RunValpo13.1

Us....another half marathon is done and officially in the books.



Chris --showing off his 'tough'


Me....showing off just how tough I am (not!)


Me.....just so you know, putting 20 ounces of Coke on top of a banana and a cream-filled doughnut is NOT the way to properly fuel for a half-marathon :-/

Saturday, November 13, 2010

This was such an emotional day for me. A very best friend of mine (Jody) was having an adoption fundraising dinner this night to raise money to bring her little boy(s) home from Ethiopia, and Chris and I were running another half-marathon in the morning!!!!
I wanna start this race report by griping about how COMPLETELY untrained I was!!!! Chris's job decided that he needed to work Saturdays for a while, so I lost my long run days, and there just isn't time to squeeze it in anywhere else, especially since it gets so dark so quick now :-( I had done a total of *2* long-ish runs, but both of those were back in early September!!!! And, they were only 9 mile runs! I have a good, solid base of about 5-6 miles, but a half-marathon is 13.17 miles, not 5! And, as a side note, Chris had done *1* training run, all of 3 miles, about 3 days before the race.
Saturday morning dawns nice and pleasant. It is fore casted to be in the 50's and overcast, rain is likely to begin at 11am. Race starts at 8:30...if we run fast enough, we can cross the finish line and zoom to the car before the rain hits!!!! Most excellent, that was my plan!!!!
We had a new sitter coming, and she got there early, which was really nice for us!!! After giving the poor girl about 9,685 directions, we headed out the door. We had plenty of time, so we stopped at Wal-Mart for breakfast....I was so busy talking to the sitter, I had forgotten to eat!!!!! So, I got a banana and a doughnut at W/M and was able to 'use' the bathroom too!!!!! After parking and packet pick-up we had a bit of time, so we putzed around and pottied....I was freezing and content to sit in the car till start time, but Chris wanted to stretch and jog, you know, all that stuff you really should do before a run :-)
I was really nervous and not feeling very confident at all....I was terribly untrained, and un-prepared for this magnitude of a run :-(
The race started, and we were off. The first mile, I could tell Chris really wanted to stay with me, to slow himself down, but I pretty much ignored him, I'm not a social runner, and I REALLY needed to focus on Julie for this run, and I did not want the guilt of bringing him down on this run, so after mile 1, he took off! He was trying to break 2 (his last (and only) half was a 2:07, so we were all really pulling for him to break 2) Mile 2 went by pretty quickly, but I could tell I needed to hit a groove and lock into it for about the next 8-9 miles....so I started some labor contraction breathing...the type of breathing where you really focus on filling your lungs and just breathing while counting...as opposed to focusing on the running. It works great for me, but I AM a number nerd, I usually add weird numbers on long runs to pass the time!
Before long, we were at mile 6 and I was definitely in a zone, and pretty happy with my time, I was hitting each mile about 7-12 seconds ahead of schedule, and things were going really well.
BAM.
I realized that I was half-way done, and what kind of time I would get if I kept this pace, what would happen if I added 8 seconds to each successive mile, numbers, numbers, numbers.......and I lost my groove. Completely lost it. I also realized I was thirsty. It's not good to be thirsty on this kind of run......At the 8 mile station, I got a Gatorade and Water, and walked while I drank them.....then, got right back to running. I thought if I could trick myself into believing that I only needed those 4 swallows to finish the whole run, it would work, and I could really hydrate AFTER I crossed the line.......nope.
I made it to 8.8 before I had to walk, and I had to walk b/c there was just nothing left in me. I was drained, my legs felt like rubber, and my hip joints felt like they were just clogged and couldn't actually lift my legs anymore. I walked for about .2 miles, then resumed a slow jog.....I just wanted it to be faster than a walk, and it was...barely. A little while after I started running again, my 2 swallows of Gatorade and my doughnut and my banana decided something needed to leave. So, on the side of some country road behind Route 30 behind the small airport in Valpo, I puked all of that up! Several people asked if I was OK, but at this point in the race, it's every man for himself, and us slow folk at the back of the race are all just trying to find where they put that finish line (cuz, it should be right HERE) Shortly after this, I realize that the insanely chapped lips I have been developing since the run started, well, they are now bleeding. So, I have little splatters of puke all over me, and bleeding lips (which hurt SOOO bad)and, I realize, that no one is FORCING me to do this, I volunteered to do this. Wow. Then, I realize that some people are jealous of me. Some people are jealous that they can't run like me (ohhhh, that really tickles me, why would ANYONE want to run like me??? I am so pathetic at running!!!!) But, for my fans and loyal blog readers(;-)) I decide to run. I ran/walked to the 11 mile mark, and realized I was NOT gonna make my goal of 2:07:59, so I momentarily gave up. Then, I realize, that Chris should be finishing really soon, and that my incredible little sister and her super-fun dog are waiting on me, and I needed to get there fast before it started raining, and Lambeau got cold. So, after the 11.25-ish mark, I started to run again, )and ran all the way to the 12.9 mile mark.....quite a long ways for a not-properly-fueled or hydrated girl to run!!!) I ran for the things in this world bigger than me. I ran for those who believe in me, and can't run, I ran for those who don't even know me, but know that I really wanna run, I ran for Jody's little man/men...those boys may not be able to run, they may be so nutritionally deprived, so exhausted, so limited, I ran for Jody's love of these children -- her unlimited faith in our God to provide those children with what they need until Jody has them, I realized during this 1.65 mile run that I am a very selfish, self-absorbed person....and I really need to try to fix that.
Eventually, I did finally finish the never-ending race, and I was REALLY happy to see my sister and my husband, and I was glad to be done with the race.
I was, however, really disappointed in myself. I should have done better, I could have done better. I should I eaten my steel-cut oats and soy milk, I should have slept better, I should have had more water on Friday, I should have trained harder/better/more.....I am still (2 days later) really un-happy with myself, and I feel like I really let a lot of people down (aside from just me) I hate that I 'messed' up and I hate that it won't stop me from doing it all over again in a few months......I know I'll never run the perfect half-marathon, and I think I am scared of doing a full until I am happy with my half, so.......until then, I suppose I will just dream about the day I can walk away from a half-marathon with a positive feeling about that monster, regardless of my time. This was not that 'perfect' race.

Official Times:
Chris
2:04:59
9:32 mile
15th out of 27 male 30-34
252 out of 447 runners overall

Julie:
2:17:48
10:31 mile
29th out of 35 female 30-34
362 out of 447 runners overall

