The Yonkers Half Marathon AKA Hills, Hills, and More Hills

So this past Sunday, 9/28/14, I ran in the Yonkers Marathon & Half Marathon. I registered for it kind of late, as I had decided that my time for the Half Sauer/Half Kraut wouldn't suffice to submit for the Disney Marathon. So with two weeks before the race, I paid the late entry fee ($60 to be exact), and psyched my self up for half marathon number 2. Boy was I unprepared.

My marathon training as of late hasn't been going as well as I had hoped. I'm finding it very hard to motivate myself to do those two short weekday runs, and it has been affected my long weekend runs. The last long run I did before this half was just over 10 miles, and calf muscle spasms/IT band pain in the knees had me limping at the end of that one. To remedy this, I bought a pair of calf compression sleeves and started adjusting my foot strike. These will come back later in the story.

With only two short runs before this half, I was a little worried about my leg strength for this one. In my marathon training, however, this week's run would have been 13 miles anyway, so I just wanted to use this as a training run and wasn't too concerned about my time. That being said, I kind of wanted to blow my first half's time (3:10:59) out of the water, and set a rather ambitious goal of 3 hours for myself. I prepped by drinking what I thought was a ton of water the day before and reading Run, Karla, Run!'s race report from last year's marathon. She does a great job, btw, of outlining the course. On the morning of, I felt nervous, but pretty excited to be participating in such an old race.

The race started just a little bit after 8am, just in time for the sun the shine right into the racers' eyes. Karla warned of hills at miles 4 and 10. In my opinion, she should have warned about hills in every single freaking mile. Seriously. The race started up hill and seemed to climb the entire time. The first couple of miles I felt pretty good. I was running at a bit of a faster pace, but that usually happens to me when I get swept up in the excitement of the starting line. I had to make myself slow down with the reminder that I had 10+ miles ahead of me. I would see the hills and be like, "No problem, I've got this." By mile 3, the thrill of conquering the hills had worn off when I saw even more hills, and they all seemed to go up and barely ever down.

Mile 3 is also where my stomach started to have some complaints. I tried to stick to a low fiber diet the days before and I even took some Immodium the night before in hopes of staving off the GI issues I've had in the past. These precautions, however, were to no avail. My stomach demanded I find a porta potty, and as hard as I tried, I could not so the life of me remember which miles they were supposed to be at. When I by chance saw a runner literally run out of one just past mile 5, I almost cried with relief. A quick stop in, and I was back on the course. Unfortunately, not at the best of paces.

The sun at this point was rapidly rising and the blessed shade of the residential areas faded away as the course made its way into more urban areas. The temperature on Sunday got up to 84 degrees, but in the sunny spots, it felt more like 100. Even in the flat areas, it became difficult to motivate myself to run, and I found myself walking way more than I have in past long runs. And when those hills were in the sun, I had no choice but to walk. By mile 9, I was in a very urban area, the cars were racing right past me, and at times it felt like I was the only one on the course. I had hoped, with close to 1000 entrants, the course would have felt more populated. This was certainly not the case.

The water stations were the saving grace to this race. Each was manned by individual community organizations, at at many there were small children happily handing out cups of lukewarm water and Gatorade, cheering you on. One shop owner on the course even set up his own unofficial table, handing out cups of ice and cups of Coca Cola. The ice tasted so amazing. I passed on the Coke, however.

By mile 10, I was exhausted. Thanks to my calf sleeves, my calves were spasm free, but my new strike pattern was unusual to other parts of my legs, and late in the race, I began to get cramps in my Achilles tendons. One painful moment, the toes of my right foot curled up and would not uncurl for a whole agonizing minute. As hard as I tried to keep hydrated, my body was telling me that it was not enough. I tried to eat one blok of my Cliff Shots Bloks per mile in the second half the race and I drank a cup of Gatorade at each station where it was available, but the heat and the hills had me sweating way more than I expected in a late September race in NY. By mile 11, I wasn't sure if I was going to meet my goal.

