Yeah, i'm one of these people.

The kind that put a bumper sticker on their car. Because it makes me happy.

Spring has hit, y'all.

And I live on a dirt road.

In hindsight.

It's so weird. I was so nervous going into the half marathon. Almost scared. I waited for so long for the race day. And then it came. And it happened. And it's over. And i've already got a new race in sight, one longer than the other. Like the day after my big race, I was like "alright, might as well do the 25k." Which is kind of funny, because I remember immediately following the half, I was like "OH GOSH, I'm for sure only doing the 10k." But nope. All signed up for the 25k (thanks, dad!). 

My reasons for this are the following:

1. I'm pretty much all trained, and I don't know how trained I will be in the future.
2. My dad is doing it, and so it's an opportunity to do it the same time as him, and like I said with the other reason, don't know if i'd be able to do it with him in the future.
3. It's the largest 25k in the United States. I think that it would be awesome to get to be a part of it. 

So yeah, already less than two weeks away and i'm not even nervous. Maybe I will be in a week. But right now i'm all good. I guess I've resigned myself to the distance already. And I know I can do 13.1 (actually, on that race at least 14, because Colin and I jogged to the old bridge to watch Lisa when she crossed it). 

This is what I often felt when running at school (not versus the track team, just the general workout folk). If I passed runners at home too, I would probably feel it then as well. But as it currently stands, I rarely see another runner at home.

But yeah, I'd be running on the track and if a faster person joins while i'm doing a long run and not going full force, then i'd be all like [on the inside] "yeah, i'm in the midst of a nine mile run dude. You're not as cool as you might think."

School's out.

I think I mentioned before that through the winter, on Monday and Wednesday, and sometimes Friday, i've done my runs on the indoor track at school.

Well, today was my last indoor run until next winter, because school is out! 

When I got home today I took out my log book and added up my track miles. 

Since January, [on the track] I've done roughly 270 miles. 

This is a 1/8th mile track. 

Meaning, roughly 2160 laps. 

That's a lot. 

Obviously. 

Until next time, track. Until next time. 

"Running isn’t a sport for pretty boys…It’s about the sweat in your hair and the blisters on your feet. Its the frozen spit on your chin and the nausea in your gut. It’s about throbbing calves and cramps at midnight that are strong enough to wake the dead. It’s about getting out the door and running when the rest of the world is only dreaming about having the passion that you need to live each and every day with. It’s about being on a lonely road and running like a champion even when there’s not a single soul in sight to cheer you on. Running is all about having the desire to train and persevere until every fiber in your legs, mind, and heart is turned to steel. And when you’ve finally forged hard enough, you will have become the best runner you can be. And that’s all that you can ask for."-Paul Maurer

Hit the brink.

Today I hit the brink. Meaning, during the final sprint of my run, I felt like I was flying; my surroundings zoomed past me and my legs seemed to have a life of their own.
The phrase "hit the brink" isn't any sort of technical term, or even common running jargon. It's just a phrase that I came up with on my own, for myself. It's just what comes to mind.

This feeling is not one that I get during every run, or more specifically, every sprint. But I know it when it comes. I remember the first time I got this feeling was Turkey Trot 2010. The final sprint at the end there. I felt like I was flying.

Day 100

Oh hey, apparently I've hit day 100 of my current running streak. That's kind of cool. My last running streak was 145 days, so not there yet. But here's to hoping.

My first half marathon. The story.

October 31, 2013. That is the day I decided I would do it. It was a spur of the moment decision, really. 

For years I said I was NEVER going to run more than a 5k. Okay, sometimes I could be convinced to do a 4-miler (such as Resolution Run), but that was it for me. I had zero intentions on EVER going farther. For me, a long run was 4 miles. No more. I mean, come on, who would WANT to run for any longer? Who would enjoy doing such a thing? 

Well, me it turns out. 

The day I decided to do it, it was a pretty easy decision. I basically work up and was like "oh hey, i'm going to run a half marathon. I don't know when, but i'm going to do it."

And I did.

In the beginning, like December, my older sister was planning on running Gazelle Girl Half Marathon (with a friend of hers). She's not a runner. And so it was like, I knew I was going to run one eventually, so I better get on this bus too because I can't let her beat me to it! Maybe I am a little competitive at times after all. 

I began training for this race at the start of the year. By that I mean I began long runs. That was the only element from the training guide that I decided to follow. I was already I die-hard runner. I only needed to add the weekly distance run to my routine. It was easy at first. But that's only because it basically started from square one, and so I had already been doing the distance that it was instructing. 