Crazy Sunday 10-24-10

Sunday, October 24, 2010
Double Trouble 5k-Day

Run-Climb-Crawl
Valpo, IN

We had two 5K's scheduled for this day....and, yes, we MEANT to do that....we thought it would be *fun*....the only problem was that we hadn't really realized the severity of it being 2 back-to-back trail runs!!!!........and, as usual, my mom messed things up ROYALLY!!!! Mt mom was supposed to babysit the kids that day, well, they were supposed to spend the night at her house on Saturday night, and we'd go get them Sunday after our runs. NOPE. FAIL. Mom calls me on Friday to let me know that she can't....I'll spare you the agonizingly lame excuse she gave me.....so, anyhow, and thank God for 'em, Chris's parents immediately volunteered to have the monsters spend the night with them, and take them to church on Sunday, and we'd pick them up from mom and dad h's after our runs. Problem (and, mini-crisis) averted. After taking the kids to mom h's, we decided to play hooky, and head to M'ville to go see a movie, then head home for a pre-run dose of Cap'n :-)
Sunday morning arrives all too quickly. It is dark and cold. We actually leave on time, and get to run #1 on time. It's at some park in Valpo. Now, the name of this run is the Run-Climb-Crawl. We paid handsomely ($25 EACH) for this run, but it is advertised as a mudless Warrior Dash....so, we are pretty excited to test our phyical abilities aside from running our 3.17 miles! The packet pick up was quite a joke....great packet, just NO, ZERO, NADA, NOOOOOO organization amongst the volunteers, noone had any clue about anything, and they couldn't find our names anywhere on the 'master' list...yet, we had packets WITH our names, age, DOB and shirt size on them!! After a little while the oh-so-knowlegeable volunteer FINALLY let us have our packets and we headed back to the car to warm up. The race begins at 7:30, and it is not yet 7, so we have some time to kill.....we walk around hunting through the dark for the bathrooms, and mostly putz around till the sun comes up. This run is advertised as "old-fashioned"....and we slowly begin to see why. There is no 'start line', nor is there any timing, at all. We finally figure out where we are starting and (12 minutes LATE) they make an announcement about getting a numbered popsicle stick when you finish -- you are to take your stick to the right table (male or female) and they will place your # from your stick beside your name so you know how you did.................*seriously*
Oh well, at least we get to run, climb, and crawl.
So, the race starts, and about 2 turns into the field, there are the hay bales they advertised.........wait, what????? At Warrior Dash, it was a HUGE wall of hay we had to climb up and over (super fun) this, however, was about 8 bales spaced like this hay hay hay hay hay hay......yeah, you get the point, the really FIT people walked over them, the not-so-fit people walked around them. Then, we continue running through this field for another mile or so, before we hit the open grass. This 'open grass' was actually the break in the field due to those MASSIVE power line tower thingees.......nothing but a hill up to the metal tower, then run through the valley before you crest another hill to the next tower!!! I believe there were 8 towers in the open grass, and (I can't find my Garmin report on it) but I think it was something like a 642 foot ascent to each hill....that was rough!!!! After finishing the tower valleys, we round a corner back into the park where they have place 2 tubes. Yup, this is the whole, entire, whopping, mega 'crawl' portion of the run -- 2 little tubes that are about 20 feet long. We had to crawl through them, which was actually really challenging b/c they were only a smidge wider than I am (which happens to be quite a bit SMALLER than Chris is), after crawling through one, you had to run about 15 yards to tube #2, then run down a small hill to the finish line (where you got your popsicle stick)We were both really dissapointed with the advertised vs actual run, adn with the amount of $$ we paid, they could and SHOULD have made a much better run out of this!!!!
Neither one of us placed and we only lingered for awards b/c there was hot cocoa and a TON of door prizes.....which, coincidentally enough, were only won by people who went to the tae-kwon-do school sponsoring the run......hmmm, sure smells suspicious to me! We will NOT be running this one again next year, so, Team O'Connell will NOT be getting $50 from these people :-)

Our times:
(this was a trail run, so time are expected to be about 15-20% longer than a street 5K)
Chris:
29:16
32:16
(there was no age group, or overall placings, and these are the times from our own personal watches, b/c they didn't record any times there!!!!!)

*************************************************************************************

Haunted Hustle
Portage, IN

After leaving one run, we immediately headed to the next. There were quite a few (25-30) people who were running both runs, so it was kinda fun to see everyone at run #2. The Haunted Hustle was a costume run, so we dressed up a little......we still wanted to be able to run too. After a quick, easy, adn efficient packet-pick-up, we headed back to the car and off for a real bathroom!!!! Feeling better, and, a little emptier, we went to mingle with the other runners for a bit. We saw some funny costumes, and some weird ones too. Everyone seemed to be in a great mood, and the whole feeling was just nice and easy.
We were given a brief speech about how to run on a 'real' trail, and we were off. I was a bit tired from having JUST run a trail 5K, but felt pretty good right off the bat. The run started on a trail that was single-file.....so, for the first .4 miles, you were literally stuck at the mercy of how fast the pack was going, it opened up a bit in places, but not enough to pass anyone or to be passed either! At about the .5 mile mark, it was passable for a little while, I did my fair share of passing the older folk, and passing the fancy-nancy's who just couldn't bear to get their precious running shoes dirty (ugh)...and, I got passed, alot!!!! There was one REALLY annoying woman who was pacing off me, but she refused to run the tangents....she'd pace me, then see a 90 degree turn ahead with a tree marking the turn, so she would stop about 20 feet from the tree, wait till I had run down and around the tree, and once I got to the trail, where she had stood, she'd hop back in line behind me!!!!!! HOW IS THAT FAIR WOMAN???????? It put me in a really bad mood! She did this about 5 times through the race!!!! This trail was steep, and tough! I mean, this was REALLY tough!! The majority of it was single lane, and just completely infested with roots, rocks, shrubs....all sorts of hazards! The trail itself was well marked, and there were volunteers at the few places that were really tricky to navigate, and that helped alot! The entire elevation for this race was in the 800 foot chunk of the Garmin graph, it was a lot of long steep hills, with loose sand at the bottom of them, before climbing the next one. It was the kind of run that leaves you drained, but filled with pride for having done it! (Oh yeah, and it leaves you REALLY sore the next day!!!!)

Our times:
Chris
31:18
Julie
34:34
(again, no group or overal placememnts here either :-(





(I can NOT get these pics to post right at all -- the costume-y ones are from the Haunted Hustle, the other two are from the Run-Climb-Crawl)

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Julie....WHY do you run?

I am standing outside with a good friend of mine, we are watching our combined 7 monsters play in the back yard and talking about how life as a parent changes you. I have changed considerably since Cameron entered this world.... I like to think I've changed for the better, but a lot of the friends I've lost touch with in those 7 years would probably disagree.........anyhow....

So, nameless friend says, well, since I've only known you WITH kids in tow, why do you run.

***insert screeching brake sound here***

***insert cricket chirping sound here***

me: uhmmm, wellllllll, why do I run? Really, why do I run?

Becasue I'm good at it? no.

Because I wanna be good at it? no.

Honestly, I run because it's cheap, and addicting. Period, point blank, that's it in a nut shell.

I think my most profound run was the measly little 1.26 miles I ran after my gramma passed away. I knew my gramma my entire life. I've never lost anything that I had had for that long. And, with no warning, no signs of it happeneing in the near future, out of nowhere, she gets a severe upset stomach, is hospitalized, falls into a coma, and meets her maker within 24 hours. And, I was a wreck. An absloute mess. My sister and I have never needed each other so badly in our lives. It is (to date) the WORST thing my heart has ever had to endure, ever. It has only been 5 months, and I still haven't been to the cemetery, I still haven't fully accepted that she is gone, and I still cry a lot. But I run.

She passed away on a Saturday. I was numb through saturday, and sunday. I forced myself to go run Tuesday. I didn't want to, not out of laziness, but because I did not want to be alone with God. I was furious. I was hurt. I was mad. I was so very angry. I didn't know what to do, or how to yell at Him for taking **MY** gramma. I did NOT want to run ever again. But, I did. I ran probably the slowest mile of my life, becasue I was crying, wailing, sobbing, snotting, puking, and screaming.......and when I got done, I sat in my van and let it all out. I cried for my dad who lost his mother, I cried for my kids who lost their great-gramma, I cried for my husband who dearly loved my gramma, I cried for my sister who lost her gramma, I cried for my gramma's sister Shirley who was now the only one left in her family.....I cried a lot.

I had a 5K Ramp Run the following Sunday, and I did not want to run it, I hadn't gotten any real runs in that whole week, and I was still miserable. On the way to the race, something profound happened. I began to laugh. It occured to me, Gramma can now come to every single race I have. Every one of them. She can see me do something most people don't do. I ran that race and felt physically miserable, but spiritually happy, and, as corny as it is, I knew gramma was there. I wound up placing in my age group for the first time ever that day, and I know I made gramma proud.