At mile 12, I texted Mike the following message, "1 mile to go everything hurts gonna finish this bitch." I was at 2:43:00 and I had just seen some of the marathoners pass me. I thought, "Even if I walk this mile, I might still be able to hit my goal." But I didn't want to walk the last mile. I started the race feeling great and I wanted that feeling back. So with some blessed down hill in sight, I began a slow trot to the finish line. I did stop a couple of times to stretch out my tight heels, but by the last half mile, I was gliding to the finish line. I turned the final corner and saw that the official time clock hadn't yet reached 3 hours and my heart just lept. I didn't sprint to the finish like I have in the past, but I sure did run to it.

My official time: 2:59:03.

Race Cons:
*All of those retched hills. There is no way to describe how disheartening the constant incline was. Even when the hills weren't steep, the course still had a slight upward tilt to it.
*Lack of portapotties. I only saw the two at mile 5. There might have been more, but I didn't see them and there definitely weren't any signs pointing them out.
*The late start. The race started at 8, when it probably should have started at 6, so as to avoid heat and traffic. Kristin tells me that the trains out of Grand Central don't start running until about 6am, though, so getting runners up to Yonkers from the city would be an issue. An annoying reality.
*Sparse food spread. I know I finished find of late, but the only fruit I saw were grapes. At the end, I could have really used a banana, or 5.

Race Pros:
*Yonkers PD and Crossing Guards. There was one or the other at each and every traffic crossing, and even though I was alone for most of the second half, they stopped traffic for me every time I came to a crossing. I thanked each and every one of them because that is so awesome.

*Water Station Volunteers. Young and Old, they were all very enthusiastic and dealt with that heat for all of those hours. Some kids even seemed to be competing to see who could give out the most water. It was adorable.

*Very cool t-shirt and finisher medal. I was worried that I had signed up too late to get a shirt, but they had enough. The design and fabric are very cool and I'd be excited to wear it at a future race.

This was obviously a very hard race for me, but I pushed myself through it and it highlighted the issues I need to work on in my future training. I'm really glad I did it, though. I felt really great all day today knowing I had really persevered through it and I feel like if I can finish that, that I can totally finish the Disney Marathon. I think it has brought back my enthusiasm to run and I'm already planning on doing a short run tomorrow.

Super special shout out to Kristin and my husband Mike, both of whom stayed from start to finish and were waiting for me at the end with big smiles. Even more special was the fact that 9/28 was Mike and my 2nd wedding anniversary, and he basically spent it waiting 3 hours for me to cry my way through Yonkers. He's a champ and proves everyday why he's the best man in the world.

A New England Adventure

For some reason it has felt very important this summer to do things and not let the summer just pass me by like it has in the past. Whether this is a result of the heinous winter we just had or the major changes that I'm sure are about to take place in the coming year, I've been filling up the weekends like it's nobody's business. Between trips down to the city to visit my family, the trek to Philadelphia to run the 1/2 marathon, baseball games, fireworks, drive-in movies, in-theater movies, trips to the Hudson, races, and a wedding, I've barely been home long enough to do some much needed laundry. This past weekend was no exception.


Kristin proposed a girl's trip to me at the beginning of the summer, and the original plan was to go to Montauk, LI. Neither of us had been there and thought it seemed like the perfect summer getaway. Unfortunately with all of those summer plans I mentioned, I never really got around to looking at hotels. Kristin, who is even busier than me, also forgot to look into booking a hotel. So with 2 weeks left before our vacation, Kristin took the initiative and looked up some prices. Spoiler alert: Montauk is freaking expensive! I'm sure there are less expensive hotels to stay at if you have the foresight, but if you wait until the last minute like we did, all that's left are $600/night B&B's. Ummmm...no thank you. So we changed gears and looked elsewhere. Our elsewhere happened to be Mystic, CT.

If you read Kristin's post about the trip, she'll tell you that she vacationed in that area as a child, so we knew ahead of time that this area would be more up our alley price-wise. We stayed at the EconoLodge there, which ended up being the perfect distance from everything and had a great view of the neighboring cemetery. I pretty much stole the Prius from Mike, leaving him stranded with my manual shift Kia (which he cannot drive), picked up Kristin early Friday morning, and we were off!

I was a little surprised Kristin was willing to spend the whole weekend with me alone, as in my younger years I wasn't always the most pleasant of travel companions. I feel like I've matured greatly and am now pretty chill to travel with, but I'll let her be the judge. She put up with my constant nose blowing throughout the weekend, as I've been battling my 2nd summer cold, and for that she gets major props. We even shared a bed. 

