Monday, September 24, 2012

My First DNS

I have been feeling under the weather since I got back from Ohio. It started as miserable sinus infection that I managed to survive without getting a fever or calling into work but it finally went to my chest and produced a wonderful case of bronchitis. Work was fun what with the nurse coughing on her patients while she tried to start an IV or triage them. Anyway, the point behind all of this was to bring you up to Friday.

Friday afternoon I went into work and planned on coming home at 3 AM and grabbing a few hours of sleep before running a 5K. All went as planned until I woke up at about 6 AM coughing so hard that my chest and throat hurt to the point that I was in tears.

I took a large dose of nyquil to coat my throat and stop the coughing and ended up waking at 8:01 when my contractor was knocking on my door. The Alzheimer's 5K I was supposed to run was to start at 8 AM so I have officially gotten my first DNS or did not start for those not in the loop on the lingo.

I'm actually really, really bummed that I missed the race. I ran it last year and I lost my grandmother this year after a long battle with alzheimers. My aunt and cousins were planning to do the walk at 9 AM but the same cold kept them all at home as well.

I'm feeling better after a day of rest and medication but I'm still a little bummed about missing the race but glad that my money still went to an amazing organization!

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Race #11 : USAF 10K

So finally for a race recap!

My race weekend began and ended with a 7.5 hour drive. On the way to Ohio I decided to break the drive time up and stayed in a hotel outside of Indianapolis. I did go for a nice run in Greenwood, IN.
Goofy self portrait!
 After a night in Indy, I started the drive to Ohio and once I arrived I went straight to the expo. The race expo was nice but not what I'm used to given my experience with expos is limited mostly to Rock N Roll events but I did end up getting lots of swag in my goodie bag and picking up a few extra things.

 After the race I had an amazing dinner at the Spaghetti Warehouse with way to much food!


After my late lunch/early dinner, I headed back to my hotel in Ohio, thinking I would go to the 5K and cheer the runners on/listen to the band, but instead I ended up taking a nap that lasted much longer than I was planning on it.

Race morning came super early and as usual I got there super early, so I had plenty of time to wander/try not to freeze.
The Start Line!

Would you like a medal or 2000?

Soon you will be MINE!

So after an hour and half or so of wandering we finally started wandering to line up. Marathoners lined up according to flags with projected times, the 10kers (is that a word?) seemed to fill in where ever, I jumped in somewhere in the middle. I ended up behind a group of guys from U of Dayton ROTC who were running the 10K with 35 pound packs and told me they were planning on running 11 minute miles. I foolishly decided to run with them for at least the first mile. I was hoping for around a 12 minute mile so I figured why not try to keep up for a bit.

Two nice ROTC guys that agreed to take a picture with me!
Finally the start!

Mile 1: The first mile wasn't that bad although trying to keep up with the ROTC was challenging, when I finally looked at my watch I realized why, they where running a 10 min mile! I backed off a bit but managed to finish my first mile with a 11:04 pace.

Mile 2: My right calf started to cramp up and the mile was all uphill so I decided to take it slow and managed to finish up the mile in 14:22 with a 161 ft elevation gain!

Mile 3: After the mile of uphill, we started to go downhill and my calf was easing up so I sped up a bit and managed to finish the mile in 11:39.

Miles 4-6: Mostly flat, not any spectators and everyone was starting to spread out. It was mostly a mental game for me. I hadn't been running much lately so it was harder than I would have liked but I made it through. Mile 6 brought with it some disappointment because for some reason I had it in my head I had to break 1:12:04 for a PR but all I could think of was finishing and get my medal and finishing race #11 for the year.

Finish Line: YAY! It was really awesome, running under a plane wing, the spectators, the first wheeled marathoner finishing right before me, the finish line and the medal, put on me by a Air Force Officer in his uniform!
I forgot to pause my garmin until I stopped long enough for this picture!

Post race: Lots of yummy food, a great band and possibly my favorite thing of any race, they had a results table, you just walked up and they would pull up your results based on your bib and print out your results for you right there! It wasn't until I sat down and started snacking, and check my race results on my blog, that I realized I had a new PR!!! It made it all so my more awesome!