But, why do I run???

I run

through sorrow

through guilt

through debt

through parenting blunders

through stress

through the finish line

through the doubt

through the pessimism

through the worry

through self conflict

through soul searching

I run for me, because of me, with me

I run with God

I search for answers

I run because, well, becasue I can.

Tower Run Extreme 8K ~ Michigan City, IN

This is our bib wall as of 9-12-10...we have logged 145.5 miles so far, with 9854.5 miles to go in the next 42 years (which means we each need to average 117.3 miles per year until we hit our 50th wedding anniversary!!!!)

Us, at home after the run......thanks to photographer Jackie for the quick pic!

Chris, ready to tackle the Tower Run 8K!!!!

We woke up Sunday morning to sunshine and a house full of kids.....my fave way to wake up :-) But, with a grueling race standing between us and the rest of the day. We got dressed, and Chris went to get the babysitter while I got the monsters up and fed. This was the first time we've ever left after the kids woke up, so I was a bit nervous about how Jill was going to handle seeing me leave, and having the babysitter stay.......The kids were eating when Chris and sitter got back, we said our byes and hopped in the car. We wanted to get there a bit early, we've never done this race, and we wanted to avoid the get there and line up-ness that happened at the Panic......We arrived at about 8:30, easy parking and packet pick-up, race starts at 9am. Whew -- what a relief to not be rushing before the race. We got our bibs on, visited the bathrooms (thumbs up for indoor plumbing at a race) and studied the course map. We wound up talking to a guy who actually got lost last year, so we tried to really study the map!!! They did pre-race announcements (with a caution on how to stay on the course!!) and then the group of us (only 164 runners and 15 walkers -- the walkers did a 5K walk) headed over to the start line. My whole goal for this race was to come in under 60 minutes.... It is a point-to-point measured 8K, which means they measure from point A to point B to point C, however the easiest way to get from point A to point B will likely involve you adding more distance b/c the terrain is impassable, or too hazardous. 8K is 4.97 miles, but rarely anyone does this 8K in less than 5 miles!!!

We start off by running through the parking lot down a path to the beach. I HATE RUNNING ON THE BEACH!!!! We have about .67 miles to run on the beach itself, which almost EVERYONE went down to the water to run on the packed sand waterfront (thus adding mileage), to get out of the beach was a slight uphill to the dune that was a severe sand uphill to the boardwalk... I don't think anyone ran up the dune -- it was super soft, loose sand, and VERY hard to even walk on, let alone run or jog. After this part we head into a trail area around Lake Kai, here we spend the next 1.37 miles running on a loose sand/packed sand/ mushy weeded area around the lake -- they actually hung little pink markers out there to help us keep the course. 90% of the journey around the lake was a single path, no room for passing (or walking without pissing off the people behind you) Once it doubled out to two lanes, I hopped in the left lane to walk.... I knew from the course map that there was about .3 miles of double lanes here, and after we got out of the trail, it was all road and pavement.....so I decided to walk till then, so I could hit the road with fresh legs to give it my all. Once we hit the end of said trail, I started running again, and ALOT of the people who passed me while I walked the trail were now forced to walk the pavement due to fatigue from running those 2+ sand miles....hmmmph, silly people. I passed nearly everyone who passed me while I sand-walked, except for one girl -- and I spent the rest of the race trying to catch her (I never did -- we kept the same pace and while she never gained on me, I never gained on her either) We hit the 3 mile mark and things were going well -- I was really disappointed with my time thus far, but thought I could make some time up before monster hill. There were a few small hills in the middle section, though nothing too big or too treacherous. Then, we round the corner to Monster Hill. This baby seemed straight up, and I mean STRAIGHT up... my Garmin had it at 227 foot ascent, and 496 feet long, I have no idea what kind of grade that is, I just know this thing was brutal!! I walked up the steepest part of the hill, then we round a corner, have a slight downhill, then another slight uphill, then we get to the cement steps to get to the water tower (the Tower part of the Tower Run) The steps are those annoying 6 inch riser steps -- you know, the ones that are really hard to run b/c your feet naturally wanna do an 8-10 inch step......and they were about 18-24 inches deep, just completely un-natural for your body to adapt to easily....after making your way up the steps we had to do a lap around the water tower, then back down monster hill. I had seen Chris coming down the hill as I was going up, and I assumed we were almost done (my Garmin had the hill at mile 4.21) As I round the corner after coming down the hill, things got really confusing. The walkers went one way (to the finish chute) and the runners had to go another way. At this point I was really pretty much alone, and just trying to follow the signs for where to go. There were volunteers out there -- but most of them were on their cell phones and not paying any attention to the racers!!! At one point, I went down a hill and was rounding a corner when I heard people yelling at me to get back on the course -- I had run right past a volunteer and she never even told me I was off course!!!! So, I had to back-track (UP the hill) to get back on course!!! After that, I was feeling really discouraged, and not knowing where the finish is was making it really hard. i couldn't rely on my Garmin b/c I had no idea exactly how long the race would be when ran with my terrain choice, so I tried to stay positive and focus on my breathing! As I went up the last hill, I was praying, literally praying, that God would grant me the strength to finish this, and to finish it running. A volunteer at the top of that hill told me I was almost done, and to finish strong, and she has no idea how wonderful that sounded right then!!!! I glanced at my Garmin to discover that I was in the 51 minute range, and I had less than 9 minutes to finish this -- and I had NO idea how far I was from the end!!!! A little ways further, I heard the cheering of the finish line, and Mr. Hotness yelling at me to finish strong. I had nothing left in me to sprint the finish so I coasted in. This race was really, really tough and physically and mentally demanding!!! I know it was really tough b/c the guy who won it ran a 6:14 pace (5 mile winners are usually in the 4:57-5:03 range!!!!) It was really nice to sit down afterwards and dump the sand outta my shoes -- there was so much sand in my shoes, that it actually made my shoes too small and gave me blisters from running in shoes that my feet were crammed into while sharing space with the sand!!!! Chris went to check the times, and came back to tell me I got 4th in my age group -- I missed 3rd by less than a minute!!! But, you know, aside from running off course for about 25-30 seconds, I can not think of anywhere that I could have given more to make up that time to take 3rd place -- I really feel like I gave it just about all I had, so I am happy with being the first loser in my age group for this race!!!

We will definitely do this race again next year, but we are planning on cramming 3 races into 2 days next year :-) Just for the "yeah, we did it" privileges :-)

It was also nice to know that my sitter was taking care of the monsters, and Jackie agreed to head over to feed them lunch b/c we were gonna be a bit later for this race.....I am so grateful to have so many people who love me and help me take care of my babies!!!!

Finish Stats:

(I wound up running 5.15 miles.....no idea what C ran b/c he forgot his Garmin at home :-O)

Chris:

48:38 ~~ finish

9:46 ~~ average pace per mile

7th out of 10 male 30-34

69 out of 164 runners

Julie:

53:49 ~~ finish time

10:48 ~~ average pace per mile

4th out of 10 female 30-34

105 out of 164 runners

Popcorn Panic, Valpo, 5 mile race

Us, at home after the race -- we were soaked and freezing!!!!! I wanted a hot shower and some hot tea ASAP!!!!

Saturday morning dawned dreary and gloomy and wet. YUCK -- not my fave way to wake up, at all!!!! We were kidless, the monsters (all 4 of them) stayed at Gramma's house for the night b/c we had back to back races and I can't afford to pay the sitter twice in one weekend......

