I sit here with an achy body, but still on my runner's high.
It was a PERFECT day for a race. Chilly at the start, but warmed up and never got above 60.
I arrived yesterday afternoon, and Selene and I hit up the Expo at the Eugene Hilton, collecting our freebies and I made a few purchases (a handheld water bottle and CHI running book).
We went back to Selene's sister's house and ate this amazing lasagna dinner, made by Sean, Selene's brother in law and hubby Derek. DELISH. They made it with FRESH Mozerella and fancy ricotta (not the cheapie Frigo brand I usually buy) and it was SO GOOD. Then we vegged, watching highlight of the Royal Wedding (AGAIN for me...can't get enough!).
We got up early and Selene's amazing hubby got up early to drop us off at Hayward Feild at 6:30. It was crisp and cool, but just right for race day. It was perfect timing, we didn't check any bags, and we had just enough time to use the portos and get into our corral before the race started.
Here we are in our custom shirts. We got so many compliments on them! I made the iron on transfers with my Cricut cutting machine and my SCAL2 software...LOVED that. Made my purchase feel justified! SO easy and fun. One funny older lady asked us what BFF meant and we giggled. (Best Friends Forever, in case you were wondering).
Miles 1-3 were a bit chilly, but by mile 6 we shed our arm sleeves.
We had a hard time, for some reason this race, keeping an even pace. we trying to reel it in at a slower pace for the first mile, but dang. That crowd just gets you pumped and happy and moving along. We struggled to keep it at 9:45 per mile.
Around mile 8 there was a hill that seemed to last forever and we slowed way down, I think I even registered over 11 min mile at that point. But the bonus to uphills is, usually, there's a downhill too! That felt good, but I laughed and told Selene my butt cheeks were tingley as we went back down!
We cruised through miles 9/10 feeling good. We waved goodbye to the full marathoners we'd been pacing with and wished them goodluck. Selene got emotional and said she felt bad for them that they had to keep going! (I was thinking, I can't believe we're going to attempt a full. Thinking about it, made me want to cry at that point!)
At mile 11, I hit "the wall". I even asked Selene, do you think we could walk for 20 seconds? She talked me out of it and pep talked me through mile 11. She was right, that if we stopped running, we might not be able to get started again. She told me to breath and relax my body. Think about our PR up ahead. It was weird, when I realized I was hitting the proverbial wall, I sort of panicked, breathing fast and feeling goosebumpy and cold. Thinking, oh crap. I 'm going to have to walk!! I don't want to walk! We're SO close! We'd been doing so good on our pace, and were on track to PR by a good 5 minutes. We slowed it just a bit, I caught my breath, and Selene kept encouraging me. By mile 12, I was doing fine. We were cruising our last mile at about 9:10 pace and Selene was buzzing, kicking butt. I was trying to just keep up with her and breath calmly. Just before mile 13, She was actually singing and smiling. I was so SO thankful to be with her and not going it alone. We passed alot of people in the homestretch, which is always good for your ego as you head for a finish.
As we finished mile 12 we could hear the crowd cheering in the stands at Hayward Field. I have to say, it's REALLY fun to finish on the track, with a BIG finish banner, and thousands of fans cheering you!
We made our way into the stadium, and around the track. There were lots of people on the track, and I kind of got stuck behind a few people and Selene and I got a little separated. We saw Selene's family just before the finish, that was so awesome. And truly, no feeling like arriving at the finish totally spent, and getting a nice medal draped around your neck! LOVED that. I knew we'd beat our previous Half time by a few minutes, and it felt good to be rewarded for it with some BLING. This was my first real medal, and I'm in love with it! You might see me wearing it around town this week :) Official Finish time: 2:10:43 (shaved 4:07 min off my previous half time!)
I was totally exhausted at the finish. Kind of dizzy and just SPENT. But, it's kind of a good feeling, you know? Knowing you gave it EVERYTHING to get to the finish. I know many of you warm up faster than my pace, and could easily conquer a half under 2 hours, but today felt like victory to me!
We choked down some dry pancakes and chocolate milk and found Selene's family. They brought us donuts, which was AWESOME! Selene and I both have a donut weakness. We layed on the turf outside the stadium and stretched and chatted with the fam, snapped a few pics and headed home to Ashley's. We hopped into the hot tub, which felt AMAZING. Then we showered and went to a yummy lunch at Lucky Noodle.
It was a good day.
Things I may have done wrong (thus, hitting the wall)
We had wine with dinner the night before. Just one glass, but still, probably not the best idea.
I was on the road to Eugene, and got a late start on Saturday. I didn't eat breakfast or lunch until late Saturday. So, I didn't really eat great on Saturday. And even friday, I had a small sandwich for dinner. I think the food you eat the few days prior to the race is equally important to the night before carbo load.
I had Nuun in my water bottle, and I took my gummy Clif Shot Blox, and I took Gatorade at the first few aid stations. I think I may have over done the sodium...I had major sausage fingers. I feel like I'm pretty sensitive to sodium, even in day to day stuff. My hands swell if I have too much. I think I need to stick with water in my bottle during the runs.
And, nothing to do with the "wall" but a matter of preference-I bought my handheld water bottle at the last minute at the expo. I wish I'd done that ahead of time and gotten a little bit smaller one, although the Nathan one I got had a nice pocket for my shot blox. And I probably would have used it more if it was water in there.
