Road ID

If your a runner, walker or cyclist, please take the time to invest in some identification for yourself. Road ID offers a great selection to fit everyone's needs. Braclets, necklaces, wristbands or shoe tags can save your life. Invest in one today.

http://www.roadid.com/Common/default.aspx

The year of bling

I can only hope that 2014 is just as exciting as 2013. Not to shabby, eh?!

Next up...Tacoma St. Paddy's Day half (Saturday) and the New Bedford Half in Massachusetts (Sunday). #wama

Race Recap: Route 66 Half Marathon

What a weekend! Tulsa experienced record lows for the race but it didn't stop me from having a great time! With a race start of 23 degrees and a real feel of 14...it was COLD!!!!! Beware there are ALOT of pictures :)

As soon as I stepped off the airplane I new this weekend was going to be magical. Route 66 signs were all over the airport. I got so pumped! I'm in Tulsa, Oklahoma :)

I was excited for my first Half Fanatic/Marathon Maniac meet-up. I was finally amongst people who
GOT ME! Yes, there ARE people crazier than me.

I even met MM #3tp!

 

Karen and I walked around the expo for a while looking at the booths. We found the Little Rock Marathon booth...omg...I NEED that medal. I had to use 2 hands to pick it up. Looks like there is a Marathon in my future :) I hear it's hilly. It's a good thing I like to run hill repeats :)

 

Route 66 was the theme so that means cars! They were everywhere. So shiny! I secretly wanted a photo inside of it or even laying on it. I didn't want to get in trouble.

 

 This one is my favorite :)

One last photo before I leave the expo...I hope you're not tired of the pictures already! (I'm just getting started). I'm ready to ROCK this race! 10955 is in the house :)

 

Not only do I belong to the Half Fanatics group, I'm also a member of the 50 States Half Marathon Club. We met for dinner at Baxter's in downtown Tulsa. I had pasta! It was nice seeing old friends again and meeting new ones! We talked about our favorite races and got each other pumped for our COLD run in the morning. We are ready to Run Tulsa!

 

 

Well the time has come to brave the cold. I was so lucky that I bought hand warmers from the Expo. They're definitely going to get their use today! They were nice enough to slip inside my gloves and fit into the palm of my hands. We went to Maniac Corner first thing before race start and got a photo. Over 1000 MM/HF in attendance. What a turnout. I'm down in the second row-ish on the right.

 

 

I'm so lucky that I've met some great traveling friends. Karen and Jodi are fun to hang out with. This is our second race together. Karen is from St. Louis and Jodi is from Florida.

 

 

We were divided into corrals for the race start. I was in Corral C. Each corral at the start had a confetti release. It was pretty cool. Anders ~ I borrowed some of your pictures :)

 

 

 

See that last picture? We started with a hill. I mad a big mistake about this race. I didn't research the elevation gain/loss. The first 6 miles or so was hilly. Yes, the down-hills came too...but this was different. I don't know if the cold had something to do with it but it felt like I was going in slow motion ALL the time. I couldn't decide whether to walk the up-hills to save my energy. I chose not to. My watch didn't reflect a slowdown in time too much. I just decided to not look at my watch until the first beep (mile 3.5).  I was awfully tired in the beginning due to the hills. I guess my first mile was a little too fast for me...

mile 1: 9:32 (I NEVER run 9 minute miles) and that was with an uphill...what was I doing???
mile 2: 10:34
mile 3: 10:51 (watch out for speed bumps)
mile 4: 11:11 (these hills are killing me)
mile 5: 11:39
mile 6: 11:20

Every mile I was looking for Christine and Kyle. I really tried to find you guys...maybe my eyeballs were frozen :) Love you NUC :)

Water stops were good. Great encouragement from the volunteers. However...it was SOOO cold out that the Gatorade was turning into slushies. I have sensitive teeth so to drink that was brutal for me. I like to swish my mouth out with water too, but I couldn't even do that. And ICE...there was ice on the roads due to the water stops. I'm a clumsy person but luckily I didn't slip.

mile 7: 11:14

I tripped BIG time. I almost fell flat on my face. I stepped into a hole in the road and just tumbled forward but kept upright. Stay up...just stay up. And I did. I magically thought of the GOATz...hmmm...visions of Lake Cunningham dancing in my head :)

mile 8: 11:59
mile 9: 11:54
mile 10: 12:26

Anders found me!! (And by the way, I borrowed a few of your photos too :))

mile 11: 12:10 (This is where I realized my lips were numb on my face)
mile 12: 13:09 (Now I'm freezing...literally)

 

The last hill. I did walk up this one. And I was okay with that. 

mile 13: 12:07
last 0.1:  2:32

 

I walked QUICKLY over to Maniac Corner to exchange my Route 66 Half medal in for a Half Fanatics medal. I LOVE this thing. The Maniac tent was awesome. A private area of food, tents and warmers. I wish I could had stayed longer. I was just too cold. Did I mention yet how COLD it was?!! 

