Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of a New PR...

Saturday will be my first attempt this year to lay down a better qualifying time for the Peachtree Road Race. If you aren't from Atlanta, the Peachtree Road Race is the world's largest 10k (or it was a year or so ago...not sure if we still officially hold that title, either way it is BIG).



Capped at 60,000 participants, registration for the race is on a lottery system which means that not everyone who wants to run gets in. There is guaranteed registration for Atlanta Track Club members so over the past several years, I have gone that route to insure I get a spot.

As with most races with a wave start, you don't HAVE to qualify to get a spot but if you want to be closer to the front, it helps. The time between the first wave going off and the last wave is at least 90 minutes. On the 4th of July in Atlanta, that can make a big difference in temperature.



The last three years, I used a qualifying time for a 10k I ran in 2009. The statute of limitations ran out on that one this year so it is time to get speedy again. I have a qualifying time for Corral C based on my last half marathon but I really wanted to try to get into Corral B this year, for no reason really other than to just see if I could do it.



There are a variety of race distances you can submit for a qualifying time, everything from a 5k up to a half marathon. Saturday's race is a 5k which gives me the following goals:

A. Better than 23:01. This will get me into Corral A for the Peachtree. A bit of a stretch and am not sure it is even possible. I am putting it down under the "if you believe it you can achieve it plan". :) I would be over the moon with this result.

B. Better than 24:30. This will get me into Corral B for the Peachtree. According to the Mcmillan Running Calculator, I should be able to run a 23:46. Here's hoping Mcmillan is right!



Fingers crossed for Saturday!

File it under "never say never"...

I was doing a little blog housekeeping and came across this little jewel from August 2010.

It was a list of bucket races. You know, races you would love to do someday if money, logistics or super quick sell outs weren't an issue. I created two lists, one local (and realistic) and one that is made up of dream races.

I couldn't help but smile when I re-read what I wrote back then about the number one race on my local bucket list. I am 100% certain I meant it at the time but my how things change...

1. 70.3 Augusta. I would be completely satisfied with a 70.3. An ironman? Not going to happen for me. Really.

Hope you all are having a great weekend!

TOUGH CHIK Question of the Week

What was your best (or worst) ever race?

I have a lot of great race memories that stand out for different reasons. I don’t know if I could pick a best (or even a worst race) out of all of them. For me, a sign of a good race was whether or not I hyperventilated as I approached the finish line because I was choking back tears of joy. Seriously. I seem to do it in all the milestone races. My first marathon. The Goofy Challenge. Augusta 70.3. Finishing the bike leg going into T2 at my first triathlon.



My first triathlon ranks up there as one of my best race memories because it was something that was a stretch for me at that point. I had been swimming with a masters group for several years and always admired the triathlon contingent on the team. I thought they were a little nuts because they would dry off and then head out for a run after the morning practice. There were even people in the group that would run to the pool from home, do the swim workout and then run home. Things that now seem perfectly normal or a good use of time seemed entirely too hard core for me to process back then. These ladies looked like triathletes too. The kind of people you might see in an advertisement. All that added up to things that I believed to be way out of reach for me. At the time, I wasn’t running at all. I was swimming for exercise and that was it. After running entered my world in 2008, I began to think that maybe a triathlon was possible.

Fast forward to June 2008. I was a little nervous but not too out of control. There were two waves to the swim, those who were comfortable swimming and those who were not. I went with the first group. My first open water swim and my first experience with a mass start all rolled into one. All I remember from that swim was in the very beginning some guy pushed me down and swam right over the top of me. A little unnerving. In no time, the swim was over and I was making my way to the bike.



I don’t remember much of anything about the bike leg other than the finish. I do know I had hardly ridden the bike at all before the race and by ‘hardly’ I mean maybe 5 miles TOTAL. I knew how to change the gears for the most part but that was it. To say I was nervous about this ride would not even begin to describe it. I remember hyperventiliating BIG TIME coming into the bike finish. I was so excited that I had done it. I didn’t even care what happened on the run at that point. To finish the bike leg was the big win of the day.



