November Review

Hey look, it's half way through December, must be time to review November's totals, right?  At least I'm doing it before the end of the year.  November was surprisingly a good month for me.  I really had no idea where my numbers were going to be and I was shocked to see where they were.

Run Miles--78.49!!  Yes, you read that correctly--78 miles in November!!  Crazy.  I have no idea how I managed to find the time to run 78 miles, but I did.  I think part of it is that my "short" runs are really no less than 5 miles now.  I find it hard to even bother to get dressed to run 'just' 3 miles anymore.  It seems like such a waste of time.  My shortest run this month was 4 and longest was a half marathon.  

Total for the year so far is 606.  That's pretty darn good!

Spin Minutes--155  Not horrible.

Swim--5500 yards.  Slowly getting back into swimming again.  I do like it, it feels good for my body to do something different than running.  It's just so hard to change into a swim suit, go and be cold for 10 minutes during the warm-up, get all wet etc.  It's so much easier to just change into running clothes and run.

Tennis--2 hours  I had skipped tennis for most of the fall because I have to rearrange my work schedule to go and I had decided that I would rather miss work to see the girls' field hockey games than play tennis.  Now that field hockey is over, I can get back to tennis again.  I like it because it's fun and different but I really don't get as good a workout from it like I do on a 6 mile run.

Weights--50 minutes.  Lame.

Races Run--I did a kinda virtual Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving.  There was supposed to be an actual organized run that morning but the weather screwed everything up again and the roads were super icy so they moved the run inside the YMCA on the track.  Yuk.  My running buddy, Stacey, and I decided just to go a bit later and take it outdoors.  WAY better decision.

I also did the Santa Hustle Half Marathon this month and it was a BLAST!!  Really, one of the most fun races I have ever done.  Partly because it was actually fun, and partly because I scored a sweet PR, cutting around 7 minutes off my time!  BAM!

I loved dressing up and I loved running well.  You can read the race recap here if you wish.  But I would totally do this race again next year if they come back.  Loved it.


Books Read

~FINALLY finished the Game of Thrones Series.  Wow, that last one sucked.  It was long, boring and never really seemed to go anywhere.  I feel like a whole lot of nothing happened and I wasted 3 weeks trying to drudge my way through it.  Otherwise, I really enjoyed the series and I'm ready to watch the tv series now.

~Gone Girl--finished this book in about 4 days.  I had started this one about a year ago and never got into it, but then tried again this week and for some reason, I liked it much better.  Anyway, good book if you want to read it.  The ending was not at all what I expected and it left me a bit pissed.

New Music--all things country, again, all things pop are bugging the shit out of me.
~Chillin It
~Ready Set Roll
~Somewhere in My Car
~Take it on Back
~Beachin


New and Exciting--I guess the biggest thing right now is that after the high of such a successful half marathon, I got all delusional and signed up for a full marathon......  Excited and scared all at the same time.  The feeling I had after that half in November was the first time I really truly felt as though I had the stuff to complete a marathon.  I have never finished a half and not felt like I wanted to die.  This time I felt like I could do more.  It wasn't hard.   So I got all stupid and signed up for the Maine Coast Marathon in May.  On Mother's Day.  Cause really, who doesn't want to run 26.2 miles on Mother's Day?   Seriously, like I've got something better to do that day.

All things basketball are going on right now.  Big Sister made varsity this year and I think she will see some playing time if what happened in pre-season continues to happen during the regular season.  I think we have a pretty good team this year--going in underrated, we may just surprise some teams.  Unfortunately, the weather here has sucked this past week so the first 2 games of the season have been rescheduled.  ugh.  Opener is tonight.

Things I'm Loving 
~Loving my running and totals right now.
~Loving my accomplishments this past month in regards to running.
~Loving my weight and size.  Hovering around 137-140 which is excellent for me.  My stomach is close to showing legit abs.  Many of my pants are loose.