 

 

 

No PR today. But an okay time. 2:32:26. My first goal was to break 2:15 and I new that wasn't going to happen after my side stich in mile 1 and the awful dry-heaving around mile 2-3. It just wasn't my day.  It was still a great day. I met a ton of  awesome people and I wouldn't change it for anything.

 

 

PROS: Entire race, great medals, brave volunteers, MM/HF and 50 Staters

CONS: Cold...but can.t change anything about that. Bus at the end. It did NOT take you back to the  hotel.

 

 State # 6

 

OKLAHOMA

 

2:32:26

 

10th half-marathon complete

 



 

This medal was everything I had imagined. 

 

Next race: St. Paddy's Day run Half Marathon ~ Tacoma, Washington

 



My next adventure!

Boarding for my next race! It's going to probably be one of my favorites...I can already tell. Over 1000 runners at Maniac Corner! Let's do this! T-town here I come. I can't wait to catch snowflakes on my tongue  :-)

Signing off!
HF #4953

Love Meb. Take the time to read this.

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2013/11/time-life/

Race Recap: 2nd Annual G.O.A.T.z Trail Run - 21 miles

It's been two days since those 21 miles. My mind is continuously running in circles wondering how I was even able to do it. I wanted to give up multiple times. And was really considering if just before the first loop (around 10.5 miles)...but something came over me. I wasn't going to quit. I'm not a quitter. I wanted that medal; NOT a ribbon :)

The day started about pretty bad. I got lost. Really lost. I went to the wrong entrance of Glenn Cunningham Lake. This is no small lake. I was on the complete opposite side of the darn thing. With only 20 minutes till gun time, I was frantically trying to find the entrance. At 7:50 am, I saw signs of hope! Phew...that part was over. I go over to check my bag...I forgot my water bottle. After running back to the car, I only had about 4 minutes to recollect myself. No time to really worry, which was probably a good thing.

After some quick directions from Papa Goat, aka Scott, we were off. The first few miles was pretty congested. Single file trail running. All is good. I'm really happy that I decided to go with the cold weather gear; long pants and long sleeves. It was a frisky 35 degrees. I figured with the generous 9 hour cut-off I was sure to get this run done. My intentions were to run the first 13.1 and walk the rest. Well, the first 13.1 took a little longer than I had hoped...

Trail running is hard. It takes dedication, determination and a different kind of runner. Someone I am not. I tripped over twenty times; rolled my ankle twice but never completely fell down (unlike the Dizzy Goat). I cried around mile 14. I wanted to quit around mile 17 but there was no where to go. I was even secretly trying to figure out a way to cut through the woods. But who am I kidding; I'd get lost. My legs were killing me and so were my hips. My 5 hour goal soon went out the window.

The encouragement from runners was amazing. It was probably the only thing that really kept me going. I decided to walk the uphill's and run the straightaways and downhill's. Then I couldn't even do that anymore. I had to walk the last two miles. My intentions where to run the last mile; finish strong. But it was an uphill.

I tried my hardest and I didn't quit. I wanted to! Did I mention that I had originally signed up for the 10.5 mile race but changed my mind. All for a medal...I'm just crazy. That pretty much sums it up. I came into the finish running at 5:38:31. People lapped me...I didn't care. I was done and ready to go home.

Will I run this again? Um...no. But I'm excited about the 12 hr Dizzy Goat trail run! The volunteers were spectacular, the food was stupendous and the runners were encouraging! I'm just not a trail runner. And I'm okay with that.

Special thanks to the G.O.A.T.z, Turkey's Aid Station, Mama's Pizza and Red Dirt Running. The chili was amazing and the salt pill was exactly what I needed. And a special thanks to the volunteers who got all the thistles out of my pants. And I LOVE my shirt.

