A New Season

One of my other favorite hobbies, besides running, is dancing. Nothing better is coaching girls who share the same passion. I blogged before about how our first year went, and how we were thrown into a team that was already created.

This year is going to be a whole new ball game. We started clinics this week and get to run everything how we want it to go from start to finish. We created the tryout routine, we found the judges, and we call the shots on how many to take on the team. Its fantastic!

Monday was the first clinic and I was so happy to see about 25 girls show up. We lost 7 seniors this year which only left 7 underclassmen. I am happy to see them all show up again! I was surprised at the older girls at the clinics. They told us they would go to the baseketball games just to watch the dance team and couldn’t wait to try out this year. Hearing that, as a coach, is very rewarding. We worked hard to turn that team around and I think we were very successful at doing so.

I can’t wait to get the 2012-2013 season going. We have so many fun things planned-summer workouts, hosting a youth camp, possbily going to  camp, and start working on routines. Our hip hop dance will consist of all 90′s rap music, its going to be awesome! I am still on the hunt for a good kick and jazz song. Any suggestions will be gladly accepted

It’s going to be another fun year and I am looking forward to coaching a new team!

Recovery

One week later and I am feeling pretty fantastic! I took Monday easy and Tuesday I enjoyed a massage. It’s amazing what a 50 minute massage will do! I walked out of there feeling like a new person! I had no clue how tight my quads were but I sure did feel it! I will say a post marathon massage is a must for anyone, trust me! Here was how my workouts went last week:

Monday-Rest
Tuesday- Circuit Training (I modified most of the workout)
Wednesday- Rest (unless you count my kickball game!)
Thursday- Ran 2 miles. Felt great wanted to run 3 but it was time for Andy’s softball game
Friday- Bikram Yoga
Saturday- Biked 3 miles to the gym, hour circuit class, 3 miles home. Hip hop class (BEST workout of them all!)
Sunday- I was planning on going for a run but it rain all.day.long. If I don’t have anything to train for I am not going to go out

This week is a very busy week. Dance team tryouts are this week so my co-coach and I are hosting clinics. More on that later this week

Workouts for this week include:
Monday-Run 4 miles
Tuesday-Bike to gym, hour circuit class
Wednesday-Kickball game followed by a soccer game
Thursday-Meeting up with my running buddy for a nice easy run
Friday- Yoga at home
Saturday-Going out for a run (after tryouts)

Its nice to get back into the swing of things! I have signed up to run the Hyde Park Blast on June 30th (4 miles) and still want to find a smaller 5k to race in. All in all recovering from a marathon hasn’t been too bad

26.2 on my 26th

My marathon/birthday weekend started on Friday when I took the day off work. It just so happened to be the same day that the new Lululemon store was opening less than a mile from my house. You best believe I was there. I had some coaching money I had been saving and I thought this was the perfect time to treat myself. I ended up getting a tank and short in the mint green color! LOVE!

On Saturday we headed down to the expo. This was only my second expo and I heard it was a good one. P&G had really great samples (full size shampoos?!) and I tried different kinds of running fuel. It was definitely a fun time!

After 18 weeks of training it was time to run my first marathon. My alarm went off at 4:50 and I was up by 5 to get ready. I have everything set out so I was dressed and ready to go within 5 minutes! I made my breakfast and we headed out the door to head downtown. But first we had to take my before the race photo:

You see that custom bib name??

Couldn’t think of a better way to spend my 26th birthday.

Once we got down to the start of the race I quickly found my running buddies. The butterflies had definitely kicked in at this point but I was so ready to run! The gun went off at 6:30 am and we were off. There is nothing more exciting that running with thousands of other runners. The adrenalin rush is awesome!

Miles 1-5 were easy. We trained with those bridges a million times. I loved crossing over the highway heading back into Cincy and seeing 7th street lined with people all the way down. It was so cool! I saw my friend at the end of 7th and that gave me the boost to head up the “dreaded” hill climb.

I felt awesome going through Eden park. We ran over the pads at mile 6.8 and I was at 1:01:46. I was doing well!

I saw some other familiar faces around mile 8 and my pace picked up. I knew my family was at mile 10ish so I was looking forward to seeing them. At mile 9 I took water and a salt tablet to protect myself from cramping (more on that later)

Mile 11 was fastest mile (8:22) and I think it was because of all the crowd support in Hyde Park. Everyone there was so energetic! It also helped when I saw my people!