Things I'm Hating
~I'm hating this winter.  I'm hating all winters.  The cold sucks.
~I don't usually get all down on getting older but wow, I am really feeling it lately.  I can see how people go through a mid-life crisis.  It's not so much how I feel inside about myself, it's more how I'm being perceived.  Example--20 somethings look handsome to me, they look at me like, mom?   It must be a real struggle for those that have always been so focused on their looks and were always the beautiful ones.  I was never that girl, always very average and blah.  Not the one that anyone noticed at a party.  I cannot imagine going from being the beauty queen to the pretty woman in her 40's.  No wonder all of Hollywood has so much plastic surgery.  The struggle to stay young and relevant is real.
~Dark at 4:30 sucks the life out of me.  Maybe I have seasonal affective disorder.....
~Christmas sucks the life out of me as well.  I wish Christmas were more like how Thanksgiving is and less about the buying of presents.

I hope you all are having a great December thus far and good luck with Christmas shopping and celebrating!

Santa Hustle Half Marathon Race Report

The Santa Hustle race information showed up about 2 months ago on my facebook feed and I was so excited about it!  I signed up right away and tried like hell to get my friends to sign up too.  It is a new race series with a 5K and Half Marathon option.  You get a red sweatshirt, santa beard and santa hat as part of your race swag.  Christmas music and cookies would be found on the course.  I thought for sure I could get a bunch of friends to go with me and dress up.

But no one did.  It's a gimmic-y, costume-y, silly kind of race like the Color Run but there was a half marathon option which IMO made it more legit.  I still couldn't get anyone to bite.

Whatever.  I was going to go anyway and have fun all Santa-like without them.  Even though I am a grinch.

As the date got closer, I found that my friend Jim, was coming and he was going to help me get my sub-2.  Yay!  Then the week before the race I got my hometown running buddy to sign up, and another one from home and then all of a sudden there were tons of people I knew who were going!  All of who were on a mission to get me under 2 hours.

The race was supposed to start at 7:00 a.m. which was perfect other than I had to get up at 4:15 to get ready.  It's still pretty damn dark at 4:15, in case you were wondering.  I got dressed and headed over to pick up my local running buddy, Stacey.  She so kindly snapped a pic of me buying my pre-race fuel so that she could make fun of me on facebook.

don't be hating on the xmas outfit.  I rock the candy cane skirt.

Stacey refused to dress up and wear the red tights and tutu I had for her.  She did agree to the santa hat so there's that at least.

They had all kinds of xmas crap set up once we got there.  Inflatable snowman, inflatable reindeer, actual reindeer, candy and of course Santa Hustle gear to purchase.  

We walked around checking stuff out and met up with our group.  We started out in the 8 minute mile area but looked up to the 6 minute mile area and there was no one.  So we went there instead.  Cause that's how we roll.

Everyone I was running with was faster than me, but they were all either training or just taking it easy today so the mission was SUB 2 FOR MICHELLE.  I have to say, it was pretty awesome having my own pacing team.

 pre-race with Leslie photobomb!

The group posing is the group from Boothbay Harbor.  We also had a Mrs. Claus and Buddy the Elf running with us that somehow missed this photo.

best costume ever!  people kept yelling, "I hope you find your dad, Buddy!"  The irony is he's never seen the movie..... hahaha

And I also ran into my other running buddy, Leslie, who ended up finishing SUPA FAST in like 1:35 or something like that.  Whatever.  It's her stupid long legs... she has an unfair advantage.

The race was supposed to start at 7:00 but finally got going around 7:15.  I guess there was a traffic accident or something that the police needed to deal with first.  At 7:00 a.m. on a Sunday.  Weird. The temperature was perfect to start, probably in the 30's?  Something like that.  A bit cool but perfect for once you got going.

Mile 1:  8:31
Mile 2:  8:27
Mile 3:  8:33
Mile 4:  8:42
Mile 5:  8:42
Mile 6:  8:44
Mile 7:  8:56
Mile 8:  9:01
Mile 9:  8:53
Mile 10:  9:03
Mile 11:  8:57
Mile 12:  8:53
Mile 13:  8:49
.1:  :45

Total Garmin time:  1:54:58
Bib time: 1:55:00

131/466 overall finishers.  71/341 females.  11/56 in my age group.

