Race Recap: Air Force Marathon

WARNING SUPER LONG POST

That. was. so. hard.  I have never had such a sucky race.  Granted, that was only the second time I've ran a marathon, but that was more difficult than anything I have ever done.  Childbirth was easier. 

Let's backtrack:  2 weeks before the marathon, I got a lovely cold.  A week later, the cold turns into a cough.  I head to the Dr and get a zpac and Hydrocodone for my cough.  I've never really taken anything stronger than Aleve, so little did I know that I'd have such a horrible reaction to Hydrocodone.  I had a terrible headache, nauseous, and light headed for about 36 hours until that stuff got out of my system.  I have never been so sick- I couldn't get out of bed, except to run the bathroom to throw up.  Yuck.  I missed basically one week of working out- even though it was taper time.

Last week, I was feeling much better, still a bit of a cough but nothing major.  I was really hoping it would be out of my system by race day.

Expo:  I went with a friend of mine from work who is just starting out running.  It was fun to help her out and guide her through the expo.  She got a great deal on a pair of "real" running shoes (as she put it).  I could see her excitement building...no doubts next year she'll be running one of the races.

Needed this for Spinning class

I managed to hold on to most of my money!  Success! I only got 2  shirts  from the "one more mile" store.  My new favorite t-shirt says:

FRONT: You know you're a runner when...
BACK:

• You can recite the dialogue from chariots of fire.
• Your vacations are planned around marathons.
• You lube up to get into your clothes to prevent chafing.
• Your friends don't call you anymore to go out on Saturday nights.
• The majority of t-shirts in your closet have sponsors and race dates on them.
• You consider gels a food group.
• You consider a half marathon a good "training" run.
• You can say fartlek without laughing.
• You buy advil and Epsom salts in bulk.
• You can correctly spell plantar fasciitis.

Ready to go! High vis outfit.

Race Day:

Carrie and I got there with plenty of time to spare.  We had time to kill in the car so we managed to get on all of our silly bands.  One of co-workers gave us this idea...take one off each mile.  I have to say, it worked.  There was something nice about flinging one off every mile.  We kept the last one though...

heading towards the start of the race

Finally headed over to the start line, there were tons of people walking around the Air Force museum in the dark/first rays of dawn.  There was a nice mist on the ground which made for a surreal setting walking past all of the static display planes on the runway outside the museum.  
As the sun came up, the energy around the start line grew.  It was fun to see all the people in all shapes and sizes ready to run the marathon or 10k (which started at the same time).  Eventually, after the opening ceremonies the B-2 flew over!  Wow!  It went right over head and it was just incredible to see it in person.  I took a recording of it on my phone but I must of deleted it some how...grrr since it wasn't there later.  Finally the canon went off-scared the crap out of me BTW and we were off.

The gory details (as much as I can remember!)
Mile 1-We had planted ourselves in between the 4:15 and 4:30 pace groups so we were with people running our pace which was nice difference from shorter races where you have to jockey for position.  We passed a group of ROTC guys (and girl) from University of Dayton running in full gear- I really hope they were running the 10k!  Totally impressive none the less!

Mile 5 and I was feeling good!

Miles 2-8 were uneventful.  Felt pretty good, quads were a bit sore, nothing I thought I needed to worry about.  DH, kiddos and my mom were at mile 5 with their cowbells. I loved the Alien themed water stop around mile 8 or 9. 

Feeling pretty good around mile 10!

Miles 9-10 were awesome!  The City of Fairborn and the Mile 10 group made it a fantastic oasis of energy.  Saw my dh and kiddos again! 

