A Rainy Day PR!

 Six days ago the weatherman said that Sunday's weather would be 65 and partly cloudy.  Two days ago they switched to 60% chance of rain.....

It rained the WHOLE TIME!  If you follow my blog at all, you know I'm a big wuss and I hate the cold and I hate running outside in any kind of precipitation.  Sunday really tested my limits.  However, I do have to say that even though it was raining, it was still mostly warm.

Let's back up...

On Saturday I took my whole family to UT to pick up my race packet.  They seemed less than excited by it all.  My kids kept asking when we were going to grandmas.  I had to beg them for this picture.

We did get to drive up to the front of this beautiful building... it looked so nice there with those warm, sunny skies!

I picked up my packet and saw that they picked the most awful neon yellow color for the shirts this year.  I guess if I am running outside and I want to be sure they find me in case I get lost, this will be perfect!!!

We headed out to drop the kids off at grandma's house because my hubby and I were meeting a friend for her birthday at the casino in Toledo.

I knew we'd be tired, but I wasn't about to let my friend down.  I think we got home to my MIL's house around 11:30pm.  I hit the slab of rock bed just after midnight with a 5:30am alarm.

I was so tired getting up and I probably should have gotten up sooner, but I needed some sleep.  We left MIL's house at 6:09am.  I realized that there would be traffic, but I wasn't prepared for what we ran into.  There were cops at the corner to turn on to UT's campus, but they weren't doing much.  The green arrow that lasted all of 6 seconds only let about 4 cars through each time and then if the cross traffic felt rude, they pulled into the middle of the intersection during their green light and got stuck there through ours- preventing us from going at all.  We sat in that cluster for 28 minutes.  finally at 6:45am, I told my hubby to pull a U-y and let me out!  I got out on the sidewalk and walk the 1/2 on to campus and to the runner's area.  hubby was going home to get the girls (leaving the baby at home due to the rain.)

I really had to pee again and got in line for the porta-potties.  There were 5 lines of about 100 people each for the 20 or so potties there.  I waited for what seemed like forever.  I managed to get into one just as they started the wheeled division.  I peed quickly and ran to the back of the chute.

I had made tentative plans to try to find Scott from Big Daddy Diesel, but with being late, I figured I'd never find him.  I tried to look up and over people and couldn't seem much.  Just as I turned around, I heard someone say my name.  He found ME!  We said hello and wished each other luck and with that, the line was moving forward.  I lost him quickly in the crowd though and I never saw him again.  I wish we could have found each other at the end for a pic.  GREAT JOB though SCOTT!!  Check out his blog for how he did at the GCM!

Anyway, the rain was really coming down and I remember telling myself that I just needed to ignore it and enjoy my run.  I felt great by mile 3 and was surprised how quickly I loosened up.  I kept pressing forward and I had to dodge a lot of people.  The course was really crowded almost the whole way.

The day before the race, I bought this on a whim...and I'm so glad I did, as it kept the rain out of my eyes.

I passed the 2:30 pace group and wondered if I should stick with them since 2:30 was well under my goal.  I wondered how pace groups work....  do they take it slow at the beginning and then gain speed at the end?  Maybe I should learn more about that.  When I passed them I made a promise to myself to keep going at a pace I felt good with and then if they passed me later on, I'd try to hang with them for as long as I could.  I never saw them again!!!

My hubby made plans to see me as I passed through wildwood park around mile 8.  When I was at mile 6 I checked my phone and texted him where I was.  He texted back that they couldn't get into the park, but were looking for a place in the housing area to park.

At around 6.5, I saw my cute little girls all soaking wet with daddy waiting for me.  I saw them well before they saw me.  It was just what I needed to keep my spirits up.  I told my hubby that I thought I'd finish around 9:30-9:45pm and I was off.

I felt great through the main park and then met a lady named Mary Anne who was from the area, but had moved out to PA.  She and I talked for some time and the miles went quickly.  As we pass mile 10, the clock said 1:50 and I was surprised.  I knew I had crossed the starting line about 5 minutes after the first official start.  That left me with 3.1 miles to run and finish WELL in front of my goal.  I bid Mary Anne goodbye and told her I felt great and wanted to speed up.  She was trying to heal and injury and said she'd play it by feel if she wanted to keep up with me or not.  I took off and still felt great.  By this time in my other half's I felt like my legs were dead so I was very excited!

I left the trail and was on campus.  I couldn't believe it, but I passed the 2:20 pace group. I wondered to myself if maybe they weren't pacing correctly.  I mean...do these people slow down and then sprint at the end??  I don't know how they work at all.

I kept going and looked back a bunch of times to see where they were.  They were not catching up.  I saw the glass bowl ahead of me and took off as fast as I could.  Just as I was entering the stadium, the leader for the marathon passed me.  I finished just after he did....

