Double race weekend March 17 and 18, 2012
St Patty's Day 8K and Florida Beach Halfathon

Saturday's race was an 8K St. Patty's day run down in Venice. We arrived in plenty of time, around 7am, to pick up our packets and use the bathroom a couple of times before the 8am start. I wasn't sure how I was going to run this race. I had the half marathon the next day. Once I got running though, I felt pretty good, so I decided to push it for this race.

The first mile was great. We ran north, from Sharky's restaurant, turned right, at the edge of the airport and headed towards the canal. At the end of that road, we get onto the Venice trail system that runs along the water front. It's a nice, wide, paved trail. We head south on that to the end then turn to the right. The course is basically a big circle. By mile 2 I am feeling a little slow down. I catch up to a young boy who has been running hard. He sees me to his left and then speeds up again. I guess he didn't want this old lady beating him! :)

I started slowing down a little by mile 3. I could feel the fatigue of racing the past few weeks and I think my bad eating habits over the past week didn't help either. The last mile was run near the beach, heading back towards Sharky's Restaurant. When I saw the turn off the main road that lead to the finish, I pushed it hard and passed this woman that had been ahead of me for a little while. :)

Finished with my best 8K time. 42:07! The 8K was just under 5 miles (4.96). I was off my best 5 mile race pace by over a minute. Need to get used to the humidity again.
Splits: 8:13/8:22/8:35/8:44/8:10

Sunday's race

This was my 39th half marathon. I'm happy I ran it, but not happy with my time. I knew by mile 2 that my legs were toast. Too many races over the past few weeks. I decided to treat it as a fun run and just take it easy. I ran walked using 4/1, then 3/1 and finally 2/1 intervals. It was just so hot! The best part of the run was getting a few photos of me were you can see air under both feet! I've been trying to get some photos like that for a while.

Finish: 2:15:24

First Watch Sarasota Half Marathon
March 11, 2012

It's all about this bling!

Race morning, once again, started off early. Saturday night was the night to set our clocks forward, so we lost an hour of sleep. Brenda and I decided we were going to have a 4:30 wake up, which would feel like 3:30. I woke up on my own at 4:20 and decided to just get up. I reached over to turn off my alarm, only to discover that I had never set it to go off! Wow, I'm lucky! :) Brenda and I hit the road around 5:30, arriving at the Players Theater parking lot about 10 minutes later. We pulled in right next to Gina and Charlotte and when we got out of our car, we saw Dawn parked just a few spots away. This parking area was just across the street from the main parking area and the race start. Much easier to get in to and more importantly, would be much easier to get out of later! We met up with Jake, Summer, Brett and Jeff and just hung out for a while waiting for the half fanatic photo time. Eventually everyone showed up, we got our photo taken and then headed over to the corral. It was packed! We entered at the 10 min mile spot, but wanted to make our way up to the 8 min mile spot. We weaved our way through the crowd, finally getting as close as we could. They really need to change the way they do this! We only had to wait a few minutes before we were off!

Me and Brenda before the race.

Jake was going to try and lead us all to an under 2 hour race. We started off very fast and used 4/1 intervals right away. The first mile was great, then we hit the bridge. Normally, the bridge is no big deal for me, but today, trying to run it and an 8 min mile pace, I was struggling up that thing! I fell back a little from the group but caught up with them on the down side. There was a water stop at the bottom of the bridge, so I decided to take 2 endurolytes while I was there. I had forgotten to take them before the race and it was already pretty hot out.

Miles 1 through 3: 8:39/ 8:57/ 9:05

Best photo of the day!

I kept up with the group until we got to St Armand's Circle, but then fell back. The pace was just to much for me in the heat. The 2 hour pace group was there, so I decided to hang with them a bit even though they were not walking at all. The pace felt better. Dawn was running with them too. I held on to that pace until we hit the bridge, but once again, they all pulled ahead and I never caught them. I did see my group of runners ahead, so when I saw them walk, I would walk. My legs were feeling pretty good. I only had to stop a couple of times to stretch so far.