 

When there's ice cream involved, everything is a-ok.

Mystic was great. The perfect New England town. We hit up the aquarium, which I had been to once in my adolescence, and was definitely smaller than I remembered. There seemed to be more mammals than fish, which is something I actually enjoyed because I think fish are kind of boring to watch. Give me a penguin swimming around any day, all feelings brought on by Blackfish aside. Afterward we walked around Mystic and Old Mistic Village and chatted and ate bad food and ended up in bed before 11. Party animals!

"Stop taking pictures of me, weirdo."

The next day we headed into Rhode Island to go to a beach in Watch Hill. While not that sunny, it was warm enough to enjoy the frigid Atlantic (seriously, when does that thing heat up?) and to get a bit burnt on the shoulders. By 1:30 we were ready for lunch and headed into the little town to eat and browse. We ended up at the Ocean House Hotel, which is so fancy, it has a dress code. At least the bar did. We sat out on the verandah in rocking chairs and sipped our delicious cocktails and pretended we were incredibly wealthy for the afternoon. I loved it. The hotel itself reminded me of how I pictured the White Sands hotel in the Anne of Green Gables books growing up, and I'd love to be able to afford to stay there someday. I mean, they had a freaking croquet court. How Victorian elegance can you get?

This is what I'm hoping my future house looks like.

 

A high tide and a low tide and a hefty bar tap for two drinks.

 

Dinner that night was at Mystic Pizza, which is totally touristy, but felt like a must-do. As some one who loves coming of age movies staring young women/Julia Roberts, of course I needed to hit this place up. We both figured it would be only ok quality, but after shoveling away too many potato skins and half of a buffalo chicken pizza, I can definitely say that this place puts its money where its mouth is. So good! I'm drooling right now thinking about how scrumptious it was. If you're in the area, check it out! Like right now!

It really was.

 

Another early night on my part made way to an early morning Sunday. The original plan had been to do our long Sunday run together, but the cold had moved back to my chest, so running didn't feel like such a great idea. Instead we went to Kitchen Little at the Mystic Marina and I ate scrambled eggs with melted cream cheese. Just as healthy as exercise. A too brief meal lead to driving Kristin to the train station in New Haven and heading home. After an incredibly close call to running out of gas, I made it back to Albany around 1:30. Just enough time to relax before the Bruno Mars concert!

If you don't like Bruno Mars, check out of the videos of him performing on YouTube and reassess. He's freaking awesome! He opened with Moonshine and encored with Locked Out of Heaven and everything in between was pure magic. He's been a staple on my running mixes for the past year, so it was amazing to see this songs performed live. Sharing it with my friends Aprill and Joey was just the icing on the cake.

Tipping my borrowed hat the Mr. Mars

 

So another fun filled summer weekend in the books. Having that time alone with Kristin was so awesome and we talked about so many things and I always just feel better somehow after spending time with her. Maybe a new tradition is in the works? I can only hope so.

Bonus, found a video of Bruno's encore a the show I was at. It makes me want to dance just watching it!

Let the Marathon Training Begin!

This week I begin my marathon training! I'm nervous, but excited and I cannot wait to see where this journey takes me. To really get into the running mindset, I decided to go on an internet dig to see if I could find the results of all the races I've run in the past 4 years. Here are the results:

SPAC Rock & Run 5k 2010 (My First Race!)- 35:13
Freihofer's Run for Women 5k 2011- 35:29
Freihofer's 5k 2012- 39:22
Albany Run For Pride 2012- 36:21
Putnam County 8 Miler 2012- 1:52:53
Freihofer's 5k 2013- 38:18
Firefly 5k 2013- 39:51 
Boilermaker 15k 2013- 1:58:17
Color Me Rad 5k 2013- ???
Troy Turkey Trot 10k 2013-1:15:01
Trot Off That Turkey 5k 2013- 35:20
SPAC Rock & Run 10k 2014- 1:09:19
Freihofer's 5k 2014- 35:15
Half Sauer/Half Kraut Half Marathon 2014- 3:10:59
Take Your Base 5k 2014- 40:18
Team Sarcoma 5k 2014- 33:24 (Personal Best!)