With a time of 2:17:22.  WHAT???  I couldn't believe it.  I must be absolutely horrible at setting goals.  I never thought 2:30 was possible really.  It was my dream.  A 2:17???   My pace was 10:29 per mile- much faster than I ever trained.  I don't know why or how, but it's something I will think about for many days to come as I find my next race.  I felt great, even in the rain- which I forgot about around mile 7.

a 2:17...who would have thought!

TOMORROW!

Tomorrow is the Glass City (Toledo) Marathon and Half Marathon.  I signed up for and trained (minus the 5 days my son was sick) for the Half!  Throughout this week the news said it would be 60 degrees and partly cloudy.  YAY!  Then this morning those losers meteorologists changed their minds and said 60 chance of rain in the morning.  REALLY??  UGH!  I hate running in rain.

Today I get to go pick up my race packet/bib and I'm overly excited because when I ran my 1st half, I got into town too late and didn't get to go to the expo.  Someone else picked up my packet for me.  I've never been to a race expo.  Is it silly that I'm excited?  I mean, it's Toledo, Ohio.  I'm sure it's not that big of a deal.

If it's not raining, my hubby is planning to bring the 2 oldest kiddos out to see me run past in the park.  They can play on the playground while they wait for me.

Hopefully tomorrow I will have a Race Recap and news of a PR...  I'm hoping I trained enough to have a better time than my first half.  I am 30 pounds lighter too, so that should count for something right?

Here are my ABC goals-

C- PR: faster than 2:46:10 or a pace of 12:41 per mile
B- faster than 2:37 or a pace of 11:59 per mile
A- faster than 2:30 or a pace of 11:27 per mile

I realize that for some of you, these times are incredibly slow.  Some of you may even do a whole marathon that fast.... sorry.  I'm still improving!  Honestly, finishing is an accomplishment for me.  I just feel like I've put in some good runs to hopefully get a PR for myself.

I pray that no one wants to ruin this race day for runners.  May we all have a safe and easy run!

A Fun Run and one helluva a taper!

Well, after last weeks events, I am finally back to training.  5 days off is one helluva of a taper huh??  I am not really sure how those 5 days off will effect my half marathon next weekend.  I'm not very knowledgable in training and tapers. Anyone out there have any thoughts on my "take 5 days off 2 weeks off before a 1/2" un-plan?  Yes, it was unplanned and unexpected, but it freaks me out.  I was really hoping to get in another 12 mile long run in last Monday.  Should I do another 12 mile run this week or should I do my planned taper run of 8 miles?  I have no idea what to do.  I ran 6 miles last night to get back into running after the 5 days I did NOTHING exercise related.  Today I swam and then run-walked a 2-mile fun run with big little.

I have to say that spending time with oldest daughter doing something that I LOVE really means a lot to me.  I rarely spend time with each child alone, so when we do have something planned, I really enjoying seeing who they truly are.

Here we are before leaving home:

The run was a knock-off color run.  The run was called, "Color Your Life" and was a small community run in a town near us.  With registration we got a white t-shirt for the run and then a grey shirt with the logo as well.  The run was not timed and was only 2 miles.  It was for anyone 5 and older.  My oldest has asked several times to run a race with me, so I thought this was perfect.

As you can see above, we made cheapo tu-tus and got into the fun.  She was so excited and we had a blast.  Here is big little after all of the fun...

And the picture she took of me!

 Us together....

Big Little using the fan to blow the color off!!!

I can't explain how much spending time with my children means to me.  The fact that I was able to share something I love with her means the world to me.  These little moments are the things that I want her to remember for the rest of her life.  I saw this today after we got back and it is SO true!

When Life Gets in the Way....

I was doing so well with my running schedule.  I was working out almost every day.  I was losing weight.  I felt great.  Then....life happened.

Friday night our son (16 months old) was very fussy and acting like he was in pain.  He started to fall asleep and then woke up crying.  My husband was trying to comfort him and he started to puke, and puke, and puke some more.  GREAT! We cleaned him up and got him some new PJs.  Eventually he went to bed.  In the middle of night he wanted a bottle.  That came out too.  

Saturday my husband had to work in the morning.  I cleaned up puke from our son most of the day. 

The poor kid was just miserable.  His fever was around 102.  That afternoon I decided to take him to urgent care.  He was unsteady on his feet and really just seemed to be dizzy with a headache.  He has had ear infections before, so I wondered if maybe he had an inner ear infection that was making him dizzy.  Sure enough, they diagnosed him with inner ear infections and sent us on our way with antibiotics.  Happy that he wasn’t sick with the flu, I filled the scripts and got him settled in for the night.  

Sunday he seemed to feel better and we thought the antibiotics were working.  Knowing that he just had ear infections, friends came over with their 4 kids.  About 10 minutes before our friends arrived, middle little announced that her stomach hurt.  5 minutes later, she was puking.  GREAT!  Now she has the flu??  We quarantined her in our bedroom and let the others play.  She was pretty miserable and was ok sitting out of the fun. 

Sunday night included puking from our son and middle little.  Lots of clothes and bed sheets were washed and we debated who would stay home from work the next day.  I pulled the short straw and called in on Monday. 

Thinking that our son was getting better on Sunday was short lived.  Middle little was feeling better and only needed some sleep.  From 8am-1:30pm she snoozed on the couch.  However, our son couldn’t even maintain eye contact.  When I held him he slumped over and seemed to have no muscle tone.  I called our doctor worried about dehydration. 

As I was awaiting a return call, the school called and big little was puking too.  She needed to be picked up! GREAT!  The doctor then called back and had a 3:30PM appointment.  I loaded the two at home in the car and headed out to get big little from school.

We took little man to see the doctor who also thought that he may be dehydrated because he wasn't able to sit up, stand, or make much eye contact.  

We were admitted to our little county hospital and within a few hours of blood work being done, the doctor was in explaining that we would be transferred to the large city hospital because little man’s Red blood cell count and iron were dangerously low.  That night we were taken to the big hospital and more tests were done. 

He was NOT happy about his IV.  I think this is the saddest face I have ever seen....

Tuesday his RBC and iron dipped even lower (likely from the rehydration efforts) and a blood transfusion was started.  

Within an hour he was doing much better and seemed to be responding as a normal toddler. 

 More tests were run the next morning and as of right now, it looks like he is severely anemic.  He was diagnosed with Iron Deficiency Anemia that we should be able to control with iron supplement and diet changes as he grows.  A hematologist at TCH is reviewing his case and we have to submit follow up blood work to be sure that there is no underlying cause for the low counts and quick loss of the RBC.  We should know more within the next few months through those tests and watching to see if his body continues to either lose the RBCs or gain through the supplement and diet.

Soooo.... long story short, I haven't been running in 4 days and I honestly am so tired right now, I don't think I could even get my running clothes.  I guess what I did learn is that I am a mommy first and a runner second.  I love my babies and I can't imagine life without them.  I'd do anything to keep them healthy.  There is always tomorrow and even with my next 1/2 in less than 2 weeks, I am sure I can make up for my 4 days off without much extra work.  It's all worth it if I know my baby is ok!

Finally an Outside Run!

Yesterday it was 55 degrees outside and beautiful.  The wind was blowing a little, but if I stayed on our road, the houses and trees blocked it for the most part.  I love being out there.  At first I had thoughts that maybe it would just be easier to do all of my training on the treadmill.  I've come to really rely on it.    It's easy to track speed and distance, there are not distractions or obstacles.  Then, yesterday I realized that.... it's too easy, I WATCHED my speed and thought about it every second of every minute, and THAT was a distraction!

I ran 3.1 miles and it felt effortless and smooth.  I enjoyed the nature and I didn't have to think about running.  It was so refreshing.  I really didn't pay much attention to speed but I worried that it felt too easy and that I should be going faster.  I tried to speed up the last mile (my road is exactly a one mile loop).  It seemed like was out there for a few minutes and I LOVED that!  The first three miles on the 'mill feel like forever.  I finished the 5K in 33 minutes.  I know for most of you that is REALLY slow, but for me, it's a great time.  To run under 11 minute miles is unusual.  Obviously I run faster outside.  To run 11 minute or less miles on my 'mill is so painful and hard.  It's funny that it would feel so different, but I think it's because I wasn't watching the time.  I can't wait for the next nice day to run!!!

Now on to more exciting things- FOOD and DRINKS!  Over Easter (and break) I wanted to try new things.  I saw on FB that Bud Light Lime had a new drink:

It was decently good.  In the can, I don't think I could drink too many of these.  I poured it once ice and that was better.  I like Margaritas, I don't like beer.  It's a mix between the two.  I could live without it, but I can also enjoy it if I don't have anything else.  

I also decided that I wanted to try to make something somewhat healthy for Easter dessert.  My MIL always wants to have cheesecake.... I do like cheesecake, but I don't need the calories!  Here is what I came up from Pintrest:

Strawberry, angel food cake skewers with chocolate drizzle.  YUM-O!

On the weight loss news front- I'm down 27 pounds!  I gain a few over spring break, but now I have lost all of that and I'm down a little more.  YAY!   23 pounds more to go.  I'm more than half way.  

Happy Warm Weather!