Miles 11-20 are where the wheels fell off for me.  Once we passed the craziness of Mile 10 and we were back on WPAFB it was just us.  Time to think about everything... everything that was starting to get sore.  It started with my toes, my darn callouses which sometimes hurt when running were screaming at me, and my quads were feeling tired and heavy....then it just kept getting harder and harder.  Carrie seemed to keep speeding up, but in reality I was slowing down. By mile 13 we decided to walk through the water stops so we/I could get more energy to slog through it.  Also, I kept trying to drink Gatorade and eat my Cliff Blox.  Carrie could go at my slower pace, since her legs would cramp up going so slow, so she'd run ahead then stop and wait for me. (Correct me if I'm wrong, Carrie, I swear I was in some fog/zone  of pain).

I wanted to crawl by this time, mile 22.

Darn Garmin- it was paused not stopped at finish so it took a walk back to the car, and brief drive before I stopped it

Miles 22-26.2- I actually felt a bit better once we could see the 1/2 marathoners on another part of the course, somehow, just seeing a bunch of walkers (the end of the 1/2 marathoners) lit a bit of fire under me, I wanted to crawl, but I knew I could beat some of them.  I stopped walking through parts and just kept shuffling, afraid if I stopped I wouldn't be able to start up again.  By mile 25, I was getting really annoyed and tired of the half marathoners, since they were walking and I had to zigzag around them- I didn't want to run any more than I had to at that point!   I was so excited to see the AF museum again and the looooooonnnnggggg straightway- that I swear was at least a mile- but really more like 300 meters, but once we turned the corner and had a straight shot of the finish line and got to run by all the air planes on display it was worth it.  We finished together in 4 hrs 37 mins and 25 sec.

Waiting for DH after the race.

I felt out of it/kind of sick afterwards, I just wanted shade (none around!) and salty pretzels.  I only got water, gatorade and a banana after the medal.  (They had an option of pizza- but that made me gag right after running- 20 mins later it would have been awesome- but we couldn't get back in the tent afterwards).  I would recommend giving runners a bag to put their food in, I ran out of hands, but would have liked other stuff a bit later.
Overall, the Air Force Marathon was great.  They did such a great job with everything.  The water stations/aid stations were awesome, the volunteers were so enthusiastic.  I will definitely be running this again!

I couldn't have done it with out Carrie being there for me.  She was an awesome cheerleader and I know that she felt good and probably could have done much better without me, but she stuck by me.  Thanks, Carrie!  I owe you a good marathon! 
And of course, I could have never done the training with out my super patient husband who never says a thing, as I go out for a long run or train at the Rec center.  I also think he does a great job in race photography!  Love you sweetie.

So, there it is.  My 2nd marathon, but my first in 11 years.  It was painful, but I don't regret it, in fact, we've already signed up for the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon on Nov 3.  I hope not to repeat my performance!

Not now!

Don't judge, we just ran 20 miles!

• 20 mile run - check
• 12 mile taper run- check
• lots of sleep- check
• GETTING A COLD A WEEK OUT FROM 26.2- check!!!!

my new BFFs

Totally panicking here.  I've gone from sore throat, to head cold, to coughing to now huge frog in my throat.  I'm hoping my dr appt will help.  I generally wouldn't care. But really? one week before my big race- not cool at all.   I figure I'll be fine to run it, it just might not be a good as it could be.  It's still a week out, and who knows, hopefully I'll be completely over it!

In other news:

• Check out my Run 13 13.1s in 2013 Challenge

• Buster and Cub ran a kids cross country race at our local high school.  They had a 1000 m XC race for kids in 4th grade or younger.  Cub was cool with it but Buster was a bit nervous and almost backed out last minute but wise words from the big brother convinced him it was going to be ok.  He's always watched Cub run in little races but he's never had a chance to do it.  

I'll let the pictures do the talking!

Buster and Cub with Weebee

Cub getting starting instructions

Surprise! Cub in the lead!

Surprise- little guy, is 4th!

Water and ribbons at the end!

love this shot of Buster

I did it!

Where did my time go?!

I can't believe I haven't updated in so long!  I guess heading back to work, kids starting back to school, soccer season for the boys and oh, marathon training, has kept me pretty busy!!!!