Miles 4 through 6: 9:14/ 9:39/ 9:37

I caught up to Jake and Gina around mile 8. Dawn was much further ahead and Brett and Summer were behind me. The heat was really getting to us all. This stretch of the race is on a major road. We were running north and had the far left side of the road for the runners. Unfortunately it was pretty slanted. I kept to the right as much as I could, but that was near the cars, who were driving south. I was so happy when we turned to the left and started our run through the nice neighborhood that is south of the Ringling Museum of Art. Just before the museum, volunteers were handing out cold, lemon scented washcloths. So wonderful! The best thing ever! :)

Miles 7 through 10: 10:00/ 9:07/ 10:04/ 9:58

Focused on the finish line! The
woman in blue is who I passed! :)

Around mile 11, Jake asked if it was OK for him to take off. Of course! We had really slowed him down. The last couple of miles were pretty slow for us. Gina told me to go ahead a couple of times, but there was no way I had the energy to push it any harder than I was. The only good thing was that my legs were feeling pretty good. I didn't need to stretch at all for the last few miles. Around mile 12, we caught up to Dawn. It was so wonderful to know that we were almost done! We took one last walking break around mile 12.5, then got down to finishing this thing. We ran past the relay exchange area, were runners were waiting for their partners so that they could run it in together. That gave me a nice little boost. We turned right just past the crowd and up ahead was the finish line banner. I was just behind this other woman, who had been running near us the past few miles. I pushed myself to the limit, running past her and finishing strong.

Miles 11 through 13.1: 9:47/ 10:03/ 9:26
Finish: 2:04:35

It wasn't the PR I had hoped for, but it is 1:15 faster than last week's half marathon and is now my second best half marathon time! I need to find a flat half marathon with cold temps so that I can get that PR! :)

Gasparilla Half Marathon 2012

The Sarasota gang before the race.

Race morning started off early again. I got up at 3 am! I checked the weather to see if the cold front had moved through earlier. Nope. It was 70, humid and very windy. I picked up Renee at 3:45 and then we were on our way to the Tampa Convention Center. I missed our exit, so I had to try to remember how to get there from another direction. Only added a few minutes to our time. We had a very short wait in traffic to get into the parking garage. $10 later (ouch) we were parked and meeting Gina and Stephanie right on time at 5 am. We waited for a few other friends before checking our bags and heading out into the crazy wind. It started raining just before we got out side. We took a group photo, then started the walk over towards the start. We stopped by the Publix, to see if there were any Fanatics still hanging around. We were past the time of the group photo. They were all still there, so we got a couple more group photos and then headed over to the start. They had a line of porta potties down a side street, next to the corrals, so I decided to use them. Thankfully the lines were not long here. I found one with 4 guys in it. Score! They always go faster than the women. J I think I was there for only 5 minutes. Met up with Gina and Vicky and the we headed over to our corral. We got in at the back of the first corral (no one looked at bibs. We made our way up a little then hung out. There was a light rain. I was very happy to have my garbage bag rain coat on.  Just before 6am, We all tossed off our garbage bags to get ready for the start. After the national anthem, without any blast of an airhorn or fireworks, we were off! 

Half Fanatics before the race!

Gina and I decided to run the first 3 miles and then start 4/1 intervals.  The streets were pretty wide and it was easy to get around people until we hit the ramp going up to the bridge. We slowed down quite a bit running through that tight space. It didn’t last long and soon we were at our brisk pace again. Around mile 2, we got to the first water stop. I grabbed a cup, pinched it and then tried to sip it while still running. Some got in my mouth and some got in my nose! Yuck. I decided I would just slow down and take a few seconds to drink at the rest of the water stops. At about mile 2.75, we decided to go ahead with the intervals. We are occasionally blown to the side by a wind gust, but really the wind isn’t too bad so far.

Miles 1 through 3: 9:37, 8:45, 9:17

By now my left leg is hurting. The IT band and hamstrings are tight. I start stretching for a few seconds at every other walking break. The stretching does help, but the benefits don’t last long. Around mile 6, we run back over the bridge, off of Davis Island, and start our long run on Bayshore Blvd.  It is beautiful here. Great views of the water and of the fantastic houses facing the water. There are lots of race photographers just after the bridge. One right after the other. I pose and pose for each of them. Do they get any shots of me? No!! Geesh. We can really feel the wind now, but it still isn’t too bad. Gusts every once in a while that blow us to the side, but other than that, the wind wasn’t so bad. We catch up to Summer during the 8^th mile. She ran both races the day before and is running both on this day. She decides to add intervals and run with us for a while.

Miles 4 through 9: 9:39, 9:46, 9:41, 9:34, 9:39, 10;02

This was the best photo of me on
on the course! 

Soon we are curving to the left and now running on the other side of BayShore Blvd. There is a grassy area with trees and bushes that break up the right and left sides of the road. We keep an eye out for friends that may be behind us.  Looking for friendly faces on the other side of the road helps to distract me from the IT band pain. By now I am stopping to stretch at every walk break!  After a couple of miles, Summer drops back and it is just me and Gina again, trying to keep up the pace. She has pulled ahead of me a little, but I am not far behind. With about a mile to go, we are side by side, looking forward to getting to the finish. We take one more walking break then decide to just run it in. I am pushing as hard as I can. Gina is very encouraging, which helps me to keep pushing. We finally see the finish line banner just ahead of us. I am at my max as I run it across the finish line!