I'm off to take a load of ibuprofen and head to bed...my hubby promised me a nice leg massage:)
It was a PERFECT day for a race. Chilly at the start, but warmed up and never got above 60.
I arrived yesterday afternoon, and Selene and I hit up the Expo at the Eugene Hilton, collecting our freebies and I made a few purchases (a handheld water bottle and CHI running book).
We went back to Selene's sister's house and ate this amazing lasagna dinner, made by Sean, Selene's brother in law and hubby Derek. DELISH. They made it with FRESH Mozerella and fancy ricotta (not the cheapie Frigo brand I usually buy) and it was SO GOOD. Then we vegged, watching highlight of the Royal Wedding (AGAIN for me...can't get enough!).
We got up early and Selene's amazing hubby got up early to drop us off at Hayward Feild at 6:30. It was crisp and cool, but just right for race day. It was perfect timing, we didn't check any bags, and we had just enough time to use the portos and get into our corral before the race started.
Here we are in our custom shirts. We got so many compliments on them! I made the iron on transfers with my Cricut cutting machine and my SCAL2 software...LOVED that. Made my purchase feel justified! SO easy and fun. One funny older lady asked us what BFF meant and we giggled. (Best Friends Forever, in case you were wondering).
Miles 1-3 were a bit chilly, but by mile 6 we shed our arm sleeves.
We had a hard time, for some reason this race, keeping an even pace. we trying to reel it in at a slower pace for the first mile, but dang. That crowd just gets you pumped and happy and moving along. We struggled to keep it at 9:45 per mile.
Around mile 8 there was a hill that seemed to last forever and we slowed way down, I think I even registered over 11 min mile at that point. But the bonus to uphills is, usually, there's a downhill too! That felt good, but I laughed and told Selene my butt cheeks were tingley as we went back down!
We cruised through miles 9/10 feeling good. We waved goodbye to the full marathoners we'd been pacing with and wished them goodluck. Selene got emotional and said she felt bad for them that they had to keep going! (I was thinking, I can't believe we're going to attempt a full. Thinking about it, made me want to cry at that point!)
At mile 11, I hit "the wall". I even asked Selene, do you think we could walk for 20 seconds? She talked me out of it and pep talked me through mile 11. She was right, that if we stopped running, we might not be able to get started again. She told me to breath and relax my body. Think about our PR up ahead. It was weird, when I realized I was hitting the proverbial wall, I sort of panicked, breathing fast and feeling goosebumpy and cold. Thinking, oh crap. I 'm going to have to walk!! I don't want to walk! We're SO close! We'd been doing so good on our pace, and were on track to PR by a good 5 minutes. We slowed it just a bit, I caught my breath, and Selene kept encouraging me. By mile 12, I was doing fine. We were cruising our last mile at about 9:10 pace and Selene was buzzing, kicking butt. I was trying to just keep up with her and breath calmly. Just before mile 13, She was actually singing and smiling. I was so SO thankful to be with her and not going it alone. We passed alot of people in the homestretch, which is always good for your ego as you head for a finish.
As we finished mile 12 we could hear the crowd cheering in the stands at Hayward Field. I have to say, it's REALLY fun to finish on the track, with a BIG finish banner, and thousands of fans cheering you!
We made our way into the stadium, and around the track. There were lots of people on the track, and I kind of got stuck behind a few people and Selene and I got a little separated. We saw Selene's family just before the finish, that was so awesome. And truly, no feeling like arriving at the finish totally spent, and getting a nice medal draped around your neck! LOVED that. I knew we'd beat our previous Half time by a few minutes, and it felt good to be rewarded for it with some BLING. This was my first real medal, and I'm in love with it! You might see me wearing it around town this week :) Official Finish time: 2:10:43 (shaved 4:07 min off my previous half time!)
I was totally exhausted at the finish. Kind of dizzy and just SPENT. But, it's kind of a good feeling, you know? Knowing you gave it EVERYTHING to get to the finish. I know many of you warm up faster than my pace, and could easily conquer a half under 2 hours, but today felt like victory to me!
We choked down some dry pancakes and chocolate milk and found Selene's family. They brought us donuts, which was AWESOME! Selene and I both have a donut weakness. We layed on the turf outside the stadium and stretched and chatted with the fam, snapped a few pics and headed home to Ashley's. We hopped into the hot tub, which felt AMAZING. Then we showered and went to a yummy lunch at Lucky Noodle.
It was a good day.
Things I may have done wrong (thus, hitting the wall)
We had wine with dinner the night before. Just one glass, but still, probably not the best idea.
I was on the road to Eugene, and got a late start on Saturday. I didn't eat breakfast or lunch until late Saturday. So, I didn't really eat great on Saturday. And even friday, I had a small sandwich for dinner. I think the food you eat the few days prior to the race is equally important to the night before carbo load.
I had Nuun in my water bottle, and I took my gummy Clif Shot Blox, and I took Gatorade at the first few aid stations. I think I may have over done the sodium...I had major sausage fingers. I feel like I'm pretty sensitive to sodium, even in day to day stuff. My hands swell if I have too much. I think I need to stick with water in my bottle during the runs.
And, nothing to do with the "wall" but a matter of preference-I bought my handheld water bottle at the last minute at the expo. I wish I'd done that ahead of time and gotten a little bit smaller one, although the Nathan one I got had a nice pocket for my shot blox. And I probably would have used it more if it was water in there.
I'm off to take a load of ibuprofen and head to bed...my hubby promised me a nice leg massage:)