This is BY FAR, my strongest race ever.  I felt great the entire race.  My splits were all pretty even and I never once needed to stop, I never got a cramp, felt tired, wanted to die... not even once.  This is the first time that I could ever even believe for a moment that I might, just might, be able to finish a marathon.

The whole race, I ran at a pace where I could (and did!) hold a conversation.  I never felt winded or out of breath.  I really feel like if I had wanted to step it up a bit, I certainly could have.

The race course itself, was pretty ugly and boring.  It was around the mall area in Portland and near the airport so there was some traffic and noise and nothing really worth seeing.  However, the course was flat so that probably contributed to the ease of this race for me and honestly, people did not sign up for this race for a pretty view on the course.  It was all about the santa costumes in this race!

I love this photo!

At the finish there was the usual water and bananas, but also mini M & Ms  yessssssss! and cookies! We got a cool santa medal as well.

All in all, I really enjoyed this race!  It was well organized for being a first time race here in Maine, there was good swag, good snacks, a medal, a PR, and perfect weather day--really just a great race overall.  There was plenty of parking, porta potties, volunteers and police support.  The only thing that was a little annoying was that the sweatshirts were really tiny!  I mean like a ladies M fit my 11 year old daughter who weighs 80 lbs......  I haven't tried it on, but really, it's pretty dang small.  But if that's the only complaint, well, I suppose the race is a winner!

If you get a chance to do a santa hustle in your area, I would totally sign up for it.

12 Things I Know from Running/Triathlon

I've learned a lot of things from running and triathlon that I probably would have never known had I not started on this journey.  Here are a few things that I know because of running.


1.  I know that 6 miles can solve most of your problems.  Or at least, the problems don't seem as great after 6 miles.

2.  I know my toes will never be the same.

Ug-ly

3.  I know how to spit at the exact velocity and direction to avoid hitting myself and others in varying degrees of wind.

4.  Ditto with snot rockets.

5.  I know running friends are the best friends.  Even if you only see them at races or online.  That is the truth.

6.  I know that I can swim a mile in the ocean without being eaten/panicking/drowning or dying.  Oh, and then bike 25 miles and run 6.  Yes.  Yes I can do that.

7.  I know at least 3 different routes from my house and around town for multiple distances--3, 6, 10, 12 miles--without using a GPS.

8.  I know the misery of finding the chaffed spots on your body in the shower after finishing a triathlon.  This is amplified if the race was in salt water.  This could be a valid form of torture in wartime.

9.  I know that bodies after 40 do not have to be fat asses and FUPAs.  Do work and it can be size 6 jeans, a fit butt and actual legit abs.

no FUPA zone

10.  I know that a runner's high does exist and it is far better and cheaper than any other high you might think of. (as long as you aren't counting all your running sneakers.  then it's a close tie to crack  cost-wise.)  There is nothing like the feeling of accomplishing something you never thought possible.

11.  I know what it feels like to be passed by a 70 year old dude wearing jeans.  And a dude wearing a giant cardboard lighthouse.  And that same dude wearing a moose costume.  And a man my age pushing a double stroller.  Not just a stroller, but a DOUBLE stroller.

moose man after he passed me.....

12.  Despite #11, I know I am a badass.

that post in which I finally write a recap....

So I'm finally getting around to reviewing September and October's totals.  I am seriously the lamest blogger ever.  Some serious shit has been going down in the Average Girl's household that has kept my mind otherwise occupied.  Details will be forthcoming, but let's get through the basics first. Ugh.  Here goes.

September

Run--59.31  Who the hell runs 59.31 and doesn't squeak out that extra .69 to get to 60 total miles?  Me, that's who.  Guess I need to pay better attention to my totals near the end of the month.  Still a pretty respectable monthly total.  Go me!

Bike--195 minutes on the bike.  Biking on an actual outdoor bike gets so much harder this time of year when it starts getting dark earlier and earlier.  So most of this was on the spin bike.

That's it folks.  No swimming, no weight training, no tennis.  Nothing.

Races--I didn't have any races in September.