The race started at 7:30, so we left the house at 6:30, well, 6:35 by the time we actually left.....we got up to Valpo at about 7:05 (we were already cutting it close time-wise!!!) and, then, GASP!!!!!!!! there is NOWHERE to park....freakin NOWHERE..we actually drove around for 15 solid minutes to find a space...thankfully, we are borrowing C's parents car b/c my van is sick, so we finally found a spot for the little car to fit. Then we high-tailed it (yeah, I said it...HIGH-TAILED) over to the registration tent to get our bibs and shirts....all they have left is XL, perfect for Chris, not so good at all for me.....I have recently discovered that I may be just a teensy little bit smaller than I think, and I need a size small, not XL...but, I take the shirt, b/c I paid for it. It is raining and chilly, and overall miserable, and the race starts in just 6 minutes. I have an upset stomach and REALLY need to 'use' the bathroom (this is a common occurrence when I don't KNOW that my kids are OK.....there are very few people I trust whole-heartedly with my darling little monsters, and my mom is in the maybe-trust-her-category....something about alcohol consumption and children don't mix well) So, Chris decided to run the shirts back to the car while I hit the porta-potty......I am so cold and wet that I threw my shirt on over the l/s tech tee I had on, I had to knot it in the back, but I was infinitely warmer, and drier. I stand in line, and realize, that I am in fact a princess (Chris's new nickname for me as of lately) I can NOT "use" any bathroom but my own at home (ugh -- pretty inconvenient for this whole racing thing we do) I manage to pee, and I realize the race starts in 2.5 minutes...and I have no idea where C is......I finally see him, and he still has to "use" the bathroom -- no worries though, he's a pro at this (guess that's what 3 years of driving a semi over-the-road will do for ya) and we manage to line up, LITERALLY 30 seconds before the cannon (yeah, a real freakin cannon, a really LOUD cannon) goes off! Chris takes off right away, and I settle into my normal easy pace of about 9:20-9:30 for the first mile.....I like to take the first one slow, especially in anything longer than a 5K, it gives people a chance to thin out, I don't like competing for my little corner to run in during the race......I am feeling pretty good about the run, nothing hurts, aches or throbs -- always a good feeling during a race!!!

This is a pretty flat course, there are 2 hills, one is at about the 2.5-3 mile mark, and it is (according to my Garmin) 197 foot ascent, but it is pretty short -- it's one of those look-down-at-your-feet-and-gut-your-way-up-the-hill-and-you'll-live hills. I hit the 3 at 27:something and was feeling GREAT!!! I knew I had a good race in me, but I also knew we have a killer extreme 8K tomorrow, so I decided to NOT give everything today, so that I could race tomorrow too.....I was having fun using my Garmin (thanks Jackie) and letting everyone know where we were and what our current pace was, and how much race was left. Once we hit the 4, I decided to kick it up to 4th gear -- I like to run most races in about 3rd gear, so I can leave some for a good strong finish, or unexpected terrain. I knew this course ended uphill (we did it last year) so I was reserving some for that -- once we rounded the final turn and I saw the finish hill, I stayed in "4th" gear, b/c it was a hill after all.... I am proud to say that this hill kicked my butt last year, but I must be doing something right b/c the hill was really nothing to my and my thighs this year!!! I finished at a relaxed pace, and saw Chris right before the finish chute, and found out that he ran a 41:something!!! Ohhhhhhh, my jealousy spiked!!! I have since become quite proud of him (while retaining some jealously --the guy NEVER runs to train, but his job is psycho-physically-demanding) We are sure to do this run again next year -- It is Chris's favorite run (I think that's because it was the first race he ever beat me in -- and he has beat me in every race since then!!!)

Finish Stats:

Chris:

41:08 ~~ finish

8:14 ~~ pace per mile

32 out of 49 male 30-34

298 out of 920 racers

Julie:

45:29 ~~ finish

9:06 ~~ pace per mile

21 out of 65 female 30-34

502 out of 920 racers

August 22, 2010....Race to The Taste

Us, before the run

My "I'm-a-super-stretcher" face

Chris's "I'm-seriously-stretching, back-off" look

WE GOT OUR SITTER BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chris picked up our sitter at 6:30, and we were out the door by 7.....we didn't need to leave very early at all....registration was from 7:30 - 8:45.....BUUUUuuuUUUUt we wanted to be gone before the kids woke up, it's easier on us, on the kids, and on our poor sitter.

We had oodles of time before the race, so we decided to hit WalMart and get mouthwash (which we forgot when we were there for our normal grocery shopping) And, since we were headed to WalMart, I decided to stop at the gas station for a cappucino....they always give me an upset stomach, but I knew I wouldn't have to make my pit stop in a porta-potty, so we capp'ed it up. I forgot that the dumb capp was gonna be too hat to drink till we were actually AT w/m...so, I had to guzzle it in the parking lot...I wanted to be sure I had appropriate facilities, should I need them.

We putzed around WalMart for a while, which we never get to do....something about 4 screaming kids, and we never manage to do our major shopping when it does NOT conflict with lunch/dinner, so the 4 said screaming kids are hungry on top of being bored with shopping.....so, we took advantage of our 15 minute trip to W/M :-) Suddenly, the urge to use the bathroom hit me, and I headed off to rid my body of the cappucino.....only, I was having some...uh.....problems. Yup, I'm one of those nerds who can pretty much only *use* the bathroom at home......bummer. I decide that if it must be, I'll take care of it at the race.

So, we leave WalMart and head over to the Expo center. We found parking and the registration barn with ease, but no matter where we look, we can NOT find a course map. We had looked online Saturday night, but couldn't find one anywhere either...so, we were pretty concerned that we might be doing 5 mile laps INSIDE the fairgrounds :-/ EEEEeeeeEEEEK!!!!! After MANY bathroom attempts (and little success for either Chris or me) we walked around the concourse of the fairgrounds. Eventually, we came upon some runners who, did, in fact, know that the race was NOT inside the fairgrounds, and that it would start over there ----->

OK....so, we mosy-ed over 'there' to check it out (yup, a starting line) then spent the next 15-20 minutes walking around. Finally, we decide to do one last bathroom stop, and head over to the start line. i still had an upset stomach, and, I was nervous about the race (I quit being nervous about races many moons ago, but this one had me nervous???) We had about 8 minutes before the race, so we headed to our bathrooms. i got dome right away, and walked out to hear the announcer blabbering about the course.......where.is.chris? Announcer now talking about the finish, something about a field....something about traffic and Porter County Sherriffs.....where.is.chris? FINALLY....C comes out of the bathroom, and we got a nice warm up jog in by flying to the start line. We lined up, and about 1.5 minutes later, we were off.

Chris took off pretty much right away...I have been battling this stupid extra 10 pounds, and my knee is my automatic sensor -- it does NOT like the extra weight, and it tells me this by hurting. So, I decided to take this race cautiously, but to try to come in under 48 flat. At about the 1 mile mark, a strange thing happens to me....my left shin feels like someone is squeeeeeeeezing it really hard. I've NEVER had shin pain, and have no idea what to do with it...so, I walk for about 15-18 seconds, then resume running. Shortly before the 2, my shin pain returns....I realize I have 2 choices: A) run every mile, followed by 20-30 seconds of walking, or B) just suck it up and walk for OVER 2 minutes (the golden 20/2 rule), so I feel like a nerd and walk for 2 minutes, I WALKED across the 2 mile mark.......weird. When I resumed running, all was right in the shin world! We left the fairgrounds after .48 miles IN the fairgrounds, then headed east about 1 mile till we hit a subdivision, ran around the exterior of this subdivision (about 1.25 miles) then headed back to fairgrounds, where we wound up running 75% of the way around the outside of the fairgrounds, on a gravel service road, before dipping back INTO the fairgrounds where we ran on the grass for a little ways before using concourse roads to weave our way back to the finish. Around the 4 mile mark, I started to realize I could finish this beast inside of 48 (which is a REALLY crummy time for me!!!!) So, I begin to form a plan...I am gonna pass her first, then him, then ease up a little before passing her...then, it's on for a good, strong, finish. As i get to what i think is the last little road before the finish -- I see my grunting, sweaty hubby!! He's already finished, of course, and I am screaming at him to see what his time is....he tells me "In the 43!" .suck. I tell him I REALLY wanna come in under 48, then ....BLAM. the little road we ran on before has become longer!! I have about .2 miles further to go than I thought.... ERGH! So, I haul a$$ to get there before the 48 shows up, and I crossed at 48:00 on their time clock AND my Garmin (this is one of those runs where "official results vary" :-/)

So, I should be happy for hitting my goal, right?!?!? Wrong. I'm mad and disappointed b/c I should be 10 pounds lighter and running a 5 mile race in the 46:45-47:30 range.....without trying this hard.