I signed up toward the end of January. The day that I did my first 8 mile run. This was like a breakthrough to me. I was like "AHHH! I ran so far! Wow!"At the time I signed up, the race was so far into the future that I tried not to think about it. Though, as the date drew nearer that kind of became hard to do. Considering my long runs were actually becoming long runs. Since the first of the  I signed up for Gazelle Girl toward the end of January 2014. It was at this point that I was committed. I mean, I wasn't going to spend all of that money and have it go to waste. That would be silly. 

February rolls around. As does my first 10 mile run. Up to this point, I had been doing my long runs on Wednesday. I did this for the following reasons:

A. I had a 4 hour break between classes, so it was something to do. 

B. I could run indoors. The throughout of running outside wasn't too appealing. That, and not necessarily safe on some of the days. This winter was crazy.

So yeah, I had been running inside, but on this day I was on spring break. Not at school. And so I had to run outdoors. My first outdoor long run. I hated it.  So cold. So much running. It took forever. 

Also, unfortunately my sister's knee was injured in February and was told my the Dr. not to run on it for a good 6 months. So she was out of the race. March rolls around though and my sister-in-law signs up. So that's cool. 

March was an amazing month for me. I got a new high in miles. And grew a love for long runs. I hit the 13 mile mark and was like "okay, downhill from here."

And then came April. Ahh, April. Really, i'm not sure that there was a time where the race wasn't in the back of my mind just a little bit. The week before the race was the worst. I was so nervous. But as the week before turned into just days before, the nervousness wore off. I resigned myself to the fact that it would happen. And took comfort knowing that a week from then, it would all be over and I would be able to say that I had done it.

The day before the race a did a really easy 3 mile run. It felt fantastic. That night I was able to fall asleep surprisingly easy. 

And then, it was the day.

April 13, 2014, 6:05AM. My alarm goes off. Actually backtrack like five minutes. I woke up a few minutes before my alarm having no idea what time it was; I didn't know if there was minutes before my alarm, or hours. But I didn't want to check around for my phone, because then if it was hours I would be too awake to fall back asleep. So I laid there contemplating what to do. That is, check the time, or not check it. As I said before, I didn't want to check it because I didn't want to stay up. But as you can see, it didn't really do me much good because I was still quite awake in my thoughts. 

A few minutes pass and I hear my dad downstairs. This is good news, because it means that there is only a few minutes until the alarm. And so I continue to lay there, waiting for the alarm to chime.  

Okay, back to 6:05AM. I got out of bed. Did normal waking up stuff (wash face, pee, etc.) and then had breakfast. Afterwhich I brushed my teeth, gathered my belongings and was out the door my 6:30AM. I was dropped off at Colin and Lisa's apartment to ride with them  to the race. On the way Lisa handed my bib to me. Excitement grew. I had no nervousness. I knew it was the day, I knew it was happening, I knew that it would all be done within the next 4 hours. 

Photo Credit Lisa

And then we arrived. After parking, we walked to Rosa Parks. As we crossed the bridge, Colin said "I know, let's play the "who can spot the most runners wearing their race shirts" game."This was in sarcasm, and referring to our being against when people wear their race shirts during the race. In my opinion, you don't wear it until after you run it.

Photo Credit Gazelle Girl Half Marathon Facebook Page

We got to Rosa Parks probably at 7:30AM and stood around. People begin to fill the starting corral, the pacers included. Only, at first there was only the 9min/milers-the 12min/milers in the gate. And so I said to Colin "I guess people don't think that women can run any faster than a 9min/mile in a half." He laughed. In the next drew minutes though, the 8min & 8:30min pacers entered.
7:50AM rolls around and Lisa and I decide to enter the corral. Colin gave me a hug and told me he was proud of me. After Lisa and I entered the starting area, we wished each other luck, and headed our separate ways. I had no idea what pace I would be running. I didn't time myself during training. At all. And so, with Colin's advice, I just went to the front (as my last race I had been doing 6:47min/miles).

8:00AM. National anthem. A guy rambles, burning time because a car is stalled 15ft in front of the starting line. People can't get the car started, and decide to just begin the race.
And GO.

Photo Credit Lauren Petrecca for Mlive.

You can see me in the photo above. The one in the gray and purple tank, smiling at the camera.

It was honestly so exciting, that I ran a good 30 yards before starting my iPod. And then I was like "Oh wait, there's no music going..." And side note, my plan for this race was do mile 1 with music, miles 2-4 with Adventures in Odyssey, mile 5 with music, miles 6-9 with odyssey, and the rest music. 