October

Run--55.16 miles

Bike--215 minutes

Swim--4000 yards

Weights--15 minutes (seriously, why even bother mentioning it?) and 1 hour of yoga.  Not including my yoga fails...

Races--I had one race in October.  It was a brand new race called the Trail Fest.  It was a race on trails (duh) in Kennebunk Maine.  A friend of mine was kind enough to give me a code for a free entry, so I thought, why not?  There was a 5K and a 10K and I chose to do the 10K.

It was an afternoon race, which was really weird, and it was a lot longer drive to get to the start than I thought it was going to, but once I got there it was a perfect day for running and the trails were beautiful.

very cool finish line

I knew only one person there so that was weird in that I didn't really have anyone to hang out with at the start.  Princess came with me and she was such a good sport about just hanging out on the deck while I raced.  She even videoed me as I finished!

I finished in 1:08:23.  7th in my age group and 56 overall.  Not bad.


Books--still trudging through the Game of Thrones series.  I'm on the final book now.  I say trudging not because I'm not enjoying them but because they are long ass books!  It is taking me forever to finish this damn series!  I can't wait to finish so I can watch the show.

What's New--omg so much going on this fall.

~Big Sissy had a great freshman season in field hockey this year.  Not only did she start and play varsity, she was the team's high scorer with 10 goals and 7 assists.  She was also selected for our conference's all stars second team.

~Princess' field hockey team also did very well this year, ending up as runner's up for their league.  She got to play a bit (she's a 6th grader on a 6-8th grade team) and really improved quite a bit.

~Manimal finished out his first year of football also making it to the championship game for their league 3/4 grade.  He had quite a few touchdowns, an interception, long runs and some great blocks this year.  I am so incredibly proud of all my kids.  They are far better athletes at their ages than I ever was and most importantly, they all continue to make excellent grades as well.

~Eldest daughter has a boyfriend.  eek.  A senior boyfriend.  My freshman daughter.  This has occupied my mind many, many hours and has been very stressful for me.  I have recovered from the initial newness of it and I really like the kid/boy/man/whatever.  He's super nice, a hard worker and he treats her well.  It's too bad the first boyfriend wasn't a sophomore or a freshman, but oh well.  Go big or go home, right?  Did I mention this is the same daughter that is turning 15 this weekend?  How is that possible, I'm only 30.....  #old #ifeelsoold

Music--new music on my iphone lately:
~Leave the Night On
~Drink a Beer--not for running but I really like the song
~Fireball
~Animals
~Look at You

Lots of country because pop is bugging me lately.


What's on the Agenda

~Basketball is starting in the next two weeks for both Sissy and Manimal and that will take up almost every day of the week once it gets started.  I love and it and hate it all at once.

~I've signed up for the Santa Hustle Half Marathon on November 23.  I'm super excited to dress up like Santa and run 13.1 miles!  Who wouldn't be?

~I'm trying to figure out a day to go to the Celtics game in Boston, but with basketball practice and traveling to get there, there aren't many days available.  Looks like it's either going to be next Friday or Super Bowl Sunday.

That's all this time around I hope everyone is having a great fall!

Hey, didn't I used to have a blog or something?

So, yeah, about that blog I used to write...... back when I had witty and interesting things to say.  Back when I needed to blog to keep me motivated to exercise and be held accountable.  Back when I felt like I had something worth saying.

I still have plenty to say, but now I have a high schooler and anything and everything that I do is a complete embarrassment to her.  So I guess I need to watch what I say and post since someone, somewhere might read my stupid blog post, or see my selfie or that questionable dirty cartoon on facebook.

And other things, not involving said kid, I certainly have plenty of thoughts I'd like to get out of my head, but a public blog is probably not the place for that.  Suffice it to say, that it really is true--you have no idea what someone's journey is and what struggles they might be working through.


So,,,, moving on from all that cryptic psychobabble, I still have to recap September and in a couple of days, October so I'll wait and do that in one post.

For now, I'll share with you my series of #yogafails.  If you don't happen to follow me on instagram (ltlindian2)  you may not have had the pleasure of seeing these inspiring photos of me doing various yoga poses.  If there were sarcastic font, I would totally use it here.