Miles 10 through 13.18: 9:51, 9:56, 9:39, 8:56 (Wow!!), 1:23 (last little .18)

Finish: 2:05:50. 

This is my third fastest time and my best half marathon time in over 10 years! Very happy with it. J

Ken, Gina and me after the race!

Juli, Becki, Lori, Shannon, Dave, Me and Laura with Elastic Girl!

Me and Brenda before the race!

February 26, 2012.
Race weekend started on Thursday, when I drove up with Renee to set up the Fit2Run booth with other employees. Thursday involved lots of heaving lifting and then unpacking merchandise.It was a long day. We were back at the expo by 7:30 to set up a little more before the 9 a.m. opening. What a crazy day at the expo! I had a pretty good view of the Disney Merchandise booth. Those Dooney and Burke bags went fast! It was crazy! I was working the Skirt Sport booth both days. I kept pretty busy there, but did have time to wonder around the expo a few times to spend all my money. :) I got a new bracelet, silver ring, pink polka dot 26.2 and 13.1 bumper magnents, a princess tank and cup from the race merchandise area. I saw a few friends at the expo, which was great! I worked until 7:30 pm. Long day! My legs and feet were feeling sore. I still had another day of working! Saturday was a shorter day through. I got there at 8 and left at 3 pm. It was even busier and crazier at the expo that day! After work, Renee and I met up with Brenda at the hotel and then headed to downtown Disney. I picked up a special lego present for my son, before we headed to dinner at Wolfgang Puck's Cafe. We got back to the hotel and went to ask about a coffee pot. With a 3 am wakeup call, we knew we were going to need some coffee! They had no coffee pots and the restaurant wasn't going to be open that early. So, we made a quick trip to Wal Mart! We found a $8 coffee maker! Back in the hotel, we set up the coffee maker for the next day and got to bed a little after 9 pm.

I didn't sleep well that night, but I felt OK once I had a cup of coffee in me! We left the hotel a little after 3:30 am. Lots of traffic (much more than 2 years ago) heading into the parking area at Epcot. Once we parked, we had a pretty short walk to the first area for runners. We made a porta pottie break, took a photo then made our way to the corrals. Renee and I left Brenda at the porta potties on the other side of bag check. She was in corral B and we were in A, so we wouldn't have been able to hang out much longer anyway. Very hard to get to the corrals. So many people walking that way. I think it's about a mile to the corrals. Just before getting there, we made a pit stop at the potties and then made our way to the first corral. The group that I was trying to meet up with were near the stage, but it was part of the elite corral. We made our way towards the front of the corral and after a while, I was finally able to spot the group ahead. I figured once we got running, I could find them. We didn't have to wait to long in the corrals before the fireworks went off we were off and running!

Look at this crazy guy I found!

Renee was way ahead of me from the start. :) I quickly found the group I was looking for. I ran the race with Dave, Lori, Juli, Brandi and Shannon (Mrs. USA!). It took me a little while to get used to the pace. It was a little slower than my regular long run pace. Eventually I got behind them so that I wouldn't keep pulling so far ahead! I believe our first stop was with the pirates. A little past the pirates was a giant hot air balloon. After passing the balloon, we could see the Magic Kingdom sign up ahead. It was very dark in this section. All of a sudden, in my periferal vision, I see a woman fall to my right. Our group stops and goes back to check on the woman, who I later learn, is named Sherry. We ask her if she is OK and if she needs help getting up. She says she thinks she broke her shoulder and that she doesn't want to move. Shannon runs over to a security guard car that is just a little ways down the road. He takes a very long time to come over to us. Meanwhile half of us are standing in a semi circle around her to protect her from the on coming runners. Two doctors stop to check on the Sherry. One, Laura, stays with us. Finally two police cars show up and then a medical guy on a bike shows up. A bike! One of the police officers tells us to go ahead, they will look after Sherry. So we all take off again. Laura decides to join our group since she is way off of her normal race pace by now. We finally make it to the 5K timing mat. Time of 57:26! While waiting in line at the next photo spot, I text Brenda to see if she had passed by already. Then I checked my facebook page to see what my time was for the 5K. Saw that it was so slow, so I posted an update to let my friends know that I was OK. That's a 10K time for me!

