Upcoming Races

I'm getting super excited...I mean "pee my pants" excited about two upcoming races. I signed the entire Z family up for the 2012 Amedisys Mardi Gras Mambo in Baton Rouge. It's a 10K that's super stroller friendly. It will be our first race as a family. I cannot wait to strap the little guy into the jogging stroller and take off. He loves being in the jogging stroller and I'm anxious to see how he does in a race setting. I'm hoping for gorgeous weather (no rain please!).

I'm also looking forward to the race bling...RACE BLING!!! It's been so long since I've seen or touched or caressed race bling. Oh race bling...how I've missed you.

The other race Mr Z and I are doing is the Rock N Roll New Orleans Half Marathon. I still remember when this was the Mardi Gras Marathon and Half Marathon - before Rock 'n' Roll bastardized it and jacked the prices way up. I still struggle and try to call it the Mardi Gras race. Luckily I got in on a great deal and I'm getting to run this puppy for $35. Whoohoo!

What I'm most excited about is meeting up with all of the great runners that I chat with via social media. It is so great to put a face with the twitter handle and meet these people in real life, warts and all. I'm working with Claim Your Journey to organize a MASSIVE tweetup at his booth. Stay tuned for details. In the meantime swing by his site and check out his posts. He is a purveyor of all things running in Louisiana, has great posts on just general running info and is a super nice person ta boot!

Now should I rock the tutu for both races??

Today I Love: Race BLING!!!!

Time is Relative

7 minutes

When you think about it, 7 minutes really isn't that long. Just 7, little, measly minutes. I've waited patiently on hold for that time. It takes me longer than that to eat my lunch, shave my legs, vacuum the house. Seven minutes seems so trivial, but oh how daunting they can be in the running world.

I am 7 minutes shy of breaking the 2 hour half marathon mark and those 7 minutes are going to be the death of me!

Seven minutes means lowering my average pace by a little over 30 seconds. Again, 30 seconds....pffff...what's that?? A 30 second difference in pace is the difference between pushing to win and pushing to throw up! I am determined to shave those minutes and seconds off, one race at a time.

I went out this Saturday to run the Jazz Half Marathon with three other ladies that I run with on the weekends. I picked it up at the last minute because my plans to run the Napa half with my husband fell through. Now, keep in mind, I really hadn't trained for a half. Not trained well, anyway. Napa was going to be my husband's first half and I had been running longer distances with him. Being a new runner, we kept the pace slow and easy. Good for the mileage, but not much for improving speed for me. We were just going to go have fun with the Napa race, so I hadn't pushed myself too much. Not until these last two weeks when we officially started training for the R&R Mardi Gras Marathon did I run at even a "tough" pace. I had a few tempo short runs here and there and kept my long runs right at 8 to 9 miles. Good enough for a fun half, not good enough to conquer it like I want.

So, I had no expectations whatsoever about Saturday's race. I just wanted to run a half with some great, fun gals and damn the time. Ok, so I had a bit of a goal time to try and meet (2:10) but I wasn't going to be upset if I didn't reach it. Again - hadn't really trained for this. The weather was perfect for the race - mid 50s to 60s and NO HUMIDITY (which is rare for Southern Louisiana). The race was kept small at about 2,000 entrants. I had run the route before on prior New Orleans half mary races. It's a nice, flat, easy course. The gun fired and we were off. That first mile is always a little rough until the field opens up. Between dodging other runners and crappy New Orleans street potholes our pace was good, but slower that what we usually run. Then the field opened up and in the next several miles we found our groove. We hit the halfway mark in stride and I realized that I could easily hit my time goal if we kept up the pace. I was feeling great until about mile 10/11....right where my long runs usually ended. Mile 11 was torture for me and it shows in my mile splits. I slowed down quite a bit. But, as I hit that mile 12 marker I looked at my Garmin and realized my time. I was going to not only beat my time goal, but smash it! I found a new energy reserve somewhere in the bowels of my running soul and kicked it in. I burned in that last mile for a 2:07. A new PR for me!