So here you go:

 wheel pose

I seriously cannot get my head off the floor.  I am trying.

at least my shoulder looks nice.....

oy.  Her pants are cool at least....

my legs don't look too bad here but the chest,,,, um not so much.

So close!!

here I am looking just like her, minus the gun.....

The one pose where I actually look pretty decent--like legit yoga.  Maybe I am making some gains!

Feel free to follow me and join in on the yoga fail fun.  I cannot be the only one who sucks at yoga. In fact, I might feel better about myself if I could see everyone else sucking too.  So help a girl out.

Bradbury Mountain Bruiser 12 Mile Trail Race

I'm not sure why it's taken me until Thursday to begin writing this race report, just lazy I guess.  Anyway, Sunday was the last installment of the Bradbury Mountain trail running series.  The first race was the 6 mile Scuffle in July.

beginning of the scuffle---oh so happy!

The second was the 9 mile Breaker in August.  

at the summit.  not as happy here.

My friends, Danielle and Jim, had signed up for all three and we were all going to complete the series and earn the "Bad Ass" hoodie that you get when you finish the series.

The race started at 9:00, which is a pretty perfect start time for me.  It means that I can get up at a reasonable hour (read:  not ass crack of dawn), leave my house at 7:30, and still have time to arrive early.  

As I was collecting my things for the race--my hydration belt, fuel, fluids etc, my phone buzzes and it's Danielle telling me she's sick.  wah.  She is smack in the middle of training for Chicago and MDI Half Marathon and was just feeling like crap.  She had also had an episode of breathing difficulties and a racing heart rate at an earlier race and didn't want a repeat of that.  I was sad that she wasn't going to be there, but glad she was taking care of herself.  I left for the race a little bummed out that I wouldn't have a chatting partner for what was looking like a 3 hour run.

Elevation chart with all three races.

The elevation profile for this race (in blue) was looking fantastic compared to the previous 9 miler (in green).  I had hopes that this one would not be as difficult as this previous race.  It turns out that this race had difficulties of its own.... but that's for later.

At the start I found Cathryn, who I had run with last time (see pic above at the summit) and it was great to find her and be able to run with her and her friend.  Ready, set, go! and it was time to run.  The start was crowded because the trail was really narrow and just wide enough for one person.  It took a mile or two to thin out the crowd but everyone was really nice and friendly about passing and allowing others to pass.  I love trail runners!  

Mile 1:  13:19

Mile 2:  13:34

Mile 3:  11:51

Mile 4:  12;01

Mile 5:  12:30

I really had no thoughts or difficulties during this part of the race.  The terrain was technical in places but the elevation was comfortable and I didn't find much about these miles difficult at all.  I think there was one stretch of walking at about mile 4.5 to take some water at the aid station and chew a gummy gel thing.  I spent time talking to Cathryn and then when I lost her briefly, I was talking to Kayla, a field hockey coach of my daughter's.

Mile 6:  11:33

Mile 7:  11:45

Mile 8:  12:19

Mile 9:  13:29

These miles were, dare I say easy?  and fun.  I chatted with another woman, Pam, who it turns out I had scheduled lacrosse games with last spring, AND her daughter was the girl we helped out at the last race.  So weird.  This world is really small sometimes.  I really felt like I could do this all day.

Then came the hard part.

See that last little bit right near the end that looks like brains?  It's called the O-trail.  And it sucked.  I think it may have gotten it's name from how you feel when you are on it.  

For example:

~Oh shit--these rocks are everywhere and I twisted my ankle again.

~Oh--where the hell is the trail?

~Oh--didn't we just go that way?

~Oh--sweet baby Jesus, are we done yet?

~Oh--seriously.  Where is the trail?  Follow those guys.  No, wait, they are going the other way.  Shit.

There were times (multiple) when I came to a complete stop to try to figure out which way I was supposed to go.  You could NOT look up from your feet to see the trail ahead because that would be a sure way to trip on something and break your leg.  However, looking down at your feet made it super hard to see this non-existent, barely used, trail and which way it was going up ahead.  Very frustrating section of the race. 