So, as of today (the race was yesterday) I have started the end-all, be-all journal to record my diet AND activity, I am also gonna try to focus more on cardio DVD workouts and actual running, *NOT* so much treadmilling. We have back-to-back 5 mile runs on Sep 11-12, so my goal is to be about 4 pounds lighter and to come in under 47:30 for at least on of them.

Official results:

Chris:

43:27 ~ finish

8:41 ~ average mile time

4th out of 8 30-34 male

73rd out of 166 runners

Julie:

48:05 ~ finish

9:37 ~ average mile

8th out of 10 female 30-34

97th out of 166 runners

Rotary Ramble 5K Demotte, IN

Cameron with his ribbon!

Justin with his ribbon :-)

Claire and her ribbon

Kids before the run

Mommy and Daddy after our run!

Let me just start this post off by saying that we will never run this race again.

That being said.....

This was a VERY local race for us, the only one within 15 minutes of our back door, and it had a pee-wee run for the kids (free of charge) after the 5K. Registration was from 6:30-7:45, race began at 8am. We got there about 7:25, my mom met us there to watch the kids while we ran. After Chris got our packets, we went to register the kids for their race, which was located at the finish line, so mom and the kids could see where they would need to meet us at. The kids were so excited to get bibs to pin on their shirts!!!! (and, kudos to them, ALL the kids were #1!!!) Then, we made our way back to the start area, Justin needed to use the bathroom, so I took him in for that (and for me to pee too) and as I came out of the school, they were urging runners to line up. Chris and I said a quick goodbye to the kids, and headed over to the start line. There were a lot, and I mean, A LOT of young kids there....the 13-17 year old cross country kids, I am betting at least 1/2 the race was in high school. As we were listening to the endless "rules" from the PA announcer (who, by the way, knows how to 'run' a race b/c she is the P.E. teacher?!?!?!) Chris starts cracking jokes about some of the stuff going on, and no one laughs. at all. BUMMER. these people are snobs, and are taking this race WAY to seriously......

The timer goes off and we are on our way.....the race is pretty simple, 4 right turns. There are a lot of people, and Chris pulls ahead of me really early, I decide to hang out at my slow 9 minute mile pace and finish when I finish..... I am getting passed left and right (literally) by these high school kids, and it is kind of annoying b/c they (most of them) were rude and bumping into me and NOT saying excuse me.....I sincerely hope my children have manners when/if they run races later in life.....anyways.... I hit the 1 mile mark at 8:52 and was feeling pretty OK, not great ~~ my knee had been kind of rubbery/stiff feeling the past few days, so I rested it for about 2 days before the run, and it was aching a lil bit at the 1 mile, so I decided to ignore the Garmin and listen to my body (knee) instead.....

I kept on running and was feeling OK, not great, not bad, and was still getting thoroughly annoyed at the kids in the race, and the serious-ness of it, no one was talking or joking, anywhere!!! Around the 1.75 mile (I think) I heard a younger girl breathing kinda funny, really wheezy and short choppy breaths. I glanced over my left shoulder just as she fell down. And she didn't really fall, she collapsed or crumpled, she just folded her tiny lil body all up on top of itself, I have never seen such a thing. NOBODY stopped but me!!!!! *PISS OFF JERKS* (not like any of them will ever read this, but it REALLY pisses me off) I grabbed her shoulder and asked if she was ok.....she was trying desperately to get her asthma inhaler thingee out of her pocket, and she looked up at me and said, with tears in her eyes, "I don't wanna die"...... ummm..... TERROR! what am I supposed to do??? "god, help me to help this little girl" I looked all over the place and couldn't find a race staff person anywhere, so I helped her to the next driveway where some spectators were parked in their lawn chairs, and had their cell phone. The man called 911 while the lady went to consoling the little girl. I stood there dumbly just watching and the old man told me to go finish the race, they'd take care of her now. I thanked him, and took off. About 2-3 minutes later, I could hear the sirens getting closer, and I knew she would be in good hands now. The more I ran, the more pissed off I got. Who in the world could possibly think that 90 seconds on your official time is more important than helping some young kid???? When does it all become me, me, me??? I honestly don't remember anything about the last mile, except that I was worrying about her, I never got her name or anything. When I finally did cross the finish line, I was mostly concerned about her, and quite happy to see my kids.... it is an amazing feeling to have 4 lil people whom I created watch mommy cross the finish line!

I went to get some water and heard the PA announcers saying that they needed the parents of (insert name here) to ambulance 14 immediately. I can only assume that was her, I did overhear some EMT's saying that she was standing on her own and just wanted her mom, again, I am assuming they are talking about the same girl.

Meanwhile, Chris PR'ed it in record (duh) time -- he finished in under 25 minutes!!!!! CRAZ-eeee!!!

The kids ran their race after ours. They had it broken down into age groups, 2-3 year olds, 4-5 year olds, 6-7 year olds, and ages 8+. So, none of our kids were against each other (whew!!!)

The youngest ones ran a short out and back, and the course got longer for each succeeding age group. The kids had fun, although, Justin was mad b/c he wanted to run a "real road race" like Mommy and Daddy!!! But, they each got a bib, a ribbon, and some orange pop from McDonald's.

We didn't stick around after the race b/c we wanted to go home, we had about 1600 other things to get done! Before we were even back at the van, we decided this was a NO for next year (or ever) the people were just too rude, the RRCA racers are way too serious, and it just wasn't fun. I'd never race if they were all like this!

Our official times:

Chris~24:57

8:01 mile

8th out of 11 male 30-34

259 out of 665 racers

Julie ~ 28:53

9:17 mile

14th out of 26 female 30-34

383 out of 665 racers

Buckley 5miler

us (with Jill) after the run......showing off the cowbell to the kids and Chris's parents

Claire -- sleeping in style on the way to Chris's parents house

me -- getting my awesome cowbell prize!

my calves....nowhere near as muddy as they felt

Chris's muddy calves

This was a weird race. and everything leading up to it was weird.

If you know me, you know I am pretty OCD and very into my daily schedule, I need thing A to happen before thing B, and so on and so on.....I think this is one reason why having had 4 kids in 5 years just seems to fit me fine...I keep a pretty tight schedule........

This was another race that I had our new sitter lined up for, and, she bailed on me on Wednesday night -- which was pretty last minute for us, because it is hard enough to find a sitter for 4 kids, let alone someone who will watch them at 6:00 on a Saturday morning.......as luck would have it, Chris's parents volunteered to watch them, as the race was only 5-7 minutes from their house! OK, check -- one thing done.

Next thing -- figuring out just where to go....this was a very well un-organized race....some races are completely unorganized and its pathetic, this was unorganized, but in a friendly way -- if that makes any sense....The website was little help as to where to go, sure we knew where Buckley County Homestead Park was, but WHERE do we go?????