Getting back into the routine of school and soccer season has messed a little with my training schedule.  I've been enjoying (even if I'm not a morning person) running in the AM before the heat.  Now that I'm back to work, I can't do it.  I have to leave my house at 7am and I hate getting up at 5:30 so that I'm out the door on time.  I can't imagine getting up even earlier.  So that leaves me running after work and before I pick up the boys from school, which means 3 o'clock runs in August.  Ugh.  Thank goodness,I'm nearing the end of the marathon training tunnel.  My mid week runs are now on the short side (5 miles max).  Also, soccer season is among us, and both boys now have soccer on Monday nights.  Buster from 5:30-6:30, Cub from 6-7:30 and in different parts of the city.  Monday nights were my favorite spinning class. Boo.  I'll be back in 8 weeks everyone! 

Marathon training is going well. (knocking on wood). 

 2 weeks ago, I ran 19 miles with my running partner. Our only problem on the run, was a creeper who followed us in his car for about a mile.  He kept turning around in driveways to keep driving past us.  We were on a a pretty busy road, 6:30 am, on a Friday.  Really, dude, don't you have a job or something?  Anyways, we noticed him.  We were going towards a busy area so we popped in a BP station and stayed inside for a while.  He actually parked at a pump, facing the building, and waited in his car for us.  (He never got out of his car to pump gas) We told the worker that we were going to  hangout in there for awhile.  We tried to get his plate from inside the building but he must have noticed that we were watching him and trying to get his plate, so he took off.  We were debating calling the police...but we figured he hadn't actually done anything.  We ran the rest of long run without incident but we definitely had a good talk on what we would do if we saw him again. 
What would you have done?

Chevrun skirt

 Last week, for our long run (12 miles) we decided to run the Little Miami Half marathon, in Morrow, OH.  It was a perfect day for a run, 50ish degrees at start time.  It was a bit crowded in the beginning (begin on a bike path also made it challenging - no passing space) so we upped our pace from 9:30 training pace to 8:30 pace.  Near the end I was done, but Carrie thought she could PR so I told her to go for it.  I had nothing in the tank at the end.  We're just too competitive to run a race as an actually training run.  Official time:  1:52:43 or an 8:36 ave pace.  My Garmin had me at 1:51:51 or 8:34 ave pace. Oh, we tested out our new running skirts for THE RACE.   I loved it and we got tons of complements!

This week, well, tomorrow, we're doing our last long run before the marathon.
 20 miles.  Gulp.  I'm actually ready to get it done.  This is a super busy weekend for us:  My dad and stepmom are visiting, my hubby is out of town, 20 miles to run, and a soccer game right after.   At least the grocery shopping and laundry is done! 

Injury update:  Hip has been feeling fine.  Stretching it has done the trick.  WooYoo! :-)

marathon training, hips, and 3 way

Air Force Training Week 12

Yes, that actually is Pitbull.

Monday- Spinning- tired from the weekend festivities (although Pitbull's concert was lots of fun!- nothing like a road trip with girlfriends!)

Tuesday- 5 miles

Wednesday- 8 miles

Thursday- Spinning

Friday-rest

Saturday- 6 on the trails with Carrie, then 4 more when I got home.  I realized after I sync'd my Garmin that I'd run 496 miles so decided to do another 4 for a nice even 500 miles.  My goal since I got my Garmin was to run 1000 miles in a year (starting in the beginning of Feb.) 

Sunday- rest 

Training Week 13

Monday-spinning (tired again- maybe it's the instructor- he's killer)

Tuesday- 5 miles

The rest is the plan for the week:

Wednesday- 5

Thursday-rest (PT- more on that down below)

Friday- 19 miles! (gulp!)

Saturday- rest/spinning?

Sunday- rest 

Then next week- I go back to work.  Boo.  No, I'm just going to miss running in the am, instead it will be right after work in the blazing heat. 

Injuries...boo.