At the finish of the run I remember seeing CR at the top of the last hill shouting at me to run faster. (He apparently had not gotten the memo that I was simply trying to finish and did not have any designs on winning this thing). A short distance later, I was crossing the line of my first triathlon. I ended up coming in 2nd in my age group which was why CR was trying to get me to run faster I suppose. At the time, I had no idea where I stood nor did I really care all that much. I truly just wanted to finish.




Even with that feeling of accomplishment, I didn’t really feel bitten by the tri bug back then because the bike intimidated me (perhaps if I had ridden it once in a while that wouldn't have been an issue...). I did one more tri a few weeks later in 2008 and then took a break of several years before diving head first into the sport in 2011. Once I got over the nervousness on the bike, it was game on!

I am still nowhere near the league of those ladies from my masters group who are nothing short of bad a@@ but I have had my own form of success I suppose. I caught up with one of them in a half marathon a few months ago and she congratulated me on the ironman. I thanked her and told her it was still surreal for me and I was surprised I finished it. She said, “I’m not surprised at all”. I can’t even tell you how much that meant to me.

Your turn... What was your best (or worst) race experience?

What went down in January….

Just in case you were wondering, here is how my January shaped up:

Running Miles: 96. I had no idea I was that close to 100 or I would have found a way to run another 4 miles before the end of the month.

Cycling Miles: 84.

Swimming Yardage: 17,826. (it is an odd number because I swim in a 25m pool and the program I use to log my workouts coverts the meters to yards)


Races: Museum of Aviation Marathon, Callaway Gardens Marathon

What I did to bust out of my comfort zone: Did a New Year’s Day meetup with some runners I had never met before.

What I am watching: Revenge, Alcatraz, Top Chef Texas

What I am reading: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking.

Current excitement: Looking forward to the Shamrock Marathon in VA Beach

What I am loving this month: Team Tough Chik and that Tilapia recipe I told you about (no joke, I have had it for lunch every day this week)

My favorite product this month: CEP Compression Sleeves. I know I am late to the party on this one. Truly amazing. My legs were throbbing post-marathon and I slid these on. Instant pain relief. I given thought to wearing them during the race but the whole “nothing new on race day” thing scared me off. I will have to try them on a training run.


What is going on in February:

- Making an attempt at a 10k PR (or at least have a decent qualifying run for the Peachtree Road Race).

- Sherry Arnold Virtual Run 02/11/12. If you have not heard of this run, please visit SUAR’s blog for more information on this run in honor of her cousin.

We have a winner & a Callaway Gardens re-cap...

First things first... My random winner for the Publix Gift Card was Gina Maddox! CONGRATULATIONS! Look for an email from me shortly :)

*****
Sunday morning as I was making the 90 mile drive to my marathon, I had to fight hard to resist the urge to turn around and go home. If I had toothpicks handy I would have used them to prop my eyes open. I rested up on Saturday but was still dragging. This race had always been optional in my head, after all I only signed up two weeks ago. At that time, I had a small handful of friends who had committed to the race as well. Since then the handful of friends dwindled to no friends due to injuries and changes in life plans. Suddenly the appeal of the race was lost on me. As every exit approached, I tried to decide if I should just turn around, go home and crawl back into bed.

The thing about announcing all your race intentions to the world via twitter, blog, facebook and 80 other social media outlets is that a DNS, DNF or anything else is magnified ten-fold. The flip side of that is that there is the instant desire to follow through because you have announced your intentions to the world. What would everyone think if I turned around and went home not because I was injured or had some legitimate excuse but just because I didn’t want to race this particular day?

At mile 87, THREE miles before the race start, I turned my car around in the tiny town of Pine Mountain and headed back home. Instead of feeling a sense that I was doing the right thing, I felt like I was cheating myself. Would CR, my biggest cheerleader, be disappointed in me for giving up? Would I be disappointed in myself? I drove a little further down the road and reasoned that maybe I was just tired. I was arriving at the race at least 90 minutes before the start. Maybe I just needed a nap. I turned around at the next intersection and headed back towards the race and a quick nap in the parking lot.



The race itself was uneventful until around mile 20ish when I started feeling the first pains and realized that this might be a tough finish. My legs were aching and I had long since given up any hope of a particular finish time. The math calculations for this race were more along the lines of “if I start walking now, I can still be done under 5 hours” as opposed to the calculations two weeks ago that were adding up to a PR.