Check out those calf muscles! 18 weeks of training really paid off

Then it was time to turn up Paxton which felt like a huge mountain but we did it! I was still feeling good at this point. Looking back now I realized I should have started eating something at this point. I did grab and orange slice but couldn’t stomach it. We hit the half way mark at 1:56:03. Still on pace. The down hill never felt so good.

As we turned up Bramble (mile 14) I was hit with dizziness. I walked for less than 30 seconds to chew on some sports beans and felt better. I decided to walk through every water stop at this point. I could still make my goal of under 4. My pace was slowly slipping and the weather was getting warmer. I kept taking salt tabs every half hour and alternated between water and gatorade. I felt like I couldn’t get enough to drink but felt full. I once again took a small walk break to let everything settle.

Once we hit Eastern Ave. I could feel the cramps in my calf muscles coming on. I wanted to finish strong so I walked a little more. My pace slipped but I was still ahead of the 4:00 pace group. I hit mile 19.7 at 2:57:51

That when things went south.  I had to walk more often than the water stops. I had an amazing coach that stayed with me the whole time. I would look up and find something to walk to and then start running. Once we hit mile 22 I could no longer walk/run.

Both of my calf muscles cramped up so bad I felt like my legs turned to stone. I grabbed the hands of my coach to stop myself from face planting into the concrete. I screamed in pain. So many runners stopped to make sure I was okay and if I need anything. That is one reason I love this sport. That is when the medical truck came up and asked if I needed anything. I was frozen. I couldn’t move due to the pain. I had to wait it out. I stood there for almost 4 minutes.  They asked if I wanted to ride back in the truck. I told them no way. I came this far I was going to finish. I knew my sub-4 was out the window, but it was okay, I was still going to finish a marathon.

I walked mile 22.5 till about mile 25.5. I had to finish this thing running! I would walk backward and with long strides to get my muscles worked out. My coach, Megan, was telling everyone it was my birthday and I got so many cheers and high fives. People would pass me and tell me happy birthday. They were amazing.

Once we got to the top of Riverside I was ready to run. Megan pushed me along and kept telling me the fam was up ahead. I felt the cramps coming back on but I pushed through. I came up with a goal of getting a sub-4:20 marathon. I saw my bright orange sign and all the smiling, teary eyed, proud family of mine. I was ready to get some high fives from them.

Megan telling everyone “It’s her first marathon & her birthday!” I was never so happy to see my family!

Logan ran it in with me. Little does he know that was the highlight of my race. I think it was his 9 year old way of being proud

My official end time was 4:18:12.

I had 3 goals going into this whole experience. Make new friends, finish the marathon, and run under 4 hours. I completed the first two, and now have a new goal for my next marathon.  One thing {of many} I have learned from this whole experience is to set goals and reach them. If you don’t reach them the first time try harder the next time. My body was telling me I was not ready to run a sub 4 hour marathon and I am okay with that. I still had an amazing birthday and made my family proud. I couldn’t ask for anything else.

26 years in the making

My husband is awesome and designed this shirt for me for the marathon.

Who would of thought the girl that walk the mile in her first jr high track meet would be running 26.2 miles on her 26th birthday. I am beyond excited! I have a goal of under 4 hours. The humidity might not make that possible but my hopes are high. Thank to my readers who put up with all my running posts. Your encouragement means a lot!

The next time I post I’ll be 26 and a marathon runner.

Birthday Wishes

I can’t believe another birthday is coming up. Seriously?! As I have said many of time I will be running a marathon on my birthday. First and foremost the number one thing I could want from anyone on my birthday is support. Knowing that my family & friends will be out on the course cheering me on has be super pumped. What would make it better is if they held a sign But even if there is no signs hearing them will be just as good! If you aren’t a runner you might not understand how much a little thing like that really pushes someone to keep going. That is my number one wish.

I also am hoping someone has this for me at the end of the race

I know at the post race/birthday celebration my mom will have one of these DQ icecream cakes for me

And now for some fun things:

From H&M

From Charlotte Russe

From Target

From Lululemon

From Nordstrom inspired by Pinterest