Race day morning -- we wake up at 6am to rain. UGH. I have to come to hate running in the rain -- I'm ok if it's sprinkling, or if it is an all out down pour, but I hate running in just plain old rain (weird, i know) We were supposed to leave the house at 6:15, at the latest, to get the kids to Mom and Dad H's by 6:45, registration by 7am......It was 6:25 before we left the house, then we had to stop for gas....then it started POURING, so we had to drive at about....oh......20 mph!!! It was just after 7 when we dropped the kids off!! We pretty much threw them at C's parents and ran out the door......we found where we were supposed to park, and there was a small building in that parking lot, so we just knew we'd barely get there in time, but we'd make it.......FAIL.

That building was merely the Welcome Center, we had to go down the road and around the corner to the barn to get our packets......so, away we ran. Got our packets and shirts (mind you, this race was $23.50 for BOTH of us to run, and we got tech-tees here!!!!!), and THEN we discover there is no gear check, at all. So, Chris went to use the porta-potty, while I ran the .25 miles back to the van to put stuff away, just to meet him another .1 miles from the barn for the start line!!!! As we near the start line, we realize they aren't kidding about the 7:30am (sharp) start.....We lined up, and pretty much started the race right after. The race did start with a school bell ring, the old 1880's school bell, so cool :-)

Miles 1-3 were an out and back on the street, nothing super cool, or horrific, just a regular ole street run. Chris's heel has been bothering him for several weeks now, so he decided to see the "slow" point of view and run this one with me..... At mile 3, we head into the woods for the "cross-country" portion of the race. This was super muddy!!!!!!! We ran through puddles that easily as deep as my entire foot, and mud as thick as that.....and it was slippery!!!! Somewhere around the 3.5 mile mark, I feel something I've never felt before.....I felt everything just drain out of me. You know that cold feeling you get when you get scared, really scared??? It was like that, but not so cold......(after talking to Chris, he assumes it was my blood sugar dropping)......and at that point, I realize.......I FORGOT BREAKFAST!!! I don't do anything in the morning until I eat my MultiGrain Cheerios.....and, here I am trying to run 5 miles on nothing! After the 4 mile mark, I could see Chris chomping at the bit, trying to go, but feeling bad, so I told him to just go......after several times, he finally realized I was serious and he went ahead. It was somewhere around here that I began to doubt my ability to finish this thing.....and as much as I wanted to walk, I knew that would be the end if I walked at all, so I kept pushing, knowing the end just had to be soon!!!! I was getting passed by quite a few people, but I was really just focusing on getting one foot in front of the other. At about the 4.8, I got dizzy......like, the whole world was spinning dizzy. yikes. Then, just then, I hear this tiny crowd of volunteers cheering us on, and I decided that I had to just focus and finish this thing. I thanked the lady who told me there was 100 yards left, and I tried my best to just stay upright and running.

Chris was (of course) already at the finish line by the time I crossed, and he knew I wasn't quite right......instead of asking me how I was or seeing how it went, he simply said "water's over here", then we headed to the barn for the post-race food.....of which I devoured 2 doughnuts, an orange and some watermelon slices before feeling human again :-)

After a mini-feast, we decide to check the results before leaving to hop in the van. I was freezing (something about an hour of wet running, then standing still makes you cold to the core) and I was ready for the heat in the van!!!! Chris checks his time, and on a whim checks mine......then re-checks mine...it appears I placed 3rd in my age group!!!!! After confirming this (as best we can with 8-10 people crowded around this tiny paper) we call his parents to be sure we can stay the additional 20-30 minutes to get my award.......we had seen earlier that the award table was full of cow-bells!!!!

Chris's parents are thrilled for me, and state that the kids are all doing great, stay and enjoy!!!!

As they slowly get to my age group, I begin to wonder if I really did place -- seems so unlikely, this was NOT a good time, and I felt like crap......He gets to Females, age 30-34, 3rd place....not me. I nearly cried. We had waited all this time, and I had kinda gotten excited about having my very own cowbell. 2nd place, Julie Hasara......????WHAT?????? turns out, the #1 female 30-34, had advanced to top 3 females, so I bumped up a place in my group!!!! And, went home with a cowbell.

Now that I am showered and warm at home, this is a definite for the 2011 bucket list, and, we actually put it on the list while we were walking back to the van. There were no big drama problems, those poor volunteers never once made me feel like they were giving up their warm dry beds to stand out here in the freezing rain to help us, and it was nice to run with Chris.....I just hope I can sucker my lil sis into running it with us next year too :-)

Official results:

Chris

47:19

9:28 mile

5 out of 6 ~~ male 30-34 years old

78 out of 172 total runners

Julie

48:33

9:43 mile

2 out of 6 ~~ female 30-34 years old

86 out of 172 total runners

Washington Park Zoo Run, July 10, 2010

At home -- after the run...... (I have no idea how to make these post in the right order, or how to switch them)

yeah buuuuuudddddyyyyyy...... beer, at 7am.

hmmmm, mystery missing bark -- we need to find a suspect (or a cause)

looks like some disease.

the beach was beautiful, before the run :-)

hmmm...... a bit deceiving is all I'm gonna say right off the bat.......

This was titled as the "Running Wild for the Zoo" 5K Run/Walk...... so, without reading every word in the entry form pamphlet, we assumed we were gonna run through the zoo and make the zoo some $$$..... simple enough, right?!?!?!

This was an uuber cheap race ($12 with T-shirt/$6 without tee!!!) and advertised to have a beer/water table at the 2.5 mile mark, **aaaaaaaAnd** it's main sponsor is Miller Lite....... yup, this one is gonna be fun!!!!

Chris had to go pick up our babysitter at 6:30am, she was still sleeping, so he had to wait for the poor thing to wake up and get ready!!!! As soon as he got home with her, we were out the door -- we were rushing to leave BEFORE Jill woke up, I was afraid she would give our sitter a real hard time if she saw me leave, it's much easier when she wakes up to find mommy gone!!!!!

We arrived with MORE than enough time (yay!!!) After a highly unorganized packet pick-up, we went potty and went for a walk along the beach. Then, we got bored (big surprise, eh??) so we decided to be arborist apprentices and we spent a good 25 minutes inspecting all the trees in the park and trying to figure out why bark was coming off select ones, then we got bored with that so we decided to take lots of really dumb pics!!!! (i love my husband, he truly lets me be Julie whenever I can be!!!)

Finally, we decided to get serious and get ready for this race!!! After a last ditch potty stop, I got Garmined up, he got re-laced and we headed over to the start. Another one of these dumb bull-horn things that no one can hear, AND they forgot to block traffic at the start, so there were just 400+ runner/walkers blobbed up in the road to "block" traffic... great, just great.

Then, fairly suddenly, there is a loud noise to signify the start. I hit start on my newly borrowed Garmin, and we're off.

At the whopping .27, there is a HUGE, steep hill to climb up!!! This thing was intense!!!! But, once we were up that, things evened out a bit for a while. We were running down streets in a beach town, which means the streets are rather narrow and un-even, which is loads of fun for running!!! I hit the 1 mile at 8:43, and I felt great!!! It was becoming kinda hot, but there was lots of shade, and lots of people to look at!!! I had been debating over whether or not I was actually gonna get any beer at the 2.5, and based on how well things were going, I decided yes, a beer while running would be just fine, and funny as well :-)

The 2nd mile flew by, and according to my Garmin, I was averaging a 9:02 mile!!!!! I hit the 2 at 17:12 (according to my Garmin) and I was really LOVING this run........

until things changed, a lot.

we went down a sand path, to the beach. once we hit the lake, it was a left turn for the next MILE. 5,280 feet of running on the sand. and we were COMPLETELY unprepared for this!!!!! Once I hit the lake, I decided to take my shoes off to run faster.....a little side note here. I always tie my van key onto my left shoe. I do this for training runs as well as races. We leave everything in the van and I have a key, the only key we have to get back to our 'everything' we've left in the van, our phones, his wallet and his keys, the rest of my keys.... you know, everything.