Overall, I had a great time and would definitely do this race again and again (after all the bling changes every year)! I did hear that some problems happened along the half marathon course, with some wrong turns due to poor route marking. That's the only thing I heard that was negative.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

My laptop sux

Forgive the lack of posts, including a race recap. My laptop is deciding to be a pain and posting pics from my iPad app is annoying and semi impossible. I promise to get it working or to buy a new computer soon!

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Ohio!

Well I made it to Ohio and to Fairborn without any real excitement.

Found the Wright State University Nutter Center easily and headed to the expo. Not a bad event but a little crowded. The setup was a little weird in my opinion, they had the vendors set up in the hall that wraps around the center and then the actual floor was just bib and goodie bag pick up with one vendor selling the official merch and the speaker area. I wanted some air force running shorts since I got my navy running shorts in June. They wanted 30 bucks for the official shorts and I was feeling cheap so I didn't it them. I also wanted a nice running hat but couldn't find one I liked enough to buy, luckily they provided one in the goodie bag and I really like it! I did pick up a few things and there was a lot in the goodie bag.



On the left are things I purchased, not including a 13.1 magnet that I already put on my car. I went ahead and picked up the 26.2 since I haven't been able to find the magnets in st Louis. The things on the right are all the things in the goodie bag, including some rice which I thought was interesting.

I had a late lunch at the spaghetti warehouse. The place was great! I loved the atmosphere and the staff was super awesome. I ate lunch inside of an old trolley and snapped a few pictures of the decor. The food was amazing and more than I could eat. I brought plenty home for dinner and even had a little left over for a snack tonight.

As for the race, I'll do a much more detailed post when I get back to Missouri. I will say I met my B goal. Which was still a PR. I'm not sure where I came up with the idea that I had to get a sub 1:12 for a new record. My overall time was 1:17:32, a new PR by 2:32. The was a great race and I'd recommend it to everyone! I can definitely see doing it again.



I'll be headed home I've decided to take a different route through Louisville. It'll be a 7 hour drive home, ugh!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Indiana!

After 4.5 hours on I70E and a time change I forgot I had to make I finally made it to my hotel room and since I hadn't slept in almost 24 hours I took a 3 hour nap.

After my nap I went for a 3 mile run at a nearby park. I had packed my inhaler and used it before my run but I didn't feel like I actually got any albuterol and it showed. I did pretty well with the first 1.25 miles, I was breathing hard but nothing that bothered me. Then my lungs started to burn but I was working hard on hills so I kept going, then the tightness started and I knew I had it in my legs but not in my lungs. After I walked for bit and let my lungs regroup, my head just wasn't in it anymore. Thankfully it was out and back do I finished the distance no matter what. I'm just not sure what's going to happen when I have to put in a 20 miler in training for my marathon or my marathon!



I am just going to head to bed with the hopes of getting up early and heading to Dayton in the AM!

US Air Force 10K

So I realized I've been posting all about my vacation but very little about the reason for the vaca.

On Saturday I'll be running the USAF 10K. This race series is one that I wanted to do last year but by the time I finally decided I was actually going to all of the races had sold out.

This year I made it a priority and registered early. I chose the 10K distance to fulfill my 12 in 12 breakdown of 3-4-5. 10K races seem to be hard to come by compared to the other distances I wanted to complete. So I grabbed at this one, especially since I planned on doing the st. Louis rock n roll half in October and didn't want to do the 5k which is Friday night.

I've never been to Ohio before and it's another state to mark off my list. I booked a hotel close to the race early because I figured it would be booked up quickly. I originally planned on just Friday and Saturday nights and leaving Sunday afternoon but wasn't sure if I'd drive or fly. I've since purchased a new vehicle which made the long drive much easier to justify, better gas mileage, less concern for breakdowns, etc.

As for my hopes for this race, I want to have fun and get in my mileage for my half marathon training, which looks to be 7 miles so I'll need an extra 0.8 miles, no problem ideally.

My goals are
A: sub 1:12:00 (a PR)
B: sub 1:20:00
C: 1:25:00

I'm hitting the road now so I'll post once I hit Indy.