Even worse, you could hear the cheering at the finish line for what seemed like forever.  I kept thinking I was almost done and then the trail would switch back and we were going the other way.

Mile 10:  15:28

Mile 11:  17:02 Pretty much walking around saying where the f**k am I?

Mile 12:  8:45  My Garmin had the course short a half a mile.

Official time: 2:32:51

Very pleased with that finish time.  I had expected to finish around 3 hours, so a full half hour sooner was a big deal for me!  I was so happy to get to the finish line and pretty proud of myself as well.  Cathryn and I finished together and crossed holding hands.  What a great running buddy!  I wished she lived nearby.  

Right as you crossed the finish, a volunteer was there to give you your Bad Ass sweatshirt if you had completed the series.  I was psyched to get it and have something to change into right away.  It was a chilly day to start but when you are all sweaty, it's even worse!

See?  I am officially a bad ass.  my sweatshirt says so. 

This time I finished early enough to get some watermelon!  Yes!

All in all, I really enjoyed this series and would consider doing it again next year.  I think I could improve on all my times now that I know what to expect.  Plus, Danielle needs to get her bad ass hoodie so I'm sure she'll want a running partner.

All my scheduled races are finished for the year.  It's weird to have nothing on the agenda.  I feel like I might have to squeeze in one more half.....  Anyone care to join me?

Musical Monday--My Life Soundtrack

Today I was tagged by Jen Small to compile a group of songs that would be my soundtrack to my life (thus far).  Music can be so many things to people, for me, music helps me through whatever I'm going through at the time.  One song can bring me right back to that moment in the past when I was at a school dance or at a football game or at that college party.  I can remember exactly what was going on and almost exactly the feelings I had.

Music can be pretty powerful.

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to try to figure out what would be my soundtrack.  Here's what I came up with.

Childhood:  Shawn Cassidy--Da doo run run (wtf does that even mean?)

oh my, I had the biggest crush on him.

KC and the Sunshine Band--I'm Your Boogie Man

I can remember playing this song over and over on my record player (for those of you not 40, it's this plastic disk that you put the needle on and it would play music.  If you were lucky.  If you weren't it would skip and play the same line over and over again.).


Tweens:  Soft Cell Tainted Love

One of those songs you just never forget.


Teens/High School:  Poison and Bon Jovi (or really any other hair band of that era).

Talk Dirty to Me--not because I was talking dirty to anyone, but just because I can remember singing this song at the top of my lungs with my friends.

Living on a Prayer--I think we wore out that cassette on the way to and from football games.


College

Hair bands were all of a sudden super uncool, (even though big hair was still da bomb).  I quickly tossed my metal and hair band music and replaced it with more cool college-y type music.

REM  Losing my Religion

U2--Pride in the name of love

omg did I love these songs and bands.  Rattle and Hum basically got worn out in my early 20's.

Oh wait!  One more for college, it was basically our sorority's theme song.

B52's Love Shack



30's--Simple Plan Welcome to My Life

I lost myself a bit in my 30's.  New marriage, new job, kids...  I let myself become unimportant, forgot who I was and what was important to me.  It's a hard thing--becoming a mom and not allowing that to be the only thing that you are.


40's--I found myself again.  Kelly Clarkson What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger

Sarah Bareillis--Brave

50's and beyond are chapters left to be written.  Stay tuned.


What would your life sound track be?

July AND August Review

Wow.  I am the lamest blogger ever.  I haven't even done July recap yet and it's already part way through September.  ugh.  #lazylazylazy


RUN
July--64.07 miles.
August--77.85 miles.  My highest mileage months ever.

This included two trail runs at Bradbury Mountain--a 6 miler and a 9 miler.  The 9 miler just about killed me!

Misery at it's best.

I also had two, YES TWO! 13 mile runs in August.  One a training run and one the Harborfest Half. Both of which just about did me in.

                         looking all happy and wonderful pre-race.                       guest of honor Gary Allen!     

   post race with #allthebling

Oh and a Color Me Rad event!  