I am so proud of that time considering everything I've been through these last several months with the knee issues. The knees felt great and were relatively pain-free post race. I was ecstatic. If I can pull that time in a last minute pick-up race, imagine what I could do if I actually trained. So, I went right home and developed a new training schedule. I can add speed work back to my running routine now that the knees have healed. And I have signed up for one half a month over the next four months. Hopefully, I will keep creeping closer and closer to my sub-2:00 goal!

7 minutes....thy name is Jennifer.

Today I LOVE: post race highs that last for days!

You know you're a runner when...

...you try and coordinate your wedding anniversary celebration and a half marathon! LOL!


Well, I managed to do it. I found a great half marathon that will segue into a nice little anniversary vacation for me and the Hubster. We're doing the Healdsburg Half Marathon this year in Sonoma County, CA. Some super cool things about the race:

1. We get to run through 22 wineries.
2. We start at the Francis Ford Coppola Winery. His claret is one of my favs!
   
3. We finish at the Wine & Music Festival near lake Sonoma.
4. It's on Halloween so there will be some crazy costumes
   
5. It will be the Hubster's first half!
6. And did I mention there will be WINE!!

I'm so stinkin' excited about this race. The Hubs is getting all into it, comparing different half training plans. I can't wait to start training with him. We're just doing an easy novice plan to get him into running consistently. He runs on occasion and works out like a crazy person - he's more of a gym rat than I am. But, we just have to work on his running consistency. We're totally going to take this race nice and easy and have fun with it. Mainly it will be a "just to finish" fun race because it's his first and I want him to enjoy it and I want to stop and take lots of pictures too.

Image of The Bitch via Snooth

So, if anyone wants to come out and join us, come on out!

In other news - it's hot, hot, hot, hot, hot. WARNING: From now until October I will continue to bitch, moan and whine about the heat. Yes, I am a high maintenance, bitchy runner and I want the weather to be 60 degrees with low humidity all the time. Is that so much to ask? So if you don't want to read about it just skip that section unless my whole post is about the heat and they very well could be. You'll just have to muddle through my whining then.

Speaking of heat: it just completely obliterated me yesterday and today. We had our usual Thursday night speed work session last night. It called for 6 x 800 repeats with one mile warm up and one mile cool down. Only three people showed up - one of which only because I guilted her into coming. :) We start at 6:00 p.m. and it's getting to where that's still too early to start in the evening. It was 95 degrees with a heat index in the 100+. We brought water knowing it was going to be bad. She made it through 2 and half 800s. I made it through 4 and we were done. It was just too damn hot and I started to get that light-headed, nauseous, over heating feeling. We just slowly jogged the last 2 800s and then took it back to the shop for 5 total miles. It was bad.

This morning I met the girls for our usual 8 mile maintenance long run. We started at 6:00 a.m. to try and beat the heat but it had different plans for us. It was already 83 degrees F when I woke up at 5:30 and the humidity was through the roof. This run was especially hard today. All three of us had to stop for the occasional walk break and that's unusual for us. We usually keep a good, steady consistent pace. We just could NOT get our bodies to cool down. There was no breeze and no relief. I felt like I hadn't run in weeks. My body was tired, my legs were lead bricks, my head was spinning. It was just awful, awful, awful. We managed to keep a 10:30 pace which is pretty good considering all the short stops and walk breaks.

I think I'm going to take tomorrow off. Either that or just head to the gym for an easy 3 or 4 and maybe some weights/elliptical work.

Today I tried some of the Carb Boom! Energy Gel on the long run. I had the apple cinnamon flavor because a few people had recommended that as one of their favs. I'm generally not a big goo or gel fan, but it's one of the necessary evils on long runs. And I've tried, but I just simply cannot do the chews. The thought of physically chewing something while running just makes me want to urp.

The apple cinnamon flavor was surprisingly refreshing and the texture wasn't as thick as some other gels I've had. The flavor wasn't overpowering and it wasn't sickeningly sweet. It also went down a lot smoother and it didn't take as much water to flush the taste out of my mouth (another thing that bothers me - gotta have a clean mouth. I told you guys I was high maintenance!) These gel packets are bigger too - 1.4 oz as compared to the normal 1.1 oz in other gels. My running shop just got these in and the flavors they had were really limited, but I'd really like to try out some of the other flavors. I may order a few more online to check them out. But, I'm giving it a thumbs up.

