was to start looking for the culprit.  Who did this to my child?  Was it the Disney Channel and their preteen sitcoms?  Or because we let her do cheerleading?  Was it the kids at school or the commercials on television or the magazines or the books…

Was it me?  Was it my five gym memberships and my protein shakes and my race medals?  These are good things, right?  Exercise is a good habit, right?

It could very well be all of the above.  It could be none of these.  But somehow, in her 8 year old brain, healthy and active translated to skinny.

I made her change it.  That’s the benefit of having my kids attend the school I teach at.  I can obnoxiously intervene any time I want!  And intervene I did.  We had quite the discussion about how body shape doesn’t make anyone any better than anyone else.  We talked about how people come in all shapes and sizes and that what matters is how people treat others.  We came up with better adjectives.  Active, strong, athletic…and we finally agreed upon healthy.

Healthy.  We rarely see health being advertised on television.  No celebrity is revered for their excellent organs or spectacular blood pressure.  At one point in our evolution, healthy meant viable meant offspring meant survival of the species.  And now healthy has become a synonym for skinny.

I do not accept.  My kids deserve more.  They’re always watching, listening, learning the rules, learning how to cope, taking this world apart and putting it all back together so they can see how it works.  And how it’s working lately is not so hot.

Hopefully, I cleared this up with my girl.  Because the most important thing about ME is this job called parenting.  It’s the most important thing I’ll ever do and being skinny isn’t going to make it any easier.  But being physically and mentally healthy just might.

We are the champions!

We are the champions!

Race day nerves and nightmares

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The gun sounds and hundreds of runners start their 26.2-mile journey at a picturesque race course in central Pennsylvania.

Me? I’m running TO the start line, which is off in the distance of rolling hills and lush trees. I’m sprinting while pinning my race bib to my shirt. I drop half the safety pins on the ground as I go. I’ve also forgotten my Garmin watch and all of my race day fuel in my rush. It’s all I can do to get myself to the start line.

I can see the crowd moving further and further ahead of me as they head down the gentle slope of a hill. I trip over my feet and land on my face. I scramble forward, reaching the start a good 10 minutes after the last racers in the pack left the starting area.

I run toward the start line, which is already being dismantled by an overachieving race crew. Event organizers stop me, “You’re too late. You can’t run here today, at least not as part of this marathon.”

I gape at the man. What? How can that be? I. AM. READY. I might be late, I might look like a Mack truck ran me down, but I am here. And I want to run!

“Sorry lady,” The man shrugs. “Next time, be here on time.”

My heart is racing as I wake from the vivid nightmare. I bolt upright in my bed with a sheet tangled around my ankle. I’m panting as I look around the room.

Reality settles in and I realize, I haven’t missed anything. I say a small prayer and thank a higher spirit that big race is still over a week away.

20131023-085122.jpgMy handbook arrived! It’s getting real.

Like many runners, my worst fears take over as race day approaches. Mainly, I worry about oversleeping on race morning and getting lost on my way to the start line. Sometimes I worry about getting sick and being too ill to run.

Occasionally, I worry about tripping over another runner’s throwaway clothes, injuring myself as I start the race. (I saw this happen at the start of the Pittsburgh Marathon last spring. Yikes!) Sometimes, I wonder how it will go if I can’t use a port-o-let in the start area.

And there’s always the nightmare about forgetting to pack my sports bra in my pre-race overnight bag, leaving me without any support for 26.2 miles the next morning.

Wait, that one actually happened.

Thank goodness a friend drove the item to me at my pre-race hotel, saving me from my “efficient” self. Now, I triple-check everything before a big race.

Let’s face it, I’m not going to sleep the night before my marathon. I will toss and turn and get up to use the bathroom at least a dozen times. I know this, so I need to cope.

I do so by hydrating for 2 full weeks before a race and getting plenty of sleep race week. I cut back on my coffee (caffeine) intake and I rest my legs as much as possible.

20131023-085046.jpgThe finish area in NYC’s Central Park this week. It’s ready and waiting. Thanks to friend Liren Chen for the pic

To remind myself I’m not to only one with pre-race jitters, I asked a few good friends if they shared some similar concerns.

Meri told me that she typically gets nervous the night before a race. “I immediately realize I’m doing everything wrong – not enough hydration, can’t sleep and so on.” She said her friends and running partners typically talk her down or break up the anxiety with a joke.

Another friend told me she’s had nightmares that she will be called into work race morning.  Some runner pals last week joked about getting lost on the course. Can you imagine?

I can!

Brooke said she has numerous unfounded concerns the week of any big race.

“The easiest thing to do is mentally reassure myself that it’s just that – an improbable fear,” Brooke said. “Once I start running it all disappears anyway, and I’m solely focused on the run.”

Another good friend Jen suggested I remind myself that I’m running because I WANT to run. “Race day is the reward of all my hard work!” she said. “The outcome doesn’t matter so just have fun!”

That’s solid advice, ladies. Thank you.

So in the next week, I’ll be hydrating, resting and packing. I’ll also be avoiding black cats, ladders and sidewalk cracks. Don’t judge me.

Tell me about your pre-race nightmares. Do you obsess for days before your big race?  What do you do to calm your nerves?