Weeeeeeeellllll, when i went to take my shoe off, the key went flying, and landed in the sand. The dry sand. IN, in, IN the sand...... it took me 3:16 to fins this stupid key!!!! Runners were pissed at me, b/c I was right in there path (naturally, the key couldn't have landed anywhere BUT the path, right?!?!?!) so, after spending that long hunched over to find my key, I was pissed, frustrated, and had 2 crampy legs to run with. Lovely, just freakin lovely!!!! I managed to hit a whopping 9:26 pace for that last mile, but it was rough!!!! And, for the last 25-30 yards, I had to run barefoot through a VERY hot parking lot.... it was fun.

And, the worst part (aside from the key frustration) -- there was NO beer table!!!! There was no table at the 2.5, and the 2 mile table was just water!!!!

We did get some warm (and I mean warm) beer after the run, and Chris got a bratwurst and some picnic type sides to go with his beer, so I guess it was all OK on his end, he got beer and food!! Though, neither one of us could finish our beers, they were that warm!!!!

Chris finished in the top 200 and got a "Running Wild for the Zoo Top 200" finishers patch, so way to go Chris-Chris :-)

This race was definitely hard, and a bit deceiving, no beer and a 1 mile sand run...... ugh!

I say no way to doing this again next year, Chris still wants to....

(I'm betting he'll win and I'll give it to do it again next year anyways!!!)

Chris:

27:14~~~ finish

8:47~~~ mile

7th out of 11~~~ 30-34 year old male

143 out of 420~~~ overall finish

Julie

(ugh, it pains me to type/admit this!!!!!0

31:09 ~~~ finish

10:03 ~~~ mile

8th out of 18 ~~~ 30-34 year old female

235 out of 420~~~ overall finish

June 26, 2010, Firecracker 5K, Chesterton, IN

Jackie, expertly avoiding the camera.....and Chris, always ready for the camera!!!!

After the run......yup, he get's the #1 and I get #2..... I'm gonna beat him someday, I will......

So, yeah -- another cheesy pic of us after the run!

This was one of those races that makes you wonder why you started to run in the first place......everything about it was......almost right.

This was the first time my kids have EVER had a 'real' babysitter (meaning she is NOT related to us, and we have to pay her!!!) Our sitter was supposed to be her at 6:00 am....... and was 'almost' on time, arriving at 6:15. We gave her hushed, quick directions and were out the door!

It had been storming for a few hours, pretty bad thunderstorms, but it was clear skies by the time we left, yay!!!!

On our way there, Jackie (my sis) calls to say she is 'almost' there, but her map quest directions have her (and several people who were following her to the race) parked in front of some mans house, and he's outside....less than happy about the traffic situation in his front yard.

The perk of this race, because all races have a 'good thing' is that we get indoor plumbing and sinks with soap for the mandatory 17 bathroom breaks before a race. But, in true Firecracker 5K, the first time I used the bathroom, my stall was out of t.p., AND they were out of soap.......'almost' the perfect bathroom stop.....

We didn't have too much time to spare at this race, we walked around for a brief while, and made fun of the people there....... (1216) then they made some announcement on a bull horn that we could 'almost' hear, i think they forgot to turn it on though, so it was more frustrating than anything!!!!!

Soon there was a whistle (or something minor) to officially start us. Chris took off like a rocket, I took off at my usual whopping (:-/) 9:30 pace, and Jackie was jogging somewhere behind me. We traversed a very busy road, but they did have police blocking one lane, so at least we didn't have to fend off cars there...... but the next road was all us, and there were a couple glitches with drivers not knowing how to drive past 277 organized runner/walkers, and THAT was 'almost' a disaster.....

Shortly after road #2 we wound our way through some subdivisions, nothing spectacular to see, it was kind of nice to just run with no real agenda for this part of the race. I got to the 1 mile station at 8:58....... 'almost' believable. I have NEVER run a sub 9 minute mile, and I highly doubt I ever will. I HAVE to think this was more like the .9 mile mark.

Mile 2 was also uneventful, although, the turnaround was perfect!!! They had us run down to a cul-de-sac and circle it for the turn around, I love these, it makes things 500 times easier than the dumb "run around this pole" turn arounds......Oh yeah -- at the 2 mile mark, I got a 17:56.... again, 'almost' believable.

Mile 3 did have some weird ground, they are apparently re-grading one of the roads we were running on, so the surface was fairly pot-hole-y (is that even a word... oh well, it is now :-))It was also 'scratchy' and uneven, but it was only about .15 miles long, so it wasn't that big of a deal....about 3/4 mile from the finish, we get a little (and I DO mean a little) crowd support, and I realize that even though I skipped my usual pre-race bowl of multi-grain cheerio's, and I also skipped my usually mandatory 20oz bottle of water, I am feeling hyped!!!! And then it occurs to me, I am still passing people! I start picking out ladies who appear to be in my age range, I am gonna try to place this race!!!! I get a nice steady clip going, and I am passing women every minute or so, most of whom appear to be around my age. Suddenly, I see the man in the red shirt at the 3 mile mark, and he yells 26:14 (my watch says 25:43), well OK, it's a one minute sprint to the finish, and I see 2 ladies who just might steal my place in my division......So, I haul some serious a$$, and come in at..........28:23?????? WHAT?!?!?!?!?!!?

I am thinking their time was off somehow, because I haven't gotten a time like that in a long time, plus my watch said 27:51 when I crossed the mat...... 'almost' right.

As I am standing there downing my water with Chris (who, by the way, grew wings and flew this race) we see Jackie coming down the road. She looks GREAT, and still has about a 1/2 mile to go. So, I hopped out there and ran with her.... yes, she was still running!!!!!! She had taken several walk breaks, but still had enough in the tank to run/walk the race, the whole race!!! And, the little booger pi$$ed me off, b/c as we were running, I realize that, when she runs, she runs FASTER than me!!!!!! Her legs are so short, how can that be??????? She has a goal of 38:00, but will settle for 40:00. As we pass Mr. Red Shirt at the 3, he mumbles something about 38:blah-blah-blah.......so we are really running/walking fast!!!! A little while later she sees the finish line and takes off!!! She finished just over 40:00 ('almost' goal time)and was pretty bummed about her time, but I am so very proud of her for setting goals, and sticking with them. She truly is an inspiration to me, anyone who can continually get out there and conquer something so darn personally challenging is just amazing to me!!!

I am certain that this is not one of those races that I absolutely will NOT do again, but I think if we forget it next year, or try a new race over this one, that would be just fine with me..... I 'almost' don't want do it again, and I 'almost' do want to run it again.....

Oh, and btw -- I 'almost' placed in my group, I came in 4th!!!!

Chris:

finished in 25:51

8:20 mile

6th out of 11 30-34 male

78 out of 277 finishers

Julie:

finished in 28:23

9:09 mile

4th out of 14 30-34 female

106 out of 277 finishers

Jackie:

finished in 40:24

13:02 mile

13 out of 15 25-29 female

213 out of 277 finishers

Dunh, Dunh, Dunh -- the 13.1 series Chicago Half-Marathon.

There were SOOOOO many port-a-potty's here!!! This pic was taken from the bird and butterfly sanctuary a little ways away from race headquarters

Oh yeah -- after the race, on the way back to the shuttle, we saw that *THE* Blues Brothers car was there -- the race coincided with the Blues Festival on Wells Street, so they just made it all one big party!!!

I made the gear check lady take our pic after the race

Me, right after -- I look pretty mad still.......

