About a month after my marathon I was scanning the internet looking at races and came across a race called 50s For Yo Momma. I chuckled at the name and clicked on the link to read the description. 50s For Yo Momma is a 50K and 50 mile trail run at Hargus Lake in Circleville on May 12, 2012. I looked at the pictures and thought to myself that this looked like a great challenge. And for only a $35 registration fee, who could resist? So, I took up the challenge of the 50K. I emailed the race director, Rob, and told him I'd just completed my first marathon, didn't know anything about trail runs and asked him how I should train for one. Oh, and I told him I was a little crazy! Rob graciously replied back and offered to meet me out on the trail anytime and run the course with me. We scheduled a training run for the middle of December.
In the middle of December, I drove to Circleville and met Rob at Hargus Lake. The course is a 5.2 mile loop around the lake. We set out and I ended up with a huge shock to the system. This trail run.... No freaking joke. I'm pretty sure this was the hardest 5.2 miles I'd ever run. EVER. We ran through inches deep mud, across a couple small creeks, up some of the steepest hills, and up a staircase consisting of 67 stairs. And come May, I get to do that 6 TIMES!!! We finished one loop which took us (me) so long that Rob wasn't even able to do a whole second loop with me because he had to go to work. He ran about a mile of a second loop with me and then he split off and I completed the rest alone. In the woods. In the middle of nowhere. By myself. Needless to say I was a little creeped out, but I finished. It took me over 3 1/2 hours to run 10.4 miles. I can run a half marathon faster than that. And all I kept thinking was, "I'm never going to be able to finish this race." I've since gone down there twice and still haven't made it around more than 1 1/2 times. This Saturday is a scheduled training run down there, and my goal is to make it around 3 times.
By now, it's Christmas and I have managed to succeed with no sweets! And in an office where everyone brings Christmas cookies this was a huge challenge. But I did it. And by Christmas Eve, I was down to 183 lbs. Of course, I then proceeded to gain 8 lbs over the Christmas holiday because all the sweets I had ignored between Dec 1 and Dec 25 I made up for - tenfold. But, I enjoyed the holiday with my family.
In January, I flew to Miami and ran the ING Miami Half Marathon with my friend Maite. My goal was to PR. However, I had forgotten what it was like to train in the heat. And on race day, it was HOT! I had a miserable race and finished in 3:03:18. My slowest half marathon since becoming a run/walker in May 2011. Then began my serious training for those two big races in the Spring. And my eating needed to get back under control. I had been continuously yo-yo-ing up and down those 5-8 lbs since Thanksgiving.
I currently work both full time and go to school. My school schedule changed after the first of the year and 2 weeks before I went to Miami I adopted a puppy. If anyone ever tells you that having a puppy is like having a baby... believe them!
So between the new puppy and my school schedule my week day runs were suffering. I asked around to see if anyone wanted to run in the mornings. Luckily I have a friend who is a morning person who jumped on it. This also happened to be the same friend I somehow talked into also signing up for Yo Momma!! So, beginning in February Jeanine and I (along with my new puppy, Penny) started running 5 miles at 6:15am Tuesdays and Thursdays. I am not a morning person so this was a struggle for me. Then, I'd get my long run in on Saturday. Luckily, Jeanine and I were also able to get a couple of 21-25 mile runs in. Since February, I've put in a lot of training miles. And I got my eating a bit more under control and got down to 178 lbs. I had also signed up for the RunCbus 10 miler on April 15, which I also ran last year. The course is extremely hilly and challenging to those of us who hate hills. My goal was to finish in less than 2:20:00. I finished in 2:24:03, which was 10 minutes faster than I ran it last year. Not the greatest time, but I was satisfied.
As I was getting ready for my marathon in Indianapolis this past weekend, I needed to go through my closet and pull out all the clothes that didn't fit me anymore and take them with me to give to a couple of friends. After cleaning out my closet I realized I needed some more jeans and summer tops. So I took the dreaded shopping trip. I am not a fan of shopping usually because I have a hard time finding jeans that fit me. I am built smaller in the middle and lots bigger in the behind area. So jeans that fit my rear and hips gap a lot in the waist. I easily get frustrated while shopping so I wasn't holding out for a good trip. I went to JC Penney because I like a lot of their clothes. I ended up trying on some jeans that were labeled "curvy fit". By the time I had finished trying on jeans I left with a pair of 12s and a pair of 10s. 10s!!!!! I don't think I've ever in my entire life worn a size 10. Needless to say, I was pretty stoked. I also left with 5 shirts (Mediums and Larges). And I bought a dress in a size 12! (not the greatest pic)
Now, it's marathon weekend. I drove to Indianapolis on Friday for the Expo. Saturday morning I was up at 5:30 am getting ready. I was nervous about the race, and yet I wasn't. I was nervous in that I didn't feel I had trained as well as I had for Columbus. And I really wanted to finish close to 6:00:00. Yes, that would have been a 25 minute improvement which seems like an aggressive goal, but I tend to set aggressive goals.
One nice thing about this race was that one of the coaches from MIT (Marathoner in Training) was doing the half marathon. We had coordinated that we would start together. So, as I get to the start line, I found Dana about 45 seconds before the gun goes off. We wished each other luck and set off. I had decided to try a 2:1 run-walk interval for this race to see if I could maintain it the entire way (I typically do a 3:1-1/2 run-walk interval and by mile 18 I'm running closer to a 2:1 interval anyway). The course is relatively flat with a couple of short rolling hills. I chose this race because of that, and the fact that I had done the half marathon in 2011 where I tried run-walk for the first time and ended up taking 21 minutes off my best half marathon time. I felt really good until about mile 22. I definitely started slowing down a lot by then. But for the most part I continued to keep up the 2:1 run-walk interval. There were plenty of aid stations on the course and though there wasn't any real "cheering" from people along the course, the volunteers at each station were great! And the oranges at the second to last aid station were a wonderful treat! The only down side to the entire race was how cold and windy it was. I had some major windburn before it was all done. The sun tried to peak out about mile 24 but it didn't last more than 30 seconds. By mile 25 I was so ready to be done. There was a group of 3 ladies in front of me that I tried catching up to. I got pretty close, but they pulled away the last 3/4 of a mile. I was too tapped out. But, I crossed the finish line in 6:15:40, which was almost 10 minutes faster than my first marathon in October! It wasn't the 6:00:00 I wanted, but the 10 min PR made me pretty happy!
And now, it's my final 3 weeks before THE RACE!! 50s For Yo Momma. I have no idea what the next weeks will bring regarding training. But one thing I do know is that I have to finish this race. Whether it's running, walking or crawling. A huge motivation for me is that my friend Maite is flying up from Miami, FL to cheer me on. My friend and running buddy, Stephanie, and her husband, Keith, are crewing for me. Wow, I'm running a race where I need a "crew"!! Stephanie is a great support! During my marathon on Saturday I would get periodic text messages from her saying things like "You're my hero" and "You totally got this! Just keep putting one foot in front of the other". They helped more than she will ever know, and for that, Stephanie, I thank you! For now, I'm going to focus on my training over these next 3 weeks and come May 12, we'll see what happens.
