Richmond Marathon and back to it

I did it! I ran another marathon! With my dad!

Remember the Pittsburgh Marathon? I don't. That was probably one of the worst days of my life. It's tough when something you enjoy so much (running) let's you down (...literally).

So I had to get back to it.

And I did.  And on Saturday I crossed the finish line to the Richmond Marathon. There was no PR. Far from it, in fact.  But for this marathon, that is not what mattered.

I came into this race feeling very confident.  I had a phenomenal last 20 mile training run where I felt strong.  The issues from the PGH marathon were far in the past.  The night before the run we had great conversations with other runners during the pasta dinner.  The weather was going to be perfect.  Everything seemed OK. And for the most part, it was.

The first half of the race was great. I kept a comfortable pace, the course was beautiful, and the crowd support was electric.  (Also, there was an english bulldog on the course. Great, right?)  But at around the halfway point I started feeling extremely nauseous.  See that "Jessie" shirt I'm wearing? It's a heavy cotton shirt.  I'm fairly certain the tag even said "heavyweight".  And I'm fairly certain it was heavyweighting me down when the weather and I started warming up.  So midway through the race I unpinned my bib, threw off my shirt (I had a tech-shirt underneath), and started to feel better.  

I still struggled with the nausea.  Miles 16-18 were tough as we crossed over a slightly uphill bridge and I seriously contemplated calling it quits over and over because I do not deal with nausea well. My legs felt fine but I felt drained and, oh, did I mention nauseous? But I could not NOT finish another race.  I kept imagining the silent and disappointed car ride back.  Another race with a shirt I can't shouldn't wear and a medal I wouldn't have.  SO, with the encouragement of my dad I pushed through.  

We kept our plan adopted after mile 13 of walking through the water stops or at every mile marker or, ya know, whenever I said so, and then running a comfortable pace to the next walking stop.  Whether this sounds crazy or not to you, walking through the water stops, especially if done from the beginning, can lead to a faster marathon time.  I read somewhere that marathoners average 13 minute faster times when walking through water stops. And there's this article from the NY Times. And my dad qualified for Boston after walking through water stops after mile 18. But I digress... Eventually we made it to mile 25 and we knew that one final turn through downtown Richmond would lead us downhill for about a half mile to the finish line so I dug deep, or whatever, and sprinted to the finish.  So what if it was over 4 hours, I did it. And I have the medal to prove it.

There were enjoyable parts of the marathon: the bull dog, the (sometimes rowdy!) crowd support, hearing "Dancing in the Dark" during a part of the course when I was really struggling, the cheers for Bob and Jessie during the first half, and of course- the finish.

But I'd also like to take a moment to remember those we have lost: whatever problem kept me from running the pittsburgh marathon & my Jessie shirt. Good riddance. 

Yo Jessie, I'm really happy for you, I'ma let you finish, but...

Well I might as well introduce myself, you'll probably be hearing a looottttt about me...

That's me, Cinderella Meowington.  I am Kaycee and Jessie's cat and a pretty big deal if I do say so myself.  They love me (you should see their iPhone photos, I seriously take up over half of them).  You can often find me running around the house.  My mommies call me spastic and crazy, but what is the difference between what I do, and when Jessie goes out and runs 5 miles. I mean really.  When I'm not running around trying to keep a slim kitten figure, you can find me lying on Kaycee or Jessie's face.  Or somewhere else that is really inconvenient for the two people who love me the most in the world. 

I love a good belly rub.  I love to balance precariously on the upstairs railing.  I would say I love long walks on the beach, but I'm not allowed to go outside (because there's riffraff) so I wouldn't know.  I also love to tweet.  You should follow me on twitter (@CMeowington).  I'm pretty funny and look simply stunning in all of my instagrammed pictures.  

That's enough about me for now.  I'll be back.  How many times can you read about Jessie going for a run or hanging out with friends?  Let's be honest, it's not as exciting as me...ow!

Writing's on the wall

I'm superstitious.

But not in the black cat, walking under ladders sort of way.

More like the "i just thought about a scenario but because i thought about it, it's not going to happen".  Or the "i did things in 'x' order and slept well so if i do that again, i will sleep well again".

It's magical thinking.  And it sucks.

Take tests, for example.  Forget how hard i study, if i picture myself getting an "A", it can't possibly happen.  If i end up getting a B, i've confirmed this theory.  If i end up with an A, i must have thought about failing at some point along the way. Again, studying OBVIOUSLY has nothing to do with it. (don't get me started about multiple choice tests)

And that's what i blame my lack of blogging on.

When i first started this blog, i was coming off of an awesome first marathon and my sights were set on the next.  This blog was supposed to help me along the way. But when i did not complete that marathon, what was the cause? (beside the realistic medical reasons?) The fact that i was blogging about it all.  So if i want to complete a marathon, better stop that blogging nonsense.  Because it was definitely a part of what made me fail.

But really, that's just ridiculous. My running successes and failures will be about how well i train, not how often i blog. So to prove that, i must keep blogging. wait. ...something about this seems like it's going against what i'm trying to prove. i think.

what i do know is that all this thinking is making my head hurt, and is nonsensical. and you, the reader, hopefully get the idea. running is mental, but not on such a superficial level. so i'm back. and with a cat and a dream of finishing another marathon. here goes...

alright hip, you win

My running career is on a hiatus.

For now.

The hip pain I previously mentioned has been off and on and I've mostly been able to run through it, until Sunday when I just couldn't.  Even after days of not running. It's really disappointing and frustrating and I know things could be way worse...blah blah blah don't mean to make this super dramatic...but it's tough to see runners out on beautiful days like today and, oh, every other day I haven't been able to run. I have a doctor's appointment today to get the ball rolling on fixing this.  I want to be better by July so I can start training for a fall marathon. 

Until then...

In about 6 weeks, I'll be selling tickets to my gun show. Proceeds go towards my english bulldog fund.

can't quit dc

When I was living in the DC metropolitan area, I signed myself up for a couple runs and events in the area.  Then I moved away. And these events in the "area" turned into multiple weekend long trips up to DC...not that I'm complaining. A couple weekends ago I went up to run the Rock 'n' Roll half marathon with my dad. It was a hot and humid and successful race. However, the next morning I woke up with a killer pain in my hip. 

Fast forward two weeks. I still have that nagging hip (flexor?) pain. I've only run twice since the half. And I have another DC weekend run coming up, this time it's the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler. Even with the pain I convinced myself I HAD to do it. It was a lottery entrance, others didn't get in, so yeah, I'm gonna do it even if I have to walk it. Plus a couple friends were running it too.  Luckily our pre-race dinner with multiple desserts (pictured above) boosted my confidence. 

And it was pretty great. Usually when I run a race, I hope and push for a good time (time meaning time it takes to complete the run).  But this race was different.  About 1.5 miles in I (literally) ran into Megan (one of my 3 great roommates) and we ended up running the rest of the race together. We kept a solid pace and chatted for most of it. And we finished strong, which is always a good thing.  When we finished, the last thing on my mind was the pain in my hip.  All I could think about was how great that run felt. And how I did have a good time (see what I did there!??!).

Might I add that there were hardly any cherry blossoms.  The blossoms hit their peak maybe a week before and there were just a few here and there behind the Jefferson Memorial. Some cherry blossom run..  To top off a spectacular weekend that also included a second viewing of Hunger Games and seeing many friends, I went to a Bruce Springsteen Concert. I saw Bruce Springsteen in DC. Bruce. It was a darn good concert. Okay it was amazing. I heard most of my favorites. There was so much power behind his music, as well as emotion since Clarence Clemons' nephew was there filling in the E Street Band. AHHH!!!

did i mention i saw bruce springsteen??

Vacayyy

I was fortunate enough to have a lengthy winter break.  I was finally able to head back to Charleston for some of the holiday.  I spent quality time with family and friends whom I had not seen in some time.  Luckily, I'll have the opportunity to spend more time with them in the near future, but more on that in another post! It was nice to also see some high school friends I had not seen in quite some time.

After a few days in Charleston I skedaddled on up to Ohio for a ski trip to Colorado with Yohn and her mother.  We woke up at the crack of dawn -- no, before that. waay before that -- to catch our plane. Did you know the tiny tiny Akron/Canton airport has direct flights to Denver?? Talk about convenient. After arriving in Denver, we had some time to kill before heading to the condo in Winterplace so we got to wander around Boulder.  It was nice to see once again, this time in the winter. I never thought I would be back there so soon.  It was also nice to see snow, something that usually happens in winter. Not that DC would know anything about that.  

We finally made it up to Winterplace and settled in for a couple of days of skiing and relaxing.  The skiing was incredible.  I grew up skiing on the appalachians where the skiing seemed pretty good and Snowshoe was the ultimate skiing destination.  But skiing in the rockies was something else.  All of the runs made the long chair lifts worth it.  The blues were as challenging as some of the black diamonds back east.  Sometimes we found ourselves skiing above the tree-line at elevations over 11,000 ft. And the view..oh the view.. sometimes the view was better than the skiing.  The rocky mountains are breathtaking. 

Yohn and I also got to see our friend Britt from Denison as she was kind of passing through on her way to Breckenridge.  Seeing Britt is a rare treat since she lives in Boulder while the rest of us live back east.  So Colorado was an all-around wonderful time.  After another early plane ride, I booked it over to Capon Bridge for the annual winter bird count.  At bird count, anyone who is interested (a large portion is made up of camp staff) heads over to West Virginia for a day of counting birds to contribute to Audubon's National Christmas Bird Count.  It's a fun combination of nature and hanging out with the people I spend my summers with. 

This year, bird count was on New Years Eve day, so after the count was over, I celebrated a low-key New Years Eve with a couple camp friends.  It was a nice way to wind down what felt like a hectic break. So now it's 2012 and so far, it's shaping up to be an exciting year for me! Which I will share in subsequent posts!! 

well shoot...

oh man oh man oh man. i've been bad at this. but a new year, a new me, a new opportunity to blog.

First things first, I missed my blog's first birthday. 

So happy belated birthday blog! I promise this year I'll be good to you. Second things second, I cannot tell you how many times I've gotten home from my internship and planned to eat dinner and then curl up with tea, a movie, and my computer and just blog away. Never happened. Clearly. I don't like "new years resolutions". I make the same every year...write more mail..take more pictures...run... but I shouldn't need a new year to promise to do those things. So I'm not going to resolve to blog more, but I will make every effort to do so. Luckily all my previous attempts to blog this new year have left me with lots of ideas for blog posts. so - here goes nothing...