Chris, poor thing -- he did it, and did it well, but he was sore before we even started the 2 hour drive home!!!

The pinnacle of my running summer, The epitome, The definition of all my effort. The beast. The half-marathon.

It's Monday afternoon, the race was yesterday. I am currently sitting at my computer with thighs that are a little sore -- mostly from my 1.5 hours of planting flowers this morning -- but I still don't know exactly how I feel about yesterday.

We had to get up at 3:00am, to be certain we were out of the house by 3:25am, stop for gas (I am horrible about filling up BEFORE we go anywhere 'big') We had to be at the museum of Science and Industry by 5:30 am to catch a shuttle to the race itself. The race started at 7:13am. We got to MSI by 5:15, hopped on the bus and were shuttled off to the South Shore Cultural Center (where Mr & Mrs Obama had their engagement party!!!) We got to the race hq at about 6am, PLENTY of time to get nervous!!!! I went into this feeling really unprepared, I had only done 2 really long training runs (to me a long run is anything over 7 miles) I had done an 8.4 mile run and a 10.3 mile run. I had taken the weekend off before the race, so my running muscles could rest before the big run. I don't know how I feel about this taper philospshy (where you essentailly peak 2 weeks before a half, then gradually decrease your run distance to a measly 3 miles about 4 days before the race) Now, Chris on the other hand, has done 1 training run, a 4 mile run on his way to get McDonalds!!!! So, I am nervous for him as well, but that boy has more pride than anyone I know, so if he says he's gonna do it -- watch out, cuz he's gonna go fast and furious until it's done!!!!

Anyhow, back to the race here.......wait, wait, I lied..... I forgot to tell you where the kids are....my oldest 3 spent the night at my parents house, and Jackie spent the night at my house with the 'baby'......ok, now back to the race.

It's 6:05 and, race starts in just over an hour......we walk around for a bit, but the general vibe in the race area is too hyped up for me, so we meander away from that and head over to the lake, Lake Michigan. We see a little path that leads to this butterfly and bird sanctuary, it's this little area of Chicago that is just all "wild" with these little paths that take you to lookout points that overlook the breakers and the lake.....it was really serene and just what we (yes, even Mr. Hotness was nervous) needed. We putzed around a bit, made the 17 mandatory port-a-potty stops, and just waited. After we dropped our backpack at Gear Check, we decided to stretch...as Chris was stretching "Tommy" the blackhawks mascot, came over to stretch with him, and Chris even got a massage from Tommy (no pics though b/c we had JUST dropped off our bag -- with the camera in it :-()

At about 6:50, they started letting people into their corrals. We were in corral "L", so we headed over there listening to the mc with his pre-race jabber..... this is when we find out that A) I have to pee, and B) they are letting corrals go in alphabetical order, every 90 seconds!!!! we are in the 12th corral, so it's gonna be 18 minutes that we are stuck in here, just waiting to go!!!! And, (naturally) there is no way out of the corral, so, even though I have time, I can't leave to pee!!! As we got closer, and they were letting the "H"'s go, there was a break in the corral fencing, and tons of people were rushing across the parking lot to pee.....Chris went first while I held our place, then I went. Ahhhh......

So, we finally get to the front, and we are stoked! We have NEVER run together, he starts really strong and fast, I am more like the turtle, slow and steady.....but, he knows he can't start this fast, there is just too much race for that. We ran together for about 4.5 miles, and I must admit, though we didn't talk much, we didn't need to... it was one of the most romantic things we've ever done... we were passing people without ever needing to ask each other if we should, we were running like a team, and it was nice to know that almost 8 years into our marriage, we are strong, united, and silly nerds!! Somewhere around the 4.5 mile mark, there was an aid station (they were every mile or so, well done 13.1 series!!) somehow in the mass of people, Chris got a little ahead of me, and, as this was an out and back, the bicycle convoy and police 4 wheeler showed up on the other side of the sidewalk -- the winner was on his way back already!!!! In the mad dash to get all the out-bound runners on the right side, Chris got even further ahead of me!! At the 6 I got a drink and walked through it (learned from the Indy half that I am NOT talented enought to run and drink!!) and, at that point, I lost Chris entirely.

I still felt OK, I could tell I was hitting a slight runner fatigue, but it wasn't anything major -- I also developed a slight upset stomach from these gummy energy things we brought with us -- I broke rule #1 and tried something new on race day :-(

I just kept trucking along, talking to people around me every now and again.....trying my best to maintain a solid 10 minute mile. Everything was fine until somewhere between 9 and 10. I started thinking about how Chris was likely gonna finish his first ever half-marathon in under 2 hours, without training, at all. I started thinking about Jill, and how miserable she was probably making Jackie, and I started to feel guilty. Then, my slight upset stomach turned to a 'need to puke now' stomach. I stopped just past the 10 mile sign, tried to throw up, but was too embarassed, so I just walked. And cried. Well, sobbed really. I knew I was still OK to finish in my goal time (2:15:00) but I didn't feel good, I didn't feel strong, I didn't feel solid, I didn't feel confident. So, I cried.

After a couple minutes being the only one at my pity party I told myself to shut up and finish this damn thing so we could just go home!!! I had less than a 5K left, and while a 5K is still work for me, it's no longer a monumental run. So, just buck up and run,Julie. So, I did. I ran past the guy who had passed out and was being tended to by EMT's, I ran past the woman who was braver than me and managed to puke in front of everyone, I ran past the 14 year old girl who couldn't run anymore and was crying, I ran past the man with a prostethic leg who was sweating profusely, but was out there doing it, I ran past the punks who had passed me while I was crying, but most importantly, I ran past my doubt, I ran through the pain, I ran through the guilt, through the lack of confidence..... I ran, not fast, but I just kept running.

Suddenly, I could see the finish! I did it!!!! There were people everywhere, people cheering, other racers who were done, wearing their medals, sweat drying, hearts beating in their normal ryhthm and they were cheering me on.... and good grief, did I need it -- I was in a group of about 10-12 people, and I kept raising my arms to the spectators, making them cheer for us (that IS your job as a spectator, by the way) and the group I was running with got a bit more confident, and a bit happier with each cheer we got......

Suddenly I heard a rat-tat-tat-tat, rat-tat-tat-tat... that man with the prosthetic leg was breathing hard, grunting LOUD, and finishing strong -- in a moment I'll never foget, everyone in that part of that finish chute (which was over 2 tenths of a mile long), everyone veered left to let him through -- it was a tearful moment for me.

Then, after all these curves, and the longest finish chute of my life, I saw the finish arch. I knew that I was going to cross the timing mat running, and soon!! I glanced at my watch and saw 2:13, and hammered down, I gave that last 50 feet everything I had left!

After finally officially finishing, I saw Chris comfortably stationed behind the banana table, waiting for me.

I was so angry when I finished. So very angry at myself.

I was also so very proud of Chris, who never walked once, for fear of not being able to run again. Although, he did have some weird sympots, sadi his legs turned to lead, then his fingers began to tingle.......??? yeah, that scares me! But, he's already talking about doing a full marathon!!!

As for me, I am anxiously awaiting the Monumental Marathon in Indy in November, with dreams of doing a full marathon when the kids are older and I can really devote the required time to training.

I guess in the process of writing the blog, I have decided to look back on this half experience bitter-sweetly. I don't care that he beat me (OK, i don't care much) I am glad that I finished under my time goal, I just know that I should have performed better and gotten a better time.

*sigh*

Oh well, next time, I s'pose.

Results:

Chris: 2:07:41 ~~~ 181/262 male 30-34 ~~~ 9:45 mile

Julie: 2:13:19 ~~~ 187/391 female 30-34 ~~~ 10:11 mile