It's nice to see it all laid out and to remember each run. Looking at the list I see easy runs with friends, hard runs alone, injuries, intestinal discomfort, and lots of work. I didn't realize that yesterday's race was a personal best for me, and I'm glad to start marathon training on a high note. In case you're interested, I'll be (more or less) following Jeff Galloway's Training Program for experienced runners who don't have a time goal. I'm jumping in at Week 3, but it's still early enough that I don't think those 2 weeks are going to hurt me in the long run (pun intended).

My main concern, which is not really an issue at the immediate moment, is where I'm going to do my long runs once the cold weather sets in. With the marathon taking place in January, where will I be able to run 26 actual miles in December without having to worry about knee-high snow? Research will need to happen, but any suggestions as to locations/gear for training are certainly welcome.

Let's do this!

In Which I Do a Half-Marathon and Barely Survive

So, let's talk about my first half-marathon. Back in March, Kristin told me about the 1/2 Sauer, 1/2 Kraut Half/Full Marathon that was to take place in Pennypack Park in Philadelphia. She had already run one half-marathon before and I knew I didn't want to run my first one alone, so I very spontaneously signed up. It seemed like a step in the right direction because my overall goal is to run a marathon (spoiler alert, I'm signed up for one this coming January!). 

 Have I mentioned my obsession with sassy running headbands?

The website calmed my nerves a bit in that it spoke of walkers being welcome and that the overall pacing is not that fast due to the summer heat. They advertised plenty of shady paths and water stations generously sprinkled throughout the park. Capping at around 1000 people, it was a nice medium sized race and the difference in price between the marathon and the half-marathon was $5. Runners were encouraged to just run the 13.1 miles if the heat of the day became too much and they'd be eligible to the half prizes. Overall it came off as a very welcoming race to all running types.

I started my training shortly after signing up by more or less following this running plan. I'll admit I didn't run nearly all of those shorter runs during the week because there were days when a 6 mile "short" run just wouldn't fit into my schedule. The program did get me out there, though, so I'd highly recommend it. I mixed into my training the Iron Barre class at the Hot Yoga Spot twice a week. It's a strength training class that works you from head to toe in a 90 degree room. I'm glad I added it into the mix because it really helped to strengthen my legs and I've noticed a difference in my overall body appearance. It's worth the 5am wake-up call!

Training also gave me an excuse to get some new running gear. I went to Fleet Feet and a very informative man named James got me into the perfect pair of Brooks Adrenaline GTS 14's. I also bought way too many pairs of Belega socks, which are so worth it because I haven't had a single blister since. On a long run I saw another woman wearing a great running pack, and because I'm a creeper, I went to 4 different stores before I found the exact one and purchased it. The Nathan Trail Mix belt holds a nice amount of water and has a pocket to carry tissues, my phone, inhaler, and my Sport Beans! Great investment.

 

The man at the store said the mud would give me street cred.

 

I'll admit that I didn't get up to the 12 miles the plan has laid out. I had been pretty dedicated to my long weekend runs down by the river with Mike, with Dunkin' Donut coffee recoveries afterward for  good two months. But as the warmer weather hit, plans became inevitable and I just wasn't home/able to do the weekend runs. I did my best to run during the week and I did get up to 10 miles, which at the time had been the farthest I'd gone. Looking back, I now know how important those long and short runs are in the training process. 

The day of the race, Mike and I picked up Kristin and her friends Molly and Laura at the house they were staying at and we headed to the outskirts of the city to a nice shaded park. It was certainly everything they advertised. Not too crazy, well organized, lots of Porta Potties. Mike was a great sport and took care of all of our stuff while we ran. Kristin and I headed to the last wave as I was unsure of what kind of pace I'd be able to run at. The first 3 waves left and it was our time to head to the start line. The organizer joked that they saved the best beer at the after party for the last runners and then we were off!

We're doing this! It's about to happen!

 

We started off at a great pace. I like running with Kristin because she's a great pacer and got me running faster than I knew I could, while still feeling good. There was certainly plenty of shade, but 3 previous days of rain left behind lots of mud and huge puddles to run around. And the hills! There were three pretty steep hills in succession, and I ended up walking some of them. The humidity was not helping!