Six more miles to go. I was breaking down the various checkpoints in my head. Make it to the water stop at 22, take a GU and run it home. I roll up to the water stop and there is no water. I start to choke back the tears. I am not even sure where those tears came from. My legs were hurting but… I guess not having the water just put me over the edge for a minute. I ate my GU and walked for a couple of minutes to get it together.

If you have ever done a small marathon, it can be a mental battle. Once the half marathoners split off, runners are few and far between. You may see runners here and there but there are mostly long stretches where you are on your own. The race become more like a long solo training run. The sight of another person can be like an instant ray of sunshine to help pick you up. At this point, almost every runner is giving the friendly wave and "good job" as they pass.

Around mile 24 I hear footsteps behind me. I had not seen anyone in two miles so was glad to hear someone coming as a reassurance that I had not missed a turn. A girl passes me. As is habit, I immediately tried to assess whether or not she might be in my age group. I decided she was much younger than me. (...as if it mattered).

It turned out she was doing run/walk intervals so shortly after passing me she stopped to walk. I passed her back and we kept that back and forth going until the finish. She crossed the finish about 200 yards ahead of me.

After it was over as I was in a daze of throbbing legs and dehydration, I could hear her husband congratulate her on a great time for a tough course. She looked back at me and thanked me for pacing her. I was shocked. What? I paced you? She looked so fresh when she first passed me and I was feeling so dead, I did not think was possible. She said every time I passed her she just told herself to stay with me. LOVE THAT. I unknowingly helped someone else to the finish. It made all the pain worthwhile :)

Don'ts for Women Riders...

Came across the blog Lists of Note earlier today. Love this list of riding tips for ladies from 1895.



A few tips are laugh out loud funny, while others still somewhat ring true today. Here are a few of my faves. PLEASE visit their blog to check out the rest for a good laugh (or if you need to brush up on your 'rules of the road').

Don't be a fright.

Don't ask, "What do you think of my bloomers?"

Don't scream if you meet a cow. If she sees you first, she will run.

Don't wear white kid gloves. Silk is the thing.

Don't try to have every article of your attire "match."

Don't cultivate a "bicycle face."

Don't attempt a "century."

Don't scratch a match on the seat of your bloomers.

Don't appear in public until you have learned to ride well.



Enjoy ... Hope you are having a great weekend!

*** Don't forget to enter to win a $25 Publix Gift Card. You have until Monday! ***

Best Meals Happen at Home Publix Giveaway!

I have been trying to live the frugal lifestyle lately (for the most part...). I gave up my blond hair for something a little closer to my "roots" that did not require as much maintenance. I opted to get up at 3 AM to drive to a marathon two hours away in order to save money on a hotel. I have brought my breakfast, lunch and snacks to work every day this year except one (I forgot my breakfast one morning). I know, we aren't that far into 2012 just yet but trust me, it is a huge accomplishment that my car wheels have only been in a drive through one time in the past 3+ weeks.

I have also subscribed to a menu planning service that has helped me cut my grocery bill, keeps me from visiting the grocery store more than once a week and, as a bonus, not only keeps us from eating the same things days after day but also helps us to watch what we are eating. (I'll tell you more about that in another post).

We certainly aren't perfect eaters BUT by preparing things at home versus grabbing something on the fly, we can get a better handle on what we eat. We are even branching out past meat and potatoes into meats and vegetables that CR never would have touched in the past. (We have a rule, unless he asks what he is eating, don't tell him and it is all good...).

If you are lucky enough to have a Publix in your area, not only do they have fantastic buy one, get one free deals all the time but right now they have a Better Meals Happen at Home Campaign. You can visit them online or on facebook to find recipes you can make at home in 30 minutes or less as well as register for savings throughout the year!

AND...

They have given me a $25 Publix gift certificate to give away to one of you! All you need to do is leave me a comment telling me your favorite go to weekday meal in a hurry. I will pick a winner at random on 01/30/12. Good Luck!



Disclosure: The Publix gift card, information, and giveaway have been provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark.