Crawlin Crab Half Marathon

This race was much better than I had anticipated!  It was held in Hampton, VA  only about 30 minutes away.  But, because of possible traffic, we decided to stay overnight at the host hotel.  It was great to get up and be able to have breakfast and then walk over to the start line.  The race started at 8 am, so we left the hotel about 7:30 and walked right into the start corrals.

I was doing the half marathon with my friend Jody and my mom and Caleb (oldest kiddo) were doing the 5k.  It was a little cooler than I had planned for, and luckily I had picked up a long sleeve shirt at Target yesterday that I wore over my tank top.

Once we got started, I warmed up pretty quickly.  I was following a run/walk plan for this half with my ratio being 3 min run/1 min walk.  That was working really well for me.  My 10k split was 1:26:58, which would be the fastest 10k I have done to date (that's my time to beat for the Wicked 10k coming up at the end of the month).  I was moving along really well.  The course was nice, they really took us through some nice areas.  

Then came mile 10.  And the rain....cold rain.  And the wind.  Last year the only race I got rained on was also in October....if it rains on me for the Wicked 10k again this year, I may boycott October races :)  Just not my favorite conditions to run in. But, coming up at the end I had 7 really great people waiting on me :)  That in itself was worth the rain and cold!

This makes half marathon #8 of the year.  And it will definitely be my last half marathon of this deployment!

The Last Couple Weeks

Wow!  It has been so busy around here!  I kind of thought that when school started and we were in a routine that things would be a little more calmer.  A little more sane....well, nope!

I started my Jillian Michaels over again....ready for another 90 days of this challenge.  I'm loving that while doing the first couple weeks I feel so much stronger than the first time I did this challenge.  I love how much stronger I am feeling.  I really do like this program. So much that this is the third time I have done this program.  But the really nice thing about it (besides the fact that it is just 30 minutes a day) is the variety.  I have not been doing the cardio workouts because I have been running, so I just have the strength workouts, which I really like.  I will be doing a full 90 day before and after of inches and pounds lost.

I've been running 4 times a week, following the plan laid out for me by my TNT coach.  She's been great at working with me to meet my goals for the Tinker Bell half marathon in January, while also taking into account the half marathons that I have planned for this fall.

Speaking of half marathons this fall, I have two more coming up.  The first one is in less than two weeks!  I'm very excited to be running in the Inaugural Crawlin Crab Half Marathon on October 7.  I'm loving the cool, fall weather that we are starting to have in Virginia.  I am hoping that we are in for a great race in a couple weeks.  Next up will be Disney's Wine and Dine Half Marathon.  I'm really looking forward to being back at Disney to run, and this will be my first nighttime race.

I've been back to meal planning, which has been so helpful with helping me keep a little more balance in our busy schedule.  So far we've been pretty good at following a plan.  I have to say- I love how much easier our evenings seem to be when we have a plan.  And I am finding that my crock pot has become a permanent addition to my countertop- I've been using that most- I love being able to fix it and forget it!  Last nights Crock Pot Chicken and Rice was another big success.  I'm really lucky, my kiddos love broccoli, so I can pretty much make that our side vegetable every night and they'll eat it up. But, when I try out new ways to cook chicken, it can go either way.  This one they liked- the littlest one especially loved the rice part!

Other news- my great pal at Run Find your Happy Pace and I decided to start our own business Running Happy.  We make non-slip headbands and also extremely adorable runner decals!  Stay tuned for more....and if there is something you'd like to see us carry, suggestions are welcome :)

So, the kiddos and I are finding our balance again amidst school schedules, after school activities, homework, running, JMBR, and meal planning.  I am still working on what seems to be my best weekly schedule so that I can use my time wisely and not end up just wasting it....those 12 hours to myself a week really go by fast!

Hot, Humid, and Slow!

That was the story of the Rock n Roll Half Virginia Beach Half Marathon!  I'm happy I did it (now that it is done!), but it was a really rough half.  Not just for me.  I've been reading comments on RnR VB's Facebook page, and that seems to be the overall story.  I was very thankful for the overcast sky- the sun only peeked out for a few minutes, and you could definitely tell a difference in temperature during those few moments.

It all started with a 4:15 am wake up call, I've learned to lay out all my clothes the night before so that I don't forget anything, got dressed and then headed out to take all of the carseats out of my car so that I could fit all the adults in :)  It was then that I discovered the humidity was a bit suffocating.  I'd been watching the weather for the past week, so I knew it wasn't going to be a very 'nice' day for a half, but I wasn't expecting it to be quite so humid for the start.

We got to the shuttle pick up point and then rode the shuttle over to the start line.  Took a few pictures, had a porta-potty stop, and then made our way to the start corrals.  As they were starting the corrals, the advice given to everyone was not to try to make this a PR race.  It was already that hot and humid.  I took that for what it was- great advice!

I started off with my sister and my friend.  We ran along for a while and eventually all fell into our own pace.  RnR races are usually very well organized, and for the most part, this one went off without many issues.  Only a couple stick out to me....the first water stop seemed behind in getting set up, so I did have to wait a bit for water there.  And the water stop at mile 5 was out of cups when I got there.  I heard they ran out of cups really early.   The course support didn't seem to be as good as last year- more people just standing and watching, not as much cheering.  That is, until I got to the neighborhoods- the locals were a bit more supportive.  Positives....I loved the wet sponge around mile 11, and really didn't mind running through some hoses that many friendly neighbors were providing.

All in all, it was a  good experience.  Definitely not my favorite half so far and not a new PR like I was hoping for.  But, training through this summer has proved to be a lot more difficult than I anticipated, so I had gone into this race not expecting a PR.  I am really looking forward to my next half The Crawlin Crab...in just 4 weeks :)  Maybe that'll be a new PR...

Just a few pictures:

My friend kelly from Ohio 

 Darlena from Run Find your Happy Pace

 Half Marathon #7

Kelly, sister Katie, Darlena, and I

Just another Friday!

It's hard to believe that we are already towards the later part of August! My next half is sneaking up on me quite quickly. It's been a little harder to keep up with training over the summer than I had expected. But it'll all be ok- I'm really looking forward to a fun weekend with family and friends!

Things are really coming together for The Great Cupcake Race! 60 people are now registered and we have our final artwork for the center of the medal! If you haven't registered, you have until August 3o to do that. Only 40 more people and I will run in a cupcake costume!  If you haven't registered yet, details are here and you can register using the dropbox to the right at the top of the page! 

I'm starting to work with my coach from TNT for the Tinker Bell Half Marathon. She has been really great about communicating with me about the half marathons that I have scheduled for the fall and how to get the most out of both my training and my scheduled races. My training schedule officially kicks off tomorrow!

I am anxious for the Rock and Roll half....it should be my last half before my husband comes home. Even though I did decide to change up my original goal of a half marathon every month, I am still very happy with what I did accomplish this year so far. I have a ways to go before I meet my ultimate goals, but I am very happy with how things have gone so far. Running half marathons and blogging about my experience have really taken me out of my comfort zone and I could not be happier that I decided to take this chance! I thank you all for your support!

It's Diva Weekend

Another month, another half :) The car is packed and I'm ready- well, the car is packed...

In just a bit, I'll load up my littlest one (and the real diva of the bunch!) and my Find Your Happy Pace friend and I will go and pick up my other monkeys from school and start out on our drive. We'll be meeting up with my mom (who will take over the monkeys) and my sister around dinner time and then Mom and monkeys will head back to my parent's house for the weekend and sister, friend and I will continue on to Run Like a Diva. The race is Sunday, so we'll have time to explore the expo and hang out for a bit on Saturday before consuming our pre-race fajitas (a new tradition that started in Disney World) and getting to bed early. If you are running this weekend, good luck! Can't wait to hear about your experience :)

In other exciting news this week, I completed Phase 2 of JMBR. It was a good phase, not a great one for me. I really hit that lull during this phase and definitely did not put forth my best effort all the time. But, not quitting really is key sometimes- just getting it done is what matters. Phase 3 will start on Monday. But, here are the numbers: this week, I lost 3.2 pounds, total for phase 2- 10.6 pounds and 9.5 inches overall. I'm still really liking this program, it is challenging and I am really excited to have the consistent results :)

Weigh In, Meal Planning, Week Planning.....

Sometimes it all seems to run together-especially in our house. Friday I did weigh in, down 2.6 pounds- brining the total to 40 pounds in 19 weeks. I am proud of that, but I am still fighting my lull. I'm hoping that this week will be a turning point. The Diva half marathon is only 2 weeks away, so I'm still preparing with that along with starting week 7 of JMBR and that means the second half of phase 2, along with two more workouts.

Meal planning for the week:

Monday- baseball practice so an early dinner- stuffed chicken with broccoli

Tuesday- gymnastics and then baseball game so dinner on the go

Wednesday- spinach lasagna roll ups

Thursday- gymnastics and a meeting, so dinner on the go again

Friday- turkey burgers

Saturday- kids' choice

Sunday- leftovers

Hopefully I'll have a little more down time this week, but it's not really looking that way...so with that I'm headed to bed early to prepare for tomorrow's workout.

Sunday Thoughts and Refocusing

So I'm meal planning for this week. It's been a while since I actually did a meal plan for the week. My oldest's baseball schedule has really thrown a wrench into the meal planning. This week we still have a very busy week around here, but I know I need to have a plan in place to continue to be successful. So, here we go:

Monday: Baseball practice- means picnic dinner for the kiddos and a salad on the go for me :)

Tuesday: Gymnastics- Taco night, something easy and quick to have when we get home.

Wednesday: Baseball game- Chicken Pot Pockets from Hungry Girl for yummy fuel before the game

Thursday: Gymnastics followed by Baseball game- This will be a dinner on the go for the kiddos and then I will plan to eat when we get home from baseball.

Friday: Broccoli and Cheese Stuffed Chicken from SkinnyTaste a favorite for all

Saturday: I have a 31 party and the kiddos will have a babysitter, so they luck out and get to choose what's for dinner.

Sunday: Leftovers

Ok, so onto my thoughts...I have completed 4 half marathons this year so far. My next one is in 4 weeks. I am thinking that I may take a break for the summer. I don't have any official races on the schedule- I haven't found any offered locally during the summer (don't know why- I think it's fun to run when it's 90 degrees outside...). My original plan was to go out and run the 13.1 distance, time it myself and that was going to count as my personal half. The plan was to do it in the evening (a little cooler) or early morning. I still may do this, but I really want to concentrate on speed and when I do a half, it has usually taken me about a week to get motivated to train again. Which then only leaves me about three weeks to get ready for the next race. With that happening, I have found it hard to focus as much on speed as I would like to. So, I am still trying to make a plan and now focusing more training time on my next half, the Diva Half Marathon in N Myrtle Beach.

Tomorrow I start phase 2 of JMBR. I'm looking forward to seeing what workouts 5 and 6 are like this week as well as starting a new cardio workout. My plan is to run tomorrow (long interval day) and also do workout 5 of JMBR.

What do you do when you feel like you need to change up a plan (and a goal) you've set for yourself? I am having a little trouble- feeling like I am not up to the challenge I set for myself, but I also want to do my best to improve speed and I am not sure how to do that when I am missing about a week of training every week because of recovery. Thoughts?

Dismal Swamp Stomp Half Marathon

For me personally, it was not great. Somewhere between Thursday when I posted and Saturday morning (race day), I completely lost all motivation for this race. I just was not mentally prepared and that really messed this race up for me. Like always, I got all of my stuff together the night before. The only thing I didn't check was that my ipod was charged (big mistake!). The kiddos had spring break this week, so I've been a little off schedule with training and we had the long weekend out of town. Not to mention, I had been at the doctor twice with the littlest one who ended up with an ear and sinus infection. I had a little of a pesky cough earlier in the week that had become pretty regular by Friday. So I was not feeling 100% to begin with, making this race hard to get into mentally.

Saturday morning I went next door to meet my neighbors who were running also. We got to the race site at about 6:30 am (race time was 8:00), since we were so early, we just hung out in the car for a bit because it was 37 degrees outside. This was the smallest half marathon I've done with only 774 finishers. We got out of the car and headed to the start (after a stop at the porta potties). No fireworks at this start- just a countdown and we were off.

The course was a straight out and back. And I mean straight- when I plugged in my watch to download my times, the gps of the course is a straight line. It was a nice area to be in- I'd never visited the dismal swamp area before (and with a name like that, I don't know why?!). I was coughing a lot on the way down in the morning and my throat was starting to hurt. But I got started and went to turn on my ipod- nothing. Absolutely nothing. Never again will I think that I've got enough charge on it to not charge it before a race. I tried to be positive. I've never run a race without music- maybe it would be okay. The first couple miles were ok- I wasn't too bored, got to chat with a few people along the way. Then between coughing and one of my knees starting to hurt I began to set aside any ideas I had for this race (I was thinking I'd have a new PR after this one- after all, I've improved with every race). I decided to walk until I felt better and then try running again.

