Dallas Marathon Weekend

In what turned out to be a great distraction from waiting on comps results, I ran my first half-marathon this past Sunday! I signed up in July for the Dallas MetroPCS Half-Marathon and started training shortly thereafter. Up to that point, my longest distance was a 10K (6.2 miles) so I definitely had a way to go. Thankfully there are some amazing resources online with different training plans and I have several other runners in my life to offer advice along the way.

Since the start was 8 AM Sunday morning in Downtown Dallas, about 30 minutes away from where we live, we decided to stay at a hotel downtown, the Dallas Omni to be exact, to make the morning of less stressful. They were offering a special discount to marathon runners so we were able to stay there for a reasonable rate. The amazing thing was our hotel was right in front of the start/finish line so we didn't have to worry at all about getting to the race early or waiting in the long lines for a Port-A-Potty!

Hello there, Omni!

We checked in Saturday shortly after lunch, headed up to our room, and was amazed at the view! We decided to upgrade our room for $25 and we were so glad we did! The room was very spacious and just look at the view!

Yes, that is a TV in the bathroom mirror.

Come race day, we didn't have to head down until 7:30 (corrals closed at 7:45) but I woke up before 6 anyway as that's just what my body's used to. Had my normal long-run breakfast of a bagel and banana. Stretched out. Tried not to freak out. Then eventually it was time to head downstairs! Matt walked with me to my corral, we stood around for a bit, then we decided he should leave so he could get to his first spectating point near mile 1. 

On Saturday at packet pick-up

Race day!

I'll spare you an in-depth race report, but I will say it was one of the most physically and mentally difficult things I've done, but also one of the most fun things I've done. The spectators made it. I think I would have hated the experience if it wasn't for the awesome spectators. From their costumes and signs to the things they would shout out at you as you were running by (including "Go, random stranger, go!"), their encouragement was awesome and helped me power through. I also enjoyed running through several parts of Dallas, from Highland Park to Greenville Avenue to Deep Ellum. 
  

Around mile 1

If I hit a wall, it may have been at about 10.5 miles in. At that point it became so mental, trying to convince myself to not stop, keep on putting one foot in front of the other. I was able to see the Omni at a distance, and I knew I only had 2 miles to go, so that helped. From mile 11-12, I was wondering why the heck I signed up this stupid thing. Then I saw Matt at about mile 12, which made me put a big smile on my face. At that point through the end of the race, there was a large crowd of spectators cheering and yelling us on, so that was awesome! Couldn't stop running in front of them, right? 

At mile 12, so close!

Hello there!

As I crossed the finish line, my eyes filled up with tears just from all the emotion I felt-- satisfaction, mental and physical exhaustion, shock, joy. One of the race volunteers asked if I was OK and I just nodded my head and continued on to collect my medal. Here I was, a girl who could barely run a mile a few years ago to running 13.1 miles. It is truly amazing what the human body can do!

Total time: 2:07:48. Average pace/mile of 9:45.

Now 3 days out I am definitely less sore than I was. Monday was pretty painful as I was really feeling it in my quads & hamstrings. I will be getting a foam roller soon because I know I will be doing this again. I'm not going to be doing a marathon next (had too many foot issues with just this distance) but I would love to do another half! The whole experience-- from the spectators to the course to running with 20,000 others-- was addicting and I can't wait to do another one and beat my time!

Great News!

More details to come, I promise, but wanted to let you know 2 things:

1) I successfully ran my first half-marathon yesterday! My only goal was to not stop running and I'm happy to say I met that goal. Total time- 2:07:49, so not too bad for a first half! Looking forward to more :)

2) I PASSED COMPS! I received the email this morning that I passed all 3 exams so I am officially ABD (all but dissertation). 

Thank you to everyone for their support and prayers during this time. It's been crazy and I'm so relieved and grateful to have had such successful results. 

Running is Complicated

So I am now solidly into my half-marathon training. Sure, my race isn't til mid-December, but I wanted to take the training slow and steady in case issues popped up. I have a history of foot issues related to running so I especially wanted to make sure I didn't further hurt them. As I just completed my 6.5 mi run today (the FARTHEST I have ever run, by the way), I felt like I should check in and let you know how things are going.