Me, Juli, Brandi, Lori, Shannon,
Laura and Dave!

We made our way into Magic Kingdom, stopping for photos with all characters. Once we were in the park, there were even more stops! A couple of photos with the Castle behind us, Minnie Mouse, Princess Tiana, Jessie (Toy Story), Buzz Lightyear, Prince Charming, the cast of Sleeping Beauty and a few others. As we are leaving Magic Kingdom, we pass a medical tent with biofreeze and patrolium jelly. I get some of that patrollium jelly, go off to the side and put it on a couple of delicate spots at the top of my legs (under shorts) that feel like there might be chaffing! I quickly catch back up to the group. At the next porti pottie section, I notice there is no line, so I tell the group to go on, I'll catch up. I make a quick pit stop, then catch up to them again. It is getting harder and harder to run. By now, most of the people on the road are walkers. It's very hard to run around them. We are often off on the side of the road, running in the grass to pass them.

The last few miles are mostly running. Not as many character stops from mile 10 on. The slant on the couple of overpasses really irritates my IT Band, so I run up on the grass again, because it is flatter there! Soon it is raining on us, but thankfully, it doesn't last long. We make it into Epcot, so happy that we are getting close to the finish! We try a big "Dave Mari" jump in front of the big globe and then head towards the finish. We all link arms and run across the finish line together!

Time: 3:54:37! Almost 2 hours longer than my normal half marathon time!

We got a group photo taken with a few other half fanatics and then I said good bye. I sent a text to Brenda, who had waited over an hour for me. It started raining just before we meet up. We make it to the car and then have to wait in traffic for a bit before getting on the road.

I had a wonderful time running this race! Hope to make it to the finish a bit faster next weekend at Gasparilla half. :)

Sherry update: I found her on facebook! Her friend said she has a fractured humerus between shoulder and elbow. She said recovery will be 8 weeks. Good to hear she is doing fine!   

Rock n Roll St. Pete Half Marathon

February 12, 2012

Race morning started off super early and cold! I met up with Gina, Stephanie and Dawn at 4:45 am at the Starbucks by the interstate. Charlotte was supposed to be there too, but ended up over sleeping, so we went on without her.

We made it to St Pete in about half an hour and found a parking spot in the garage closer to the finish. No hassles with traffic at all! We stopped for a coffee at the Starbucks on the corner (the one we meet up with at earlier had been closed!) and then walked the 2 miles to the Tropicana Field. Once there, we met up with Brett and Ken and then huddled together to try and stay warm. Temps were in the low 40s. Wind chill made it feel like mid 30s. We are not used to these temps! I wore a tank top, with a short sleeved top on top. Arm warmers and then a toss away sweatshirt on top. Capri skirt and long compression socks kept my legs covered. I had gloves on my hands and a wide headband to cover my ears. I was ready! :) We headed towards the corrals at 7:15. I told them I would catch up with them. I had to use the porta potties one more time. The lines were very long. I waited and waited. I still had two people in front of me as the national anthem was playing. I decided to just wait it out. I was in corral 5, so I knew it would take a few minutes for my corral to get up to the start. Plus, I was planning on taking it easy this race. My congested nose and lungs were not going to let me run a fast race. And I wanted to test out how my knee would do. I finally got into the porta pottie and it was disgusting! Yuck! I did my business and was out of there fast. I made it to my corral as they were moving up to the front and about ready to start. I had enough time to get my garmin going and to turn on my music and then we were off!
Within minutes I was able to find my friends. Ken, Gina and Brett took off at a fast pace, so I ran with Dawn for a while. Within minutes we had turned two corners and were heading into the wind. That was brutal. I had various body parts that were frozen. I couldn't feel my bum at all! I kept feeling the back of my skirt to make sure it was down. It felt like nothing was back there! We kept up a pretty brisk pace for the first few miles, only stopping to walk through the first water stop. Just after mile 3, I knew I would need to get into a normal walk break schedule, so I told Dawn to just go on ahead. I then started walk breaks at about every half mile.

Miles 1 through 4: 8:58, 9:01, 9:09, 9:26.

Just after mile 4, I decided I was warm enough to toss of the sweatshirt. It was a little cold at first, but soon I was feeling fine with the temps. I kept the gloves on for another mile. When I did pull them off, I held on to them. I worried that I might get stronger wind later in the race. I wish I would have studied where the water stops were. I took my Peanut Butter Gu just after the 10K mark, thinking there would be water soon. Next water stop was after mile 7.I think it was this water stop that I noticed the big plastic garbage bin, with a liner, filled with water. The volunteers, who had plastic gloves on, were dipping cups in the water bin and placing them on the table. Gross. I had heard this was done, just never saw it before at a race!.