I settled into a good walking pace and was able to actually look around and enjoy the scenery around me. I saw so many butterflies- that was really neat. I passed a porta potty with a "no dumping" sign beside it (I took a picture, but the camera messed up on my phone and it was lost). Someone had a sense of humor when placing that porta potty. It was a nice day to be out for a run or walk, which made this no music 13.1 miles a little easier to stomach. I ended up mostly walking this one, but still finished at 3:29:47. Not great, but I didn't quit (something I considered more than once). Evidently I only set PRs at the ocean or at Disney :)

I started week 4 of JMBR. It is the final week of phase 1, workouts 3 and 4 again. I did workout 3 yesterday and it was rough, but I'm very glad I worked through it. I will start running again on Wednesday. I did not run as much between the shamrock half marathon and the dismal swamp and I really do want to set a new PR at the diva in May, meaning I have a little over 4 weeks to get more training in. So I am going back to running first thing in the morning and then doing JMBR in the evening.

Weigh in was Friday, and I was down 1.4 pounds. Not bad considering our weekend out of town. I am really looking forward to my weigh in and measurement on Friday since that will be the end of JMBR phase 1.

100 Days In

Today marks 100 days into the deployment. 100 days, 30ish pounds, 90 some miles, 3 half marathons, week 3 of JMBR. One day at a time- that's really the only way to do this. Today was day 18 of JMBR. Workout 3 again- it really seemed so much harder than on Tuesday when I did it last. I was considering doing cardio 1 again today, but it didn't happen- I was completely beat after workout 3.

Tomorrow I will be picking up my packet for the Dismal Swamp Stomp and getting all of my stuff prepared for the race on Saturday. I'm not nervous for this race at all- the weather is supposed to be very nice, which is always a plus for race day! I have a goal time in mind, but I'm not sure how that is going to pan out this time since I haven't been running as much as I usually do between races. But we will see!

I found this today: Joggermom Marathon 2012. Basically it is a virtual marathon. You don't have to run it all at one time (thank goodness!), but you log all 26.2 miles within the month of May. I figure I'm already running the Diva half near the end of May, so I'll be halfway there with that! I wanted to pass this information along to anyone else who might be interested though! Let me know if you decide to do it.

Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend

What a weekend! This was probably one of the best weekends I've had in a long time. We shared so many laughs and we really just had a great time.

I did my weigh in on Thursday because we were leaving so early in the morning, and I was down 2.4 pounds. Making my total for 9 weeks 20.2. So that was a great beginning. It was a pretty busy day for me on Thursday. I was trying to get everything finished up for the trip and also make sure that everything was organized for the kids to be left at home. The big boys got home from school and then all the boys were off to gymnastics. Next it was time to go to the airport to pick up Kelly one of my best friends from highschool. Here's where we hit our first obstacle of the weekend- her luggage missed the flight! Luckily, it made it onto the next flight, so we went back to the house and then returned to the airport to pick it up a little later. Thankful for a neighbor who came to hang out at the house while the kiddos were sleeping! My parents and sister arrived about the same time that we got back to the house with her luggage and we spent some time catching up and going over any last minute instructions and questions.

Then we headed off to bed. The plan was to leave at 4 am. Kelly and I were sharing a room and still busy catching up, so it was probably closer to 1 am before we went to sleep :) Alarm went off a little after 3 (I have to shower in the mornings to get going), and we were on the road by 4. On this trip were myself, Kelly, Katie (my sister) and Darlena (neighbor and friend). We were all a little excited getting started so everyone was awake and chatting a little. They all got a little rest on the way down- everyone was napping on and off. We went straight through and arrived at Walt Disney World at 4:30 pm (just a little traffic in Orlando). We headed straight to the expo to pick up our race bibs, shirts, and also to pick up a few things from the expo for the race.

We made it!