I never thought I could get monthly totals like these, but I guess I can.  Good running friends and fun races to attend make all the difference.  

BIKE

July--210 minutes on the bike

August--180 minutes

This includes a tri relay which our team came in 6th out of 200 teams.  So much fun!

No swimming and no tennis to speak of in the last two months, I suppose that's part of the reason my run miles have gone up so much.  Less swimming leaves more time for running.

There has been some of this:

and a little of this:

and OMG is there anything cuter than this??  I think not.

And then this happened:

I have a 9th grader, a 6th grader and a 4th grader.  I'm not sure how that is possible since I was just in high school just a few years ago.....

Races in July and August:
~Bradbury Mountain Scuffle
~Bradbury Mountain Breaker
~Lobster Roll 5K
~Color Me Rad "race"
~Harborfest Half Marathon
~Tri for a Cure Relay

Books:
~Divergent series--Divergent, Insurgent and Allegiant.  All good, quick and easy reads.
~This Side of Brightness, Colum McCann.
~Game of Thrones series--late to the party, I know.  I'm on the second one.
~The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, The Death Cure all by James Dashner.  If you like Divergent, you will like these books too.
~The Secret History, The Goldfinch both by Donna Tartt
~The Color Purple--thought I had read this already but realized I hadn't when my daughter started reading it for summer English.

wow, guess I've been reading a lot this summer too.  Running and reading.  That is a good combination.

Music:
My kids are on a country music kick lately so that's what I've been listening to.  There is good and bad with that.  One can only stand so much country music.  The same holds true for pop music.
~Sunshine and Whiskey Frankie Ballard
~Maps Maroon 5
~All About That Bass Meghan Trainor

Otherwise, music stinks lately.

On deck for this month--field hockey, field hockey and football.  One more race at Bradbury Mountian, a 12 miler this weekend and no other races scheduled as of today.  I might squeeze in one more half marathon in October if it is agreeable with the fall sports schedule.

Enjoy the cooler weather as it arrives!  I know I will!!

Boothbay Harborfest Half Marathon--hills from hell

The weekend was finally here.  The race that I had been working on and waiting for all summer.  It wasn't my A race, but I was certainly excited to have a brand new half marathon that *literally* went by my driveway.

All the things that I worked on for this race had come together.  Gary Allen was the guest of honor, there were cool finishers medals and there were unique overall winners awards.

I felt attached to the race because of all the work that had been put into making it happen.  So many people other than myself had so much more to do with it, but I really felt like this was my race, cause I was a part of making it happen.

We had over 70 runners preregistered for the half and 110 for the 5K.  Plenty more came that morning to register on site.  I got to the registration at 7:00 a.m. to help check people in and sell t-shirts.  There were so many volunteers for this event that my help probably wasn't needed, but I was glad to be there anyway.

I got to see Gary and snap some photos before things got too crazy.  Gary had just flown in from the Burning Man Ultra in Nevada.  Yes, folks.  He ran a 50k (came in 3rd) and then flew across the country to run this half.

And meet up with my friend Jim too.  He won the race entry for his donation to my Tri for a Cure fundraising earlier in July.

between the blues and yellows, we all match very nicely

The day was more humid than what we had been having, but thankfully, the sun stayed away and it remained overcast and cloudy until the afternoon.  Good thing, because a little heat would have made an already challenging course so much more difficult.

ok, truthfully, this elevation chart does not do the route justice.  It was God damn hard and hilly.

pre-race shenanigans.  The dude photobombing won it all.  

The race got started right on time at 9:00 a.m.  My plan was to run with my friends, Lauren (#27) and Jim (#5) until I couldn't anymore.  My legs had been feeling very fatigued all week after Lauren and I ran the race course last weekend.  I had two 4 milers during the week, and both felt labored and hard.  In hindsight, I probably should have either taken the whole week off or run the course two weeks before the race rather than just one week before.  13 miles is still a long distance for me and is not really a training run, but rather a LONG ASS RUN.  And thus, my legs told me so.

Mile 1:  8:48  We rock!  Running is great!  Maybe this is too fast?  Nah.  We rock!