Past my bed time

So here it is 2:30 AM and I'm wide awake watching Firefly and eating a PBJ sandwich, instead of sleeping. Which I should be doing since I plan on leaving St. Louis for Indianapolis at about 9 AM. Why am I awake and eating a PBJ? Well partly because I slept until 2 PM after a particularly taxing 2 P - 2 A shift at work the day before. The other side of the coin is that I came to the realization the other day that this is the first time in my 26 5/12 years of life that I have gone on a vacation (besides 1 day in Chicago) all by myself.

I've flown several times by myself but I always met someone at the end of the flight. I flew to Canada and met up with my friends and stayed with them, I flew to North Carolina and stayed with my family, I flew to California and stayed with my brother. I've never taken off and just went on vacation all by myself, save for that one day and night in Chi-town. So I'm a little excited/nervous about my 4 day vacation, driving across several states, staying in multiple hotels, etc, etc.

Plus I really still have a ton of things I need to do around the house before I leave. I had a few things I wanted to do in Indy, even though it was originally just meant to be an stopping point on my long drive. Breaking the drive into a 5 hour and a 2.5 hour drive, getting me into Dayton early on Friday and giving me an extra day out of St. Louis and on vacation seemed like to good of an opportunity to pass up. Now it seems like I'm gonna be sleepy!

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

A few odds and ends

So I posted the other day about my scale and how it seemed to be stuck at 183.2. I was so sure I was going to have to get a new scale but being the tightwad I am I decided to give it one more shot. So after my run I got on the scale and it finally showed me a new number. Next day a different number so I'm still hanging onto my old scale.

Also, my laptop is out of commission so I'm not able to upload my garmin data. My daily mile isn't getting updated with my garmin runs either so sorry! Not to say that I've got much to report in that area anyway.

I'm starting to get noticed on google! Had a google search for upper respiratory infections and half marathon. I've never posted directly on that subject but if you google those two things together I'm on the first page of google search so that's exciting! I will say this though, if the cold is in your chest get some rest! If you're having trouble breathing, coughing, get weak easily, or running a fever, stay home. Its better to take a day or two off to rest up and feel better, rather than to end up with a bronchospasm and in the hospital! If it's in your head, sinus pressure, runny nose, and you feel well enough then go ahead if you must, but truly what's one day off with some chicken noodle soup and a good book or movie to entertain you going to hurt.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Scale

I get on the scale almost every morning before I get ready in the morning. I know that you aren't supposed to do that but I understand that there will be natural fluctuation. Here's my problem, everyday for almost 2 weeks my scale says the exact SAME weight every day. 183.2 everyday for 2 weeks, everyday! I'd be ok if it showed me a higher weight, just so long as it should me something different!!!!

It's driving me crazy. I think it is just time to buy a new scale. What do you think?

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

I did it!


In case you can't read the little typing (sorry) that say MARATHON! Ok so maybe it say Marathon, but I think my way of typing gives it a little something extra. In 7 months I will be crossing a 26.2 mile finish line if I have to drag my half dead body over it.

Edit:
I just realized I submitted my finish time as sub 3:00. Ooooppps! I'm so embarrassed! I sent an email to see if I can change my time. I don't want to end up with a bib for corral 1 or anything, since I'll be hanging out more with the 5:45 finish crowd.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

September Goals

I've never set month to month goals before but I just decided I wanted to try it for September so here goes.

  • Miles run : 70
    • The most miles I've ever run in a month was 49, back in October 2011, the month of my first half marathon. I'm working hard to train well for this October's half so I'm hoping to log a few more miles.
  • Races run : 1
    • I'm planning to travel to Dayton, Ohio (while listening to some Bowling for Soup, see below if you don't get it) for a 10K this month. Super Excited to run the US Air Force 10k!
  • Pounds to lose : 4
    • I've been stalled at 183 pounds for a while and I'd just love to be out of the 180's! I'm going to set up a traineo widget so you can follow along every time I remember to weigh and post. 
Nothing to demanding but hoping to encourage myself to push a little harder!
 
Bowling for Soup - Ohio