Coming To A City Near You…

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It’s no secret that we Chicks love a themed run. We’ve satisfied our ice cream cravings at Jog ‘N Hog, we’ve run in neon, we’ve begun a race in pristine white and arrived at the finish covered in color. We’ve done the princess thing, the villain thing, the fairy thing, and we’ve got something cooking for the food and wine thing in a few weeks. Themes! Costumes! Photo Opportunities! Gimme, gimme, gimme! Last week though, I received a race advertisement that made me wonder if the whole gimmicky race gimmick had gone too far.

The Tap’N’Run is a 4k race with four beer chugging stations along the course. I love beer and I love running but…really? What’s next? What other wackiness is already out there? (And do we really need to prop up running this much? I think it’s sorta cool on it’s own.)

I love to waste time on my smart phone, so I did the research for you, friends. Here are some other crazy themed races, possibly coming to a city near you:

1. Thanksgiving Dinner 5k- eat a traditional Thanksgiving dish at each kilometer! Cross the finish line and have a slice of pumpkin pie. Each runner gets a pair of Thanksgiving pants with an adjustable waistband.

2. Backwards One Miler- Begin this race at the finish line where you will receive your medal; then race back to the start while walking backwards.

3. Burlesque Run- Race along the Strip in an event that claims it’s the most running you can do with almost none of your clothes on! Remember, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. (No race photography allowed.)

4. #insta5k is the only race that combines a run with a photography competition. Tag your photos along a scenic course!

5. Balls in the Air 5k- You’ll juggle- yes, juggle- along this flat course. Don’t drop the balls!

6. Dash for Mr. Darcy- It’s a truth universally acknowledged that Austenites will do just about anything that involves Darcy. Run this 5k dressed as your favorite character from one of Jane Austen’s novels and cross the finish line to the Wedding March.

7. Reality Run- Vlog your way through this one mile fun run and then post it on our event page. Everyone gets their 5-15 minutes of fame in this race!

8. Pie in the Face Relay- This four mile run is a team event in which each runner gets a pie to the face before they begin. Hope you like banana cream!

Click here for more information on any of these races.

Tell me about your crazy, silly, fun themed races! Real or imaginary.

I’ve got whosits and whatsits galore…

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Welcome, welcome, one and all. This weekend I tackled a ridiculous feat…

The semi-annual cleaning of the running drawer. (It should really happen more than it actually does but let’s not make too big of a deal about that!)

drawer1

I’m assuming that everyone has a drawer like this. It’s as messy as a “junk” drawer, but there’s NO JUNK in this drawer. It’s all gold, my friends, and it’s all extremely important when it comes to running.

drawer7

Uh, except for maybe this. Not sure how this wound up in the running drawer…

Okay, so let’s get down to the good stuff!

drawer2I’m a big fan of the cinch bags that some race series give out at their expos. I use these bad boys to bring things to Track and Field practices and meets for the kiddo and at other races (way to publicize!). And every time I use one, much like a race shirt, it takes me back to that race. Memories, like the corners of my mind.

drawer3

I’ve got gadgets and gizmos a’plenty! Need a spoon on a string (and who doesn’t)? Check! That was from the Jog ‘n Hog this past summer.

credit: Jog 'n Hog Boss Hog

credit: Jog ‘n Hog Boss Hog

Foot Rubz ball? We’ve got two; Jay has the other one squirreled away somewhere. I use it after every. single. race. Stickers! Blister Treatment! (Knock on wood, I haven’t had any blisters lately.) And of course, my trusty Road ID. Okay, well, the Road ID box. The actually Road ID itself doesn’t usually make it back into the box because I use it so frequently.

drawer4Ah, the cold weather gear. How necessary yet how unfortunate that it’s necessary. In my perfect world, I’d not need these. It would be lovely fall weather all the time. Alas, such is not the case here in New Jersey and it’s already getting to the time of the year when we have the windows down, heat up.

drawercap

Rocking the $3 Target hat (notice the gloves in hand) at last year’s Cooper Norcross Run the Bridge.

When I began running Vic took me to Target, pointed out the men’s hats and told me to stock up. When you spend a couple of bucks on a hat or a dollar on gloves, you don’t get too broke up if you need to throw them to the side if you get too warm while running.  The Lululemon ones? Those don’t get tossed (added bonus: they were a gift from Jess).

drawer5

Not shown: Strong Mama Sox Box Socks
They’re in the wash.

I have a socks drawer but that’s not where my long socks live. Oh no, they have a special place of honor in my running drawer! And each time I pull out a pair of the socks, it brings me back to when I got them and where I’ve worn them. (My mind likes to retain random information that is pertinent to exactly nothing.)

Heart Running Skirts socks at runDisney's Tangled 5k.

Heart Running Skirts socks at runDisney’s Tangled 5k.

Thanks to Brandi for this group shot of us outside of the Septa station.

Red ProCompression Socks at the Broad Street Run

And finally…

drawer6

I’ve got fuel! I’ve got arm warmers (that are actually Baby Legs)! Tissues! Safety pins! Handheld water bottle! SPIbelt! These are the things that float around the drawer, usually toward the top, because I need them more often than most.

It should be noted that the drawer stayed neat for maybe a day and a half before it got all messed up again. Yep.

What’s in your running drawer? Or where do you keep all your “Stuff” with a capital S?