 So the last few weeks, my hip/glute area has been super tight.  Last week, after one of my runs, I'd gone into work (to get ready) and I could hardly walk up the stairs.  I was ok if I was going downstairs or if I walked on flat surface. When I run, it hurts a bit but gets better after I've been running for awhile.  I decided to get an appointment with a sports doc, to make sure that I wasn't doing damage by continuing to run.  No need for a repeat performance of last year.  

So pretty much, my butt hurts.

They wanted to do an x-ray since my mileage was pretty high.  They ruled out a stress fracture in the hip area.  Thank goodness that was negative.   I would have freaked out.  Doc thinks it's just the IT band.  I'll be heading to PT to learn more IT band stretches.  joy. oh joy.  Hoping this will go away soon.  Also, hoping that the massage I have planned for today is going to help.  
Edit:  Massage therapist worked my leg and didn't find any tightness in my IB band at all.  But my upper hamstring had a gap and knot- which she worked on.  I had hope that that would be it, but it still hurts today (one day later).  Hoping one day more day off and then run this 19 miles.  Grrrr.  

In other news, just signed up for another 1/2 mary (Edit: regretting this already)- this one is going to be instead of a training run.  It's down in Morrow, OH.  I did it last year, it was flat (good for my hip) and out and back on a bike trail.  Here's the race recap Little Miami 10k

Oh- very cool news from the Flying Pig marathon for next year.  They are going to have multi-race competition.  The 3 way is going to be the 5k, 10k on Saturday, 13.1 on Sunday.  The 4 way will be 5k, 10k on Sat. with 26.2 on Sunday.  I think we're going to do the 3 way.  It should be fun to train for, since you'll need mileage and speed workouts.  I'm signing up early.  

Check it out:  http://www.facebook.com/flyingpigmarathon

Grrrrr-armin

Air Force Marathon training Week 11

Monday- Spinning

Tuesday- 5 miles in the humidity at 6:30 am

Wednesday- 8 miles around the neighborhood

Thursday- Rest

Friday- Long run.  18 miles! Longest run yet.

Saturday-rest (road trip to Detroit)

Sunday- rest

beautiful morning sky on Friday

 Carrie and I met Friday at the high school at 6 am and set off for a nine mile loop.  It was super humid (around 90% when I checked before leaving this am).  My hip has been been bothering me a bit this week, so I was a bit nervous that it might not let me finish the run.  It was ok, I could feel it the whole time, but it really wasn't until I stopped then started up again that it really hurt.  I'm going to keep stretching and foam rolling and hopefully that will do the trick. 

My one irk was my Garmin stopped showing the stats and showed only the "% battery remaining" screen. Has anyone had that happen to them before? So when I started fiddling with it I stopped the workout.  Grrr.  So started it again, then accidentally put it on "distance workout" and it was limited to 5 miles so it appeared to stop after 5 miles but I chose not to mess with it.  It continued to do the splits. 

 Anyways,  we decided to do the loop backwards after a quick pitstop at the school for water and Nuun.  The way we always go seems to have long uphill stretches so we thought we'd have an easier time of it, but all we did was find hills we never knew/noticed existed. 

At the end, I was spent.  The last mile was so hard.  I kept thinking, how am I going to run another 8.2 miles? That's another hour running!  Also, I feel like I've gotten so slow.  I used to run 8:30 miles easily now we're pushing 10 mins a mile.  I'm hoping it's just the heat and humidity of the summer.

In happier news, my dh and I had our 12th wedding anniversary a few weeks ago.  My dh had order for me a medal hanger for all my running medals.  I love it! Especially since I'm not a jewelery type of girl.  

It says "Run faster Mommy" quote from Buster at a race.

So my questions for you, my dear readers...


1.  Anyone have a Garmin that acts up on a run?  What do you do?
2.  Hip problems from running?  I think it's my hip flexor or my piriformis muscle.  
3.  Anyone have doubts about finishing a marathon?