AND please go send out shouts of support to RBR who has the Ironman Coeur d'Alene this weekend!

Today I LOVE: That the weekend is MINE to toy with!

New R&R Mardi Gras!

The original Mardi Gras Marathon and Half Marathon has now partnered with Elite Racing as one of the Rock 'n' Roll Marathons. This is exciting because it will increase the race size, hopefully improve the support and entertainment on the back 13 (which I heard was the worst) and improve race organization (which wasn't terrible but they had a few kinks to work out). AND the first 500 people get in for only $50 for EITHER the half or the full!! I took advantage yesterday and signed up. You can sign up here. I'm also excited because that's one more R&R race that I can do cheaply and work toward my multi-race R&R medal!

I've run the half a couple of times and it's a great, fun race. The course is flat, flat, flat and the scenery along the way for the first 13 is amazing. I wouldn't aim to PR on this one because the first few miles are through the French Quarter which is very narrow and you can easily get boxed in, plus the roads down St. Charles to the park and back are full of cracks and potholes. So, you're dodging obstacles the whole time. But, it's still a really fun race. Something about running through the French Quarter at 7:00 a.m. on Sunday, watching all the drunks come out of the bars to cheer you on is hilarious. I encourage people to come! Even COOLER my friend Sarah is signed up and coming!! I'm so excited!!!

I've pretty much made up my mind to run Tulsa too. I'm just waiting for payday so I can pay for the race entry. Now to decide on marathon training plans. Anyone have a favorite that they can suggest? I'm thinking of using an intermediate plan this time. I've averaging about 25-30 miles per week right now.

I LOVE starting training for a new race. I get so excited. Fall marathons are killer for me though. I'm running my long runs in the killer Louisiana heat and humidity. At least Tulsa is in late November so it should have cooled off a bit by the time I'm hitting 18+ miles.

SUMMER SERIES 2 MILE FUN RUN RACE REPORT (Whew! That's a mouthful!)

Yesterday was the first 2 mile race in a four week summer series of fun runs sponsored by our local running store. Yesterday's run was entitled "Mystery Run". The e-mail they sent out said this race would be more of a physical challenge than a running race and the words "chill out" were used, alluding to something to do with water. Ack! I put on some old running clothes and older shoes just in case. You had to have a teammate for this challenge. Susan and I decided to suffer this one together.

They didn't reveal the mystery until right before the race. They had frozen 50 wet t-shirts. The shirts were balled up tightly and frozen in zip-loc bags. The challenge was to thaw out the t-shirt as quickly as possible. You couldn't take off running until you could put the shirt on: head and both arms. One person had to put the shirt on and run with it for one mile and then you had to switch out with your partner at the turnaround for the last mile. It was hilarious!

It took us about 10 minutes to finally thaw that sucker out! I was holding it between my legs. We were rubbing the heck out of it. We were banging it on the ground. We were pulling and tugging on it like crazy (it actually ripped holes in a couple of places). Finally we got most of it free - enough to put in on....so I thought. The neck hole was still frozen up! I'm trying to put the shirt on and it will NOT go over my head and we already started to jog off. Ha! I finally wrangled it free and we took off.

If you've never run in an XL cotton t-shirt that is soaking wet and has been previously frozen and is covered in dirt from banging it on the ground, I do not recommend it. It felt good at first in the 90 degree weather and ungodly humidity. Then it just got icky. It felt like it weighed a ton. It didn't breath for anything and it just made you hotter and sweatier. Ugh.

I really struggled with this run. We managed a crisp 9:00 pace, but I really, really had to push through the pain. I was tired from the 4 mile elliptical lunch workout and ripping that t-shirt apart really wore me out too. But we finished strong and it was a nice, fun workout.

Today = speed work. I don't know if it's 800 repeats or 400 repeats today. The website changed the schedule. I guess I'll find out this evening. Wish me luck!

OH and stop by The Happy Runner's blog for a GREAT birthday giveaway!!!

Today I LOVE: My hot pink cardigan sweater. It keeps me warm in the office and the jolt of color makes me smile.