Feet. So on the issue of feet. Dude they're complicated. So I got some orthotics to prevent the issues I was having and they're all well and good. I haven't had any flare ups related to my toes and no steroid injections, so I count that a win. However, before I started training I got new running shoes, and apparently the heel is much thicker than the heel of my older shoes. After longer runs, my right heel was pretty sore. I figured it was the shoes and I would just get used to it. Oh no, not at all. It just got worse. One of my professors/running advisers suggested I try running in my old shoes and sure enough, no pain! So I get to go back to the running store, plead my case, and hope they give me a discount on some new shoes. 

Nutrition. This is certainly a learning experience in proper nutrition! Once you have been participating in exercise for over 1 hour, you have to start replenishing your nutrients while you exercise. You also need to make sure you eat the right things before and after the work out. It is all about getting the proper balance of protein, carbs, and sugars, so I've been trying out different running gus and chews. As Matt and I have started incorporating more weight training into our workouts, we are also making different smoothies with protein powder. The smoothies are certainly delicious and I know Matt hasn't minded us having bagels for breakfast on the mornings of my long runs!

Source

Weather. I haven't run outside in over a month because it has been so hot and humid in Texas lately. We should be getting a cold front soon and I can't wait to be back outside! The treadmill just gets so boring, no matter what podcast is on or what's on TV. 

And that's about it. I know, a real exciting post, but I wanted to chronicle my experiences with my first half and I figured some of you may find it remotely interesting. Feel free to give me any advice you may have for training for a half-marathon :)

10K Results

I hope everyone has been having a great week! Mine has been quite interesting to say the least and I'm so looking forward to this weekend. Anyway, a few weeks ago I talked about my fitness journey and that I was running my first 10K soon. Well, that Sunday has come and went and I wanted to share my results with you in case you were interested. 

First thing Sunday morning, we got up, had some cereal, and got ready to head out to downtown Fort Worth. My parents were in town and were awesome enough to come with us to support me (and keep Matt company while he waited). It was pretty cold that morning-- in the 40s-- and I realized I needed to get some cold weather running gear. My fleece held me up until race time but my legs were covered in goose bumps!

A little before the race started, I warmed up a bit, stretched, and then it was time to line up and go! It was a gorgeous morning to run and the route we took was really pretty. We ran around the Trinity River and got to see the sunrise over downtown. The course was well-marked and there were various water stops and people cheering at random points on the course.

Lined up ready to begin!

And I'm off with my little pony tail bouncing in the wind

Towards the beginning of the course

By the way, I have no coordination to drink water and run at the same time. More of it got on my face than anything. Oh well.

My goal for the race was to simply not stop running. I knew my typical pace was a little under 10 minutes/mile so I figured it would take me a little over an hour, especially because it was so cold it took me a while to get warmed up. But I ended up running it in 59 minutes and 8 seconds! Average mile pace of 9:32! I was definitely happy with that. 

So happy to be about to cross the finish line

Got my first medal!

It was awesome seeing Matt and my parents at the finish line and I'm glad they were there to support me. I will definitely do another 10K again. The distance is great-- not too long where you start getting weird injuries but long enough to get into it. I followed a nice training plan that I think really prepared me well for it. Now to find the next race to sign up for!

A Little About Fitness

I think I've alluded to it in a few posts, but I recently decided to do something crazy and signed up for a 10K. In less than a month, I will be attempting to run running 6.2 miles, a distance I've still never run. For those of you who don't know, I've never been a runner. Really. In high school I always hated the days we had to run 1 lap around the track for drill team practice. I would finish last, huffing and puffing like I was going to die. Part of that came from having asthma through adolescence and another part was just being out of shape. 

June 2007- London (wow this is hard to look at!)

Once I got to college I would work out a little bit, but come sophomore year I was at my heaviest and very unhappy about it. So starting that summer, I started heading to the rec and working out more. I took some fun fitness classes like fencing, yoga, and step aerobics as well as watched what I ate. Living in an apartment off campus really helped with that and I slowly saw the pounds start to come off and I thought I was at a really good weight when I got married in the summer of 2011. 

Honeymoon, May 2011

However, after we got married and moved, I was afraid of putting the pounds back on. I've always heard how hard it is to maintain weight loss, so I got a gym membership, stepped up my work outs, and started learning about what a healthy lifestyle really means. I don't just focus on cardio and I do some weight training to tone up a bit. I definitely allow myself some cheat meals here and there, but still count my calories and cook healthy recipes (Cooking Light, oh how I love thee!). 