Kudos to all of those who finished (regardless of distance)...I'm in awe of your excellence. You all deserve a big pat on the back. Thanks for letting me tag along.

See you in Tulsa...Route 66 Half Marathon!

Race Recap: Waddell & Reed Kansas City Marathon

Just 6 days after Iowa, I was off to Missouri. Kansas City was a blast but boy, was it COLD. A couple of awesome things happened at this race: another PR and I mooned up with Half Fanatics! And adding another state to my challenge wasn't half bad either.

After a 3 hour drive, we were in Kansas City. I said "we." Dan came with me! I know he probably didn't have fun, but it's nice having someone at the finish line waiting for you. We went straight to the Expo and picked up my race packet. I got a sweet white Dri-fit shirt and a small jar of BBQ sauce! The Expo had a lot of area businesses; chiropractors, health food industries and various other vendors. I was hoping for a little more. We did get pulled in by a vendor sporting this stick contraption. You've got tight muscles? Oh.my.word. This "thing" is amazing.

I wanted to purchase a "finishers" shirt. Instead of just purchasing a shirt, you could have one made anyway you like. I wasn't a fan of any of the vinyl iron on decals nor the price. So I opted out of getting a shirt. The Expo building was attached to our hotel so we walked over and checked in. The Sheraton was a gorgeous hotel with a great view of downtown. The only complaint I would have about the hotel was the unavailability of late check out. Most Host Hotels will offer late check out to their runners...not this one. I feel sorry for those running the Marathon and not getting done before noon.

 

 

 

 

Dan and I walked around the Crown Centre. We had pizza for dinner at d'Bronx and went back to the hotel. GREAT pizza. I laid out my running clothes and went to sleep.

 

 

 

Saturday morning came early. I couldn't sleep. I got dressed and just sat there...waiting! I decided to go downstairs and walk near where the starting line would be. It was sooo cold outside that the runners were all coming into the Crown Centre just to stay warm. I was able to meet up with the Half Fanatic and 50 States group! Met some new people and saw some old ones! I wish it was warmer so I could meet everyone. Pic was taken and we all went back inside!

 

 

 

The race started and things were going well. The first mile was a long "gentle" uphill. Not too bad. What comes after a "gentle" uphill...a DOWNHILL! I decided this race that I was going to take advantage of those downhill's. I normally don't want to over stride and hurt my knee but I felt good and I was flying past runners. The short, "steep" uphill around mile 3.5 was exactly that...steep. I decided to walk up this hill. I wasn't going to waste my energy on that stupid thing. Can you guess what came next? A DOWNHILL!!

 

I kept watching my Garmin...ahead of pace. 10 min miles. I was staying consistent, real consistent. That never happens. I thought could I actually get another PR just 6 days after my last one? I decided at that moment that I was and I kept chugging. The weather was so cold. The wind didn't help much either. The buildings were blocking the sun which made me want to run faster. I just kept thinking the quicker I get this run over with the quicker I can get warm.

 

The split came and the FULL marathoners continued straight and the HALF marathoners made a left turn. I had a quick thought of a fellow Half Fanatic who made a wrong turn and I wasn't going to do that :) Go Gwen!!

 

The run was quite scenic. We ran past the War Memorial, through Westport and past the Plaza. There was a ton of crowd support with fun signs that made me laugh. I would like to say a personal thank-you to the random crowd supporter with the box of Kleenex. I really needed to blow my nose. Thank-you! The miles kept increasing and I decided to just take it.

 

 

Around mile 12, the wheelchair winner was coming in along with the FULL marathon winner. It was cool seeing them come in with a police escort. I've never seen that before. But I guess I've never been this fast before. I was making it into the home stretch and saw a fellow Fanatic, and then I saw Dan! I looked at my watch as I crossed the finish line: 2:19:58. I did it. I FINALLY broke 2:20 and I set another PR. Thanks Kansas City for an amazing time.

 

Home stretch.                                                               Photo captured by KC Marathon FB page.

 

 



State # 5

 

Half marathon # 8

 

New PR:   2:19:58

 

 

PROS: great scenic views, crowd support, BBQ sandwiches, mylar blankets, medal

CONS: no late check-out, COLD

 

 

 

 

 

See ya Sunday at the 2nd Annual Trail run with the G.O.A.T.z! I'm running 21 miles!