The mini...

On November 5th I ran the mini marathon I had been training for since September. I was expecting to finish in 2 hours and 30 minutes because on my training runs, that was the pace that I was keeping. Race day came and I was so excited. I woke up at 6am to eat breakfast and get ready to meet my mom and sister who were both participating in the 5k part of the race. I was physically and mentally ready for this race.

In my prior blog posts, I failed to mention that I had done a mini before. Last May I was asked, at the last minute, to run the Indy mini with a friend of mine. The longest I had ran was 6 miles, but my trainer told me he thought I could do it anyway. I did finish in May, but was not proud of my results. It took my 3 hours and 17 minutes to finish. I didn't take it too seriously and walked every other minute. My goal was just finish. When I finished, my feet were killing me and I got a migraine. It was a disaster.

I was confident that this race would be so much better and my time would be faster, because I had trained and was ready. I was ready to finish in, or around, 2 and a half hours.

As we pulled up, we saw other runners warming up and walking around. I was getting excited. I got out of the car to stretch and get everything together when my mom started strapping on her shoe tag. The shoe tag is a very important part of the race. You cannot track your start or finish time without it. While watching her put it on, it hit me. Mine was still on my kitchen table. Frantically, I ran to find anyone who had information on replacing my tag. Luckily, I was not the only one who forgot it and was assigned a new bib and shoe tag. Now I was ready.

Everyone lined up in their timed corrals and counted down the minutes until the race officially started. It was a cold morning (in the 30's), right before sunrise, standing in front of downtown Indianapolis. Since my sister and mom were doing the 5k, I was alone in my corral. The corral for the people who kept a pace of 11 minutes per mile. I picked this time because, just a week ago I had done 11 miles at about that pace. I figured, what was another two miles? I was trying to stay calm as excitement rushed through my veins!

The race started and I felt great! I reached mile one a pace of 10.34! That was my fastest mile, but stayed around an 11 minute mile until mile eight. Around that time, it felt like my legs were fighting against me. They felt as though someone had filled them with concrete. I was beyond angry. As I limped, negative thoughts ran through my head; I will never do a mini again. Long distance races are just not for me. I kept going over in my mind what I had done wrong. Was my pace too fast? Did I eat a good breakfast? Was it too cold? I had no answers. All I knew was that I had hit a wall.

I finished the race with an slow, limping, jog. Final time; 3 hours 5 seconds. How pathetic. All the training I had done was for nothing. A mere 17 minutes shaved off my lackluster time from May was embarrassing. I didn't even want to celebrate when I crossed the finish line.

A little over a week since the race, I am still disappointed with the outcome, but not because I wasn't prepared, but because sometimes what happened to me, happen to every runner. I will not let it stop me. This race will push me to do better in another. I now have a new goal for 2012. Actually finish a mini in 2 and a half hours. While I was training, I kept telling myself, This is the last mini I do. It's just so time consuming to train. Then the race came and, my own competitive nature has pushed me to beat my last time and to reach my new goal.

I now understand why people keep running half and full marathons. They do it, not only to finish, but to compete, and sometimes the best competitor is yourself.

I've been needing some motivation lately...

My first 15k

Last Saturday, I participated in my first 15k (9.32 miles). I decided to run it because in my training plan, I was supposed to run 8 miles. What’s 1.32 more? When I first started, my pace was great and I ran my fastest 5k yet. But after I reached mile 7, I hit a wall and my legs became tight and sore. I stopped at one point to stretch them out and realized, I was being followed by a van. Anyone who has participated in a race knows what that means. I was in last place. I didn’t have time to stop and walk because everyone was waiting on me to cross the finish line. The last two miles were my toughest, but I finished. When crossing the finish line of a race, there are usually a lot of people cheering for you to finish hard and to support you, but not this race. I crossed the finish line in one hour and 54 minutes, which is very good for me, with only one person there to greet me. But as disappointed as I was by the lack of support, I was happy to have finished.

Tonight I was supposed to run 5 miles. I decided to wait until 9:30pm to do it on my treadmill. Unfortunately, not only have I been very tired this week, I didn’t wait long enough after I ate. Even though I finished, I felt awful. I was slow and sluggish.  It was easier for me to run seven or even nine miles than it was to run five today. But I know that every day is different, and when I run my long run (9 miles) this weekend, I hope I will feel better.  More than anything, I hope to recover better and finish stronger than I did last weekend. Every day is a new day for a PR, and every week, I get stronger and faster.

I'm a runner?

Yesterday, while paying for my oil change, the serviceman said, "That's a nice medal you have hanging in your car. Are you a runner?" I reluctantly responded with a yes and continued discussing which race I had gotten this particular medal from. I had never considered myself a "runner", but the past year and a half, it has become a passion of mine. I decided to start a blog about it to document my experience and also, if someone else reads this, I will feel responsible to keep running. I post my runs on Facebook, but I can't really express everything about my runs. I hope to also inspire others to start running, walking, or biking. So here is my first blog and my story of how I became a runner and the ongoing journey of trying to accomplish my goals.

New Year’s Resolution 2010, was to run one 5k. I have a friend who had posted some pictures on Facebook of a 5k she had done and I was instantly inspired, so that January, I purchased an elliptical machine. I thought since I couldn't run outside, the elliptical machine would get me ready to run. I was wrong. Though the elliptical is a great workout, come April when I ran outside for the first time, it was like I hadn't exercised at all. Of all the sports I played in high school and the classes I took at the local gym, there was nothing more challenging for me than running.

On that first run, which was only one mile long, I told myself, "Just do this one 5k and you'll never have to run again." Then June 5th, 2010 came along and I did my first 5k. It was one of the best feelings ever. I was addicted. I continued to do one a month through October. I would have continued through the winter months, but I injured my knee. I stopped running from the beginning of October to April of this year and packed on 15 lbs. Once my knee was healed, I knew I had to start running again.

Since April I have been running, lost 20 lbs., and try to do at least two 5k's a month. I find that if I sign up for an event, I will have a new goal to reach. I am a slow runner due to my current weight, so every race, I try for a faster time. I have signed up for a mini marathon November 5th, 2011. I am currently training at least 3 days a week, plus cross training 2 additional days. Once I finish this mini, I'm not sure what my new goal will be for 2012, but I know it will involve running because, yes, I am a runner.