Mile 2:  9:14  Still rocking!  I love life and running!

Mile 3:  9:16  Ran by my family at the end of my driveway.  Still love running!  Loving the notes I wrote in the road with chalk last night.  Saw the one my son wrote--Go Mom!  Love it!  Feeling great!

Mile 4:  9:31  Lost Jim here.  He just took off and that was the last of him.

Mile 5:  9:28  Nothing memorable.

Mile 6:  10:41  Walked the first hill of death.  Had to run again when the volunteers at the top were taking a picture.  wtf.  Told them they needed to delete that walking photo.

Mile 7:  10:14  Starting to lose Lauren here.  She is feeling bad about leaving me behind, I can tell.  But I tell her to keep going.

Mile 8:  10:38  I'm walking all the hills now.  I cannot even make my legs slog up any more hills.  Walking feels good.  Until I'm getting passed by everyone.  ugh.  The sheriff keeps driving back and forth and finally I tell him through his window that he's making me feel like I'm the last one.  He assures me that, no, I am not, and there are WAY more people behind me.  I think he's a big fat liar.

Mile 9:  11:22  Mentally, I have checked out here.  I'm done.  Legs are done, body is done, mind is done.  I want to be done.  I try to convince myself that I can do anything for 3 more miles.  Then I realize how shitty my math is in that moment cause there is actually 4 miles left.  fuck.  4.1 miles to be precise.  I hate the notes I wrote in chalk on the road.  Suck it up buttercup, is NOT what I want to hear right now.

Mile 10:  11:07  Hating all things running right now.  People who were nowhere near me are now catching up and passing me.  I'm cursing myself cause I can't/won't go faster.  Cramps everywhere--leg, stomach.

Mile 11:  11:40  Fuck you running.  I hate this race and I hate this course.  Oh goody.  Another fucking hill.  Who the fuck designed this course of hell, anyway?  Walking more than running.  Even slogging feels like hell.

Mile 12:  11:32  One more mile.  I feel a bit happier now because if I could slog through the last 5 miles, I could certainly slog through just One. More. Mile.

Mile 13:  11:40  The end is near.  I can see the entrance to the brewery where the finish line was last year.  But wait.  There's more?  I don't finish here???

Mile 13.1:  F'n pissed that I have to go down the road, THEN turn, THEN up another f'n hill to finish.  WTF.  Worst look on my face.  So mad.  So done.  So sore.  No time cause I didn't shut off my watch for another 30 minutes.

Official time 2:15:58

I crossed the finish line, got my finisher's medal, grabbed a water and basically died on the grass.  I stayed there for probably 15 minutes.  Not moving.  Cause my legs didn't want to.

finishers medal when I could stand up

Really cool medal if I do say so myself.  Since the race was sponsored by the brewery and ended at the brewery, they were kind enough to put a token in each race bag for a beer or flavored soda for after the race.  I had the blueberry soda and it was delicious!  Jim and Gary had beers and I believe that they thought the beer was delicious as well.

I hung around to hear the awards even though (surprisingly!) I was not one of them.  The fastest man was 1:25 ish and the first woman was 1:40 ish.  Upon getting their award, each of them mentioned how tough the race was.  The third place man said it was the 2nd or 3rd hardest race he's done.  That made me feel a little better about my time and my race.  Even the fast guys thought it was hard.

Gary giving out the awards

One cool extra prize they had was a raffle for the Trek bike you see in the picture above.   Whoever won the bike raffle also won a beer glass and a free beer for life if they rode in on that bike!  Now that's a pretty good deal!  I don't think a local won which is good for the brewery.  They could lose money on that depending on who won!

Once my legs had recovered a bit, and I was feeling a little less crappy, I actually felt a bit proud of my result.  The time is not too embarrassing and I didn't quit.  I did the best I could that day with the legs that I had.  Another day, I could do better.  But that day.... that was my best.  And I didn't quit, even though I wanted to so many times.

Thank you so much to Gary Allen for coming and making this event a special one.  It turned out to be a very good first half marathon and I hope that everyone comes back next year and brings a friend!