Cox Providence Half Marathon Finisher!

It happened! On Sunday I ran 13.1 miles for the first time in my life. And it felt so good. The best part was crossing the finish line…and seeing all of our supporters on the sidelines.

I guess the best way to recap this half marathon weekend is to start at the beginning. Friday night I nervously packed my bags, with literally everything I could think of to bring. I had every different combination of running outfits, just case there was a freak snowstorm…or hurricane. Hey, I wanted to be prepared! Saturday morning Matt and Jess picked up Dan and me and we started our journey back to the ‘hood (not the real “hood” but that’s just what we call our neighborhood, since Jess and I have been neighbors since I was 10).

Probably a week ahead of time, I had my prerace dinner planned out.  I knew we probably wouldn’t be home in time for the dinner with the other Rhode Scholar bloggers, I went to my go-to fueling meal, Spaghetti with Mushrooms and Spinach. I rolled with white pasta, since it’s easier to digest. I noticed how much thicker white pasta is than whole wheat and I can definitely say that I like whole wheat better. Hooray for healthy!

I figured I could splurge on some white bread, ya know, since I was about to run 13.1 miles!

Yummmmm, pasta!

With butterflies in my stomach, I tucked myself into bed early so I would be well rested for what was coming. I woke up around 6am and we left the house at 7am.

Despite my long night’s sleep, we look a bit groggy waiting for the race to start.  We took our places and the gun went off at 8am. We were off!

The first 5k went by really quickly and my nerves quickly dissipated.

Our families came out to support us and positioned themselves on Blackstone Blvd. in Providence, where they knew they would see us twice.  Here we are so excited to see them at mile 4! We knew they would be around mile 4 but it was still a nice surprise to finally see them!

The course was hilly, as expected, and we did a really good job of pacing ourselves and listening to our bodies to make sure we conserved energy for the rest of the race.

To entertain ourselves during the race, we came up with three mini goals. The first was to not finish last, which we figured would be easy to accomplish. The second was to finish in under 2:30, which was going to be more of a challenge because of those dang hills. And the third was to beat the man wearing cargo shorts in front of us, because really, who wears cargo shorts to run for two and a half hours!?

Another way we entertained ourselves? On-the-run photo shoots!

Here we are around mile seven, starting to get a little loopy.

Mile nine was quickly (well it wasn’t actually that quick) approaching and we knew we were going to see our families again soon, which gave us something to look forward to.

These are our cheerleaders, minus my dad because he was taking the photo. Thanks for coming to cheer us on guys!

I must say, this course was absolutely beautiful! So many gorgeous houses to look at.

A spontaneous jump at mile nine, which took a toll on Jess’s knees…sorry for making you jump for the camera, girl!

We weren’t sure if we would see our cheerleaders again before the end of the race, so we turned to say goodbye.

But see them again we did, right around mile 11.5, where we both were really starting to fade. This is right where the marathoners joined the course, so we kept moving out of the way for the elite runners who were looking to win. When we saw our families this time, they tried to get us to jump again…you can tell by our faces that that was NOT going to happen. Dan’s dad kept telling us we were going to set a world record, which made us laugh each time. Jess’s dad mooed for us since they didn’t have a cowbell, ha! And my dad ran alongside us for a little to take some photos.

Finally, after 2 hours, 29 minutes, and 57 seconds, we were done! That’s right, we beat our goal time! HOORAY! And we didn’t see cargo shorts again, so we assume we beat him too. Yay for hitting all of our goals!

As soon as we crossed the finish line I just about collapsed. They quickly handed us our race medals, a bottle of water, and these super chic tin foil blankets. As we searched for food, I wobbled a few times and had to catch myself from falling. But as soon as we got to eat and chug water, I felt much better. Weird thing though, my feet kept cramping up, which I’ve never had happen before. I quickly chugged a Gatorade and devoured a banana and it eventually stopped.

We met up with our families and took some finisher pics with our first ever race medals

After the race we all went out to have an enormous breakfast, complete with bloody marys and mimosas, of course!

All in all, it was a really great race.  There is some discrepancy with how long the half marathon course actually was, but we still beat our goal, even if the course was a little bit longer.

After making ourselves feel like humans again, we hopped back in the car for the 3.5 hour ride home.  Jess and I had big plans to nap the whole way, but that never happened. By the time we hit New York City, everyone was really loopy and out of it, which lead to some overtired giggles. Once we got home, I finally feasted on a day late Cinco de Mayo meal and called it a night.