Mile one was a breeze. I recognized this part of the course. It was the same as the turkey trot. 

Mile two. Again, easy. Colin was at the mile two marker, that was cool:) It was fun to have him encourage me. And he got a few photos too. 

Photo Credit Colin

Miles 3-4 were still easy. And fun. Like, this was still the distance of my no-doubt-every-day run.

Miles 5-8 were tricky. Not as in I was tired, it was just mentally difficult. There was just so far to go yet, and that's really all that I could think about. But once I hit mile 9, it got a lot better. I was past the half way mark, and from here it was only only 4 miles to go. Which, when I run at home, that's a distance I often do. 

Photo credit Rob Meendering for StellaFly

Photo above is around the 9-mile-mark.

Mile 10 was super encouraging. I heard the 8min pacers behind me call out "It's a 5k from here, baby!"

Colin was waiting at mile 11.5ish. That was encouraging and fun to see. His cheers encouraged me a lot. 

Mile 12 was annoying. Because it began with a hill. Hill's aren't something i'm unfamiliar with, for the roads at my house are purely hills. My reaction was more just like "ahh, seriously?"

Finally I came to the blue bridge. And then through the city. And then 1/4th of a mile from the finish was Colin. He snapped a picture of me and then sprinted alongside of the road making me go faster.

Photo Credit: Colin

And then came the finish! That part is kind of a blur. It was just an amazing feeling to sprint down through the corral, which was surrounded with so many people watching, and cross the finish line.

Photo Credit Robert Wilcox for StellaFly

I did it. Half Marathon. 

Time: 1:43:55

Age division place: 3rd!

Overall place: 60th!

I was quite pleased with these stats, it being my first half marathon. Less than 8min/miles. I was also less than a minute behind the person who placed first in my age division.

Photo Credit Colin

I'm totally going to do another in the future. Also leaning towards doing the Riverbank 25k in a few weeks...

Why hello there running tights, I thought that we had seen enough of one another?

April 15, 2014. Snow on the ground. 32˚. 23mph wind from NW. Fun.

(PS, working right now on writing my half marathon story. Should be posted within the next day)

To quote Lisa:

"Personalized racing bib. And that is why I signed up."

It's coming.

I used to be dead set on NEVER doing a half marathon. Never, ever EVER.
But here I am. Three days out from my first one. I'm doing it.
It's all mental preparation from here. Excited? Yes:)

Opinion #4: Winter running.

Winter running. Blehh... I do it. But it's... Annoying? Mostly, I don't like the clothes required. Why? Well, it's not that I dislike how they look. Actually, I love my running tights. They make me feel empowered. This is why:

1. The weight. The comparison of what I wear in the winter and what I wear in the summer is crazy. And that's to be expected, but not enjoyable.ane time, like a year ago, I weighed myself before I had all of my winter running apparel, and after. And well, I was wearing six pounds worth. SIX POUNDS. I guess clothes are heavy? And shoes.
2. So much more uncomfortable. I mean, I've gotten a pretty good read in regards to what to wear in the winter for best comfort, but in comparison to summer running apparel... So uncomfortable.
3. It's harder to breathe. I'm not good at breathing with stuff around my neck... Like, it makes me feel claustrophobic.
4. It takes FOREVER to get them on. Tights are... Tight. And there's just so many layers. It simply takes forever. 
5. Because it takes forever, then my motivation levels completely tank. And because my motivation levels are lowered, the time to get out the door is so much longer. Like, i'll spend a good half hour getting all of my stuff on. 

So yeah. The clothes. Not fun. But still worth it.

April Updates.

• It's April. Fourth month of the year. From January-March, I logged 441.2 miles since the first of the year; over two days worth of running. 
• To some, I may have ran a lot. But that's nothing compared to Stu Mittleman. Who, in 1986, ran 1,000 miles in under 12 days. ONE THOUSAND. And he did it on a track. A TRACK. He also holds a record for the most miles run in the course of four days: 577.75
• Less than a week until my big race. So nervous. Kind of scared. I mean, i've done the full 13 in training, but still... Something about it intimidates me. 
• I've decided that I probably will be running for Davenport this coming fall. Super excited about that. 

3/31/2014

Today was a blimey 63˚ today. SIXTY-THREE. Sunny, with a nice breeze. The kind where it's strong enough to keep you cool, but not so strong that it hinders running too bad.
Six miles in the marvelous sunshine.
I got to run in shorts and a tank for the first time this year! It was beautiful.