Once we hit the water, I was so happy to have my gloves. The wind was much stronger near the water. I was still getting in a longer walk break about every half mile, sometimes it was longer then a half mile. I was feeling pretty good through. Just feeling the congestion. Once we hit the pier, we could see runners to our left who were running in the opposite direction. I kept a look out for familiar faces. About halfway down the pier I saw Dawn running strong. I yelled out to her, cheering her on. I got to the end and walked the whole way around. Knee was feeling a little achy, but not bad. I just didn't want to push it. Once around the end loop, I started running again. Mile 10 was a longer mile. I took a much longer walking break here. It was hard passing the finish area. You couldn't see it. But I knew it was to our right and you could hear it.

Miles 5 through 10: 9:12, 9:56, 10:00, 10:06, 10:09, 11:10.

Once we got to the waterfront again, we had runners on our right that were heading to the finish. I think they were about half a mile away. I had a great time looking out for familar faces. I helped the last few miles go by fast. I saw Dr Jeff pass by and then just before the little bridge I saw Gina. I yelled out to her in my breaking voice (voice was almost gone). She was running strong. About a mile ahead of me! I kept a look out for Dawn, but must have just missed her as I made the loop around the park. Soon I hit mile 12 and was on my way back towards the finish! I yelled a hello to Anne and Claire as I saw them heading towards mile 11. I felt strong the last mile. I took one long break in the middle and then finished with a strong kick.

Miles 11 through finish: 10:35, 10:40, 10:48 and 1:58 for the last .22
Finish time: 2:11

Gina and Dawn were waiting just past the finish line. They had both PR'd! Gina got 2:00 and Dawn had 2:02! So proud of them. I hope to get close to those times at Gasparilla in a few weeks. Hopefully the congestion will be gone.

We hung out for a while watching Flo Rida. It was a fun concert, but it was cold, so we didn't stay for the whole thing.

Overall this was a fun race. I want to run it again next year. Hopefully I can give it my all! :)

Run with the Nuns 5K
January 28, 2012
St. Petersburg, FL

I don't normally run a short race like this when it is so far away (about an hour), but I loved the name of it. I was really hoping to see a few nuns out there running in their habits! Only one nun that I could see and she was on a bike, leading the runners, once we started.

I went into this race thinking I would like to make a respectable finish time. I had been sick all week. I still felt a little stuffy and my stomach was still a little upset.

I arrived a little over an hour early, the kids race was first, so I wanted to get there early for packet pickup and to find parking. I hung out in my car, enjoying my coffee, after picking up my goodie bag. The shirt was very cute and it fit!

About 10 mins before race start, I hit the bathroom one more time and then walked over to the starting area. The last of the 1 mile runners were running by, so everyone gave them big cheers. I lined up with everyone and soon we were off!

The race was run mostly on the roads in this large park. We ran out, turned to the right, ran through a parking area and then turned right again. We ended up running a big circle, passing the spot were we had started. We ran through the parking area again, but this second time we turned left. About a mile and a half into the run, we left the road and ran the next mile on a trail that was part dirt, grass and leaves. I kept my eyes on the ground, looking out for tree limbs. I was making pretty good progress up until this point. I think my time slowed down a little on the trail. I like the cushion of trails, but I like the traction on roads to help me go faster. :) At about mile 2.5, we ran back onto the road, passing the start line once again. We ran another half circle before reaching the finish line.

Overall I am very happy with my race. I could feel the effects of the cold. Even though I was dealing with that, I still had a great race. Only a few seconds off my PR! Amazingly I got 2nd place in my age group too!

Garmin time: 25:36
Official time: 25:38

Splits: 8:09 (mile 1), 8:24 (mile 2) ,8:23 (mile 3), 0:40 (.1)

So happy to say that I got a PR at the Race for Jena 5K this morning! This was a last minute race. I think I signed up for it Wednesday. But, I was feeling pretty good post Ragnar, so thought I would give it a go. I wasn't sure how much speed I had lost while dealing with my ITB pain. Well, turns out, I haven't lost to much of my hard earned speed! My time for the race today was 25:33. Average 8:12 min mile. Very happy with it. :)

I felt pretty good from the get go. Gina started out running a pretty quick pace, so I held back figuring I would try to catch up later. I did catch up just past 1.23 mile, but she pulled ahead again when I stopped for a quick drink of water. Never did catch that speedy girl! :) I ended up getting 2nd place in my age group and Gina pulled out first place.