Boy was I SORE when I woke up this morning though! I foam rolled a little this morning but it didn’t help much. At work I tried everything to make myself feel better including Advil, coffee, Emergen-c, walking during lunch, and stretching as much as I could.

Check out what was at the office this morning…we have the best co-workers Thanks for getting these, Gill!

When I got home, I took an Epson salt bath and foam rolled my little heart out. I’m starting to feel more human, but I still can’t bring myself to grocery shop!

My first half marathon experience was truly a great one, and I definitely plan on doing another one soon, maybe even this summer! I want to thank a few people who made this experience so enjoyable and manageable. A huge thanks to the people behind the race at Cox and Eident Marketing for giving me the opportunity to be a blog ambassador and for comping my race entry fee! Thanks to Dan who encouraged me to continue to train, even when I felt like I wanted to give up. Thanks to Jess for always being my fearless running buddy and running right along side of me for each mile, you’re the best! Thanks to Matt for the delicious breakfast and for driving us to and from the race! Thanks to my family, Dan’s dad and Pam, and Jess’s fam for waking up early on Sunday to cheer their hearts out each time we ran by, the cheers really kept us going! And thanks to everyone who listened to me talk about my training plans and training runs and are still friends with me after it’s all over! You all are the best and I wouldn’t have done this without all of you.

So there you have it, 13.1 miles down! Next up, I’ve got a 13 week speed plan I’ll be working on while running other races in between. See you soon blogstars!

13.1-I’m a Problem Solver

How’s everyone doing on this fine Monday? I’m pretty excited because I’m taking a few days off at the end of the week! This weekend was stellar. The ole’ apartment was stuffed to the brim with friends, which made for the perfect time.

Now on to the running portion of this program. While I am following Hal Higdon’s Half Marathon training plan (novice 1) pretty much to the T, I changed up the long runs in order to be better prepared for the 13.1 miles I am going to face.  With Hal’s novice plan, the most you run is 10 miles.  I know people say that adrenaline and the cheers of the crowd will carry you through the rest of the run but that 3 mile deficit was too much for me.  In order to close that gap, I adapted the plan to become my own and increased the mileage. Case in point, this week instead of 5 miles, I ran 6 and next week instead of 5 I will run 7. Enough about the plan, let’s talk about how I have put the plan into action.

To be frank, I have been having a little bit of anxiety about the upcoming Cox Providence Half Marathon. Before I began training I hadn’t run anything further than a 5k.  While I do feel like the plan is helping me (and I’ve been following it pretty religiously) I still get a sinking feeling that I won’t be ready come race day.  Here are some of the reasons I am intimidated by this race:

• I have been running pretty much solely on the treadmill.  Last week I expressed my frustration and boredom and tried to run outside. That run was a bust, so I was feeling discouraged.
• I don’t feel like I am working out enough for someone who is training for a half marathon.  Aside from my long runs on Sundays, I’m not really putting in any more time than I normally would be.  The only difference is that the training plan keeps me honest and forces me to stick with my exercise frequency.
• Hills! I am pretty frightened by the the quantity and severity of the hills that lay before me on May 6th. The only time I have run hills in a race, I nearly puked. It was not pretty. I live in a city and there really are no hills to run outside.

Those are my main fears and frustrations. After many days worrying that I won’t be able to finish this race, I decided I just needed to come up with a better game plan. So today, I laced up my sneaks, threw on a fleece, gloves and ear warmers and took to the streets.

Running on the treadmill has become so easy and boring for me, so I knew I needed to take the opportunity I had today and just bite the bullet and run outside. I mapped a run that would be pretty and I downloaded a long podcast to take my mind off of the running.  I was pretty pleased when I looked down at my Garmin and saw this beautiful sight:

I did it! Six miles is my new PDR and I did it outside without walking at all! Needless to say, I was pretty pleased with myself.  What I was even more pleased with is that I didn’t want to die when I was done. An accomplishment indeed.  I didn’t want to gouge my eyes out during the run either, so I’d say running outside is in fact the boredom buster I needed.

My second problem is the intensity of the workouts for the rest of the week. I want to push myself more during this training because I want to be in the best shape ever when this is over. I’ll admit it, my strength training at this point leaves a bit to be desired. Monday’s stretch and strength usually involves me laying on the floor “stretching” during The Bachelor and maybe doing a plank or two. Or curling the measly 3 pound weights I have in the apartment. How old am I, 80?! I’m training for a half marathon for crying out loud.  So here I am, proclaiming myself a changed lady and I will now kick my own