Saturday night, pre awesome dinner date

All of that has been going well, but I was afraid of getting burned out on doing the same thing. So, I decided to push myself and do something I never would have considered. I had run a 5K in November of 2012 and it went well, so I wanted to push myself more. I didn't want to run a half marathon as the training for that is so long and running 13.3 miles is intimidating. A 10K it is! So I found one that was a few months out to keep the training realistic and found a 10 week training plan that allowed me to slowly increase my mileage as well as do some cross-training so I wouldn't get burned out, mentally or physically, on running. 

I'm not going to lie, it hasn't always been easy and I don't always reach my distance goal. The past two weeks I was fighting an upper respiratory infection so I had to walk more than I would have liked. At other times, I started getting cramps that I had to walk off. But I'm still glad that I've stuck to it and am mostly enjoying it. I still don't absolutely love running, but I'm learning how mental of an activity it is. I love knowing after a run that I've accomplished something I never thought I could do. That's why I keep on doing it as there are few things that give me that feeling. 

Anyway, this has gotten quite long but I guess I needed to get it out there. It has been quite a journey over the past several years. October 20th will be here before I know it and hopefully I will be able to meet my goal and not have to walk during the race. However if I do, there's always the next one! 

Five Things for Friday

I am taking a quick break from school to write a blog post just for you! Don't you feel loved? That and I need to think about something besides IRB, symbolic interactionism, deterrence, and R&R's. If you can't tell, I'm already a little overwhelmed by the start of the fall semester. Just have to remember to breathe...

1) I fell in love with the slow cooker all over again Wednesday night. I put together this recipe that morning and about 15 minutes before we were ready to eat, I added the final ingredients and boom! A delicious Thai dinner was enjoyed by all! It had leeks in it so Matthew & I had fun with puns all night. 

2) I love my family. I do. But I have been traveling so much this summer for various family-related things I am SO excited for this weekend. Why? No traveling. I have been needing a break from road trips and a nice weekend in, even if it is filled with studying, will be perfect. 

3) I miss reading for fun. I picked up this book from the library a few weeks ago thinking I would read it during some of our travels. Nope. It is half read and staring at me on the coffee table, begging me to pick it up. I'm a huge fan of the author, Erik Larson, by the way. If you're looking for a good book, I recommend any of his novels. They are non-fiction actually but read like fiction. In a good way. Just read them, k?

4) Matt & I finally upgraded our 2+ year old phones and got Moto X's. I am in love. Why? Well first, I got to customize it. I had a hard time choosing between a turquoise or this pretty chardonnay type color, but I figured I would go for the classier one of the two. 

Also-- it is way faster, way better battery life, and just has some really neat features. For example, it can automatically detect when I'm driving and it will tell me who is calling so I don't have to pick it up. I can just say "answer" or "ignore." It will also read text messages to me when I drive and then can send that person a response saying I will respond to them later. Anyway, I recommend it if you're in the market for a new phone and like/are open to the Android OS.

5) I'm planning on devoting a whole post to this in the not-too-distant-future, but I signed up for a 10K. The girl who never thought she could run 2 laps around the track much less 1 mile is committed to running over 6 miles. I have a training plan I've been using and this Wednesday I ran 3.5 miles. Doing that after some weight-training wasn't the best idea, but I did it and didn't stop. October 20th will be here before we know it though so I gotta keep it up!

I hope you have a great weekend!

Five for Friday

I hope everyone had a great week! Ours was fine, nothing too exciting. We have been counting down to this weekend though!

1. My brother is getting married in 2 days! I'm so excited to go and celebrate with him! Isn't is new family beautiful? 
   
2. On Wednesday, I went to the mall to get some new shoes but that trip proved unsuccessful. I couldn't find good supportive, non-neon walking shoes. After my foot decided it hated me and 2 steroid shots later (ow!), I've been slowly replacing my shoe collection. I have some good athletic shoes & sandals, but wanted something more casual. Nope. Not this time. Any recommendations? 
3. Instead of buying shoes, I came home with a new purse. Dang Fossil and their sale signs! But it was 30% off, so I'm happy with that
4. A new toy came in that I've been playing with. I ordered a heart rate monitor I've been eyeing for a while so it's been interesting to see what my actual calorie burn is while working out. Wow those machines certainly overestimate! Anyway, I'll write more about it later when I get more used to it, but so far I'm a fan!

   

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5. When did we get halfway through July? I realized the other day that I'm 2 months away from being 25. Woah... it's crazy how fast life goes!
   

Do you have any weekend plans? Do you use a heart rate monitor while working out? Have you made these brownies I gushed about on Monday?