The expo

The glass running slipper

After finishing up at the expo, we went to check into our resort. We stayed at Caribbean Beach Resort, which was one of the host resorts for the race weekend. That meant that bus transportation would be provided to the race start (very important if you don't want to have to drive over at 3 am! Plus, it was really cool to stay in a pirate room! We got settled, checked out our goodies from the expo and then walked over to the resort's quick service restaurant for dinner. After dinner, we headed back to the room and soon I was fast asleep.

Our pirate beds in our pirate room

Saturday we woke up and relaxed a little before going to get some breakfast. We had planned on a low key day. After breakfast we went over to Downtown Disney to shop and walk around. We took plenty of breaks through the day- we were trying to be careful not to overdo it. We made a dinner reservation at Rainforest Cafe for dinner at 5:15. We ended up getting there a little early and they sat us immediately, which was good, we were getting hungry and I think all of us were anxious to get back and make sure we were prepared for Sunday. After a yummy dinner, we caught the bus back to our resort.

Shopping

I usually have a hard time sleeping before a race, but I was exhausted. I think I was the only one who slept well Saturday night. I heard someone moving around before my alarm went off, and we all were awake. The plan was to try to catch one of the first busses and they started at 3 am. We all got dressed and made sure we had everything and headed out to the bus stop (did I mention that it was only about 20 steps from our door? This was very helpful when we got back!). We got over to the bag check and porta potties and hung out there for about an hour before walking to our corrals. This was where more waiting began. Kelly, Katie and I were in the last corral (H), so our start time was not until about 6:30 (the first corral took off at 5:45). It was so cool to see the fireworks start and see the first runners take off- it was really starting! Katie, Kelly and I made sure to yell for Darlena (not that she could hear us!) when her corral (F) took off and then we were one corral closer to starting.

The start line

The sea of princesses behind us

And then we were off! We had all talked before starting the race saying that we were all just going to run our own race and if we caught up with each other, great, if not, we'd just see everyone at the end. That is what ended up happening. Everyone just kind of took off at their own pace and we didn't see each other again. I really enjoyed the course, it was fun to check out the characters as I passed by (I didn't stop for any pictures) and also the spectators. I ended up beating my Tinker Bell time by over 3 minutes. I was happy with that, I do wish it was better, but maybe next time. Overall I am very happy with how I did.

My Mile Times:

Mile 1 ~ 15:18

Mile 2 ~ 15:23

Mile 3 ~ 15:39

Mile 4 ~ 15:18

Mile 5 ~ 15:16

Mile 6 ~ 15:20

Mile 7 ~ 15:11

Mile 8 ~ 16:09

Mile 9 ~ 15:36

Mile 10 ~ 15:51

Mile 11 ~ 16:31

Mile 12 ~ 16:09

Mile 13 ~ 16:34

Total time for 13.1 ~ 3:28:34

I was so excited to be finished. I cried again- I'd done it again- the second half marathon of my deployment challenge was complete! I got my medal, got some powerade and water and then went down the line a little further and collected my coast to coast medal as well! I had signed up for runner tracking for myself and for Katie. This is a really neat free tool that rundisney does for all of it's races. It will send your split times for 5k, 10k, 15k and the finish in the form of a text or email to anyone you choose. It was great to check my phone after I'd gotten through the line and see that I already had a text from my other sister and my mom congratulating me on my race. I was also able to check Katie's status and see that she was estimated to finish just a few minutes behind me, so I decided to wait until I got to see her. I got the text that she had crossed the finish, so I waited a few more minutes and then she came through as well. We hugged- I was so proud of her.

I got through to Kelly to find out where she and Darlena were and we headed to meet them. After meeting up with them we got on our bus to go back to the resort. We all were in good shape- taking the stairs on the bus a little slow, but all feeling decent. We got showered and just relaxed (napping off and on) for a few hours and then decided to head out and walk around a little to avoid getting stiff. Our dinner plans were at Chef Mickey's, so we caught a bus to Magic Kingdom and then rode the monorail over to the Contemporary Resort. We had a little extra time so we browsed the shop there and then went into the arcade. Here is where I need to mention that I beat Katie twice at air hockey, and Kelly ended up with her only blister of the weekend- and that was from playing Pac Man! Then it was time for dinner. We all enjoyed a very yummy buffet and also visits from various characters.

Thank you to these three ladies who made this a very enjoyable weekend! I'd do it all over again!