Two blessings to speak of were that the water/Gatorade stations were religiously every 1.5 miles and that their mile markers seemed to be closer together than my Garmin was telling me. Kristin and I noticed early on that even our two Garmins weren't in sync with one another. So when we saw mile markers approaching when our watches told us we still had 0.2 miles to go, it was a nice surprise every time.

As the miles passed on, I found myself getting really tired. I had eaten a pretty good pasta dinner the night before and a protein shake that morning, which was my go to pre-run meal. Kristin kept me going, though. We got to around the halfway point and came to "Mount Cuckoo", which was a trail portion. At the time I really liked it because I was able to go a nice slow pace on it, but the mud made me over-adjust my stride. Soon after completing the trail portion, I started feeling a pain in my right leg.

By mile 10, every time I tried to run, the arch of my right foot up to my knee would cramp up then spasm. It hurt so much! I started crying, both in pain and frustration, to come that far only to have my body revolt. I had been keeping hydrated the whole time, alternating water and Gatorade at the aid stations, so I don't think it was dehydration, but maybe it was. So for the next 5k, we pretty much had to walk it.

And here's where I tell you how great Kristin is, which I know I've done before. When it became apparent that running was out of the question, I urged her to go on so as not to totally screw up her time. And do you know what? She didn't. She stayed with me every step of the way. Encouraging me. Telling me that finishing was all that mattered. Showing me great stretches. Putting up with my sorry ass. Because as positive as I normally am, when I'm in pain, I suck and every negative bit of me comes to the surface. And this isn't even the first time she's had to stick with me during a terrible race! She came in last with me in an 8 mile 4th of July race 3 years ago when GI issues again kept me from running. But once again, she rose to the occasion this hot Saturday in June and literally kept me going. I honestly don't know if I would have finished it without her. I'm really incredibly lucky to have her as my BFF.

I knew I had to finish this race running, so for the last 1/2 mile, I made my body move in a strange jog/skip/limp and crossed that finish line at a time of 3:10:59! Not the 2:30 I had been shooting for, but finished nonetheless! It felt so good to finish and get that medal. It made every mile of pain seem worth it, to know I could at least get my body to move for that long and far. 

 

No take backsies! This finisher medal is mine!

The after party was at the Cannstatter Volksfest Verein Club, a beautiful German-American club, where they served beer and brats and had prizes for the people who had dressed up for the race (crazy people). I surprisingly enough wasn't in the mood for a beer, so I used both of my tickets for brats for Mike and myself. It felt so good to be done and to be sitting. And I will say that after a quick nap back at the hotel, I felt good enough to walk around Philly for a bit. So I am a true believer in training and its role in recovery!

So now I'm ready for my next one. I'm going to start integrating more hills and speedwork into my training and see if that helps, and try to figure out what caused those damn spasms!  I'm glad I did this one, and while I'm disappointed with the end pain, I know I can only get better from here!

P.S.
It should also be noted that we didn't come in last. Woohoo!

That's us at the top of the Rocky steps, because we're champions like Rocky. Get it?

I'm Back, Suckers!

Well, goodness. This has certainly been one long hiatus. I tried so hard to document the wedding planning process that I never got around to blogging about the actual wedding. It makes sense, though. I've recently come to the depressing realization that I am great at starting things, and not so great at finishing them. I start diets and books and blogs and vacation itineraries and I can never seem to follow through with them to the end. Is it laziness or too strong a will power to not move forward? I'm not sure. I'm not sure I'll ever know. I do know that I loved writing in this blog, though. I love that I have documentation of a phase of my life I will never repeat.

Quick recap: Got married, ran a bunch of races, traveled to Jamaica/Georgia/Disney World/Martha's Vineyard, and didn't blog. All caught up!

So let's give this another try. A rebirth, if you will. The focus of this blog when I created it was the wedding, but that has come and gone. Going forward I'm going to focus on things that matter to me. At the moment those things include running, living well, social issues (especially those regarding women), and the random events, people, and places that make me smile. We'll see how it goes. Maybe this time I'll make it stick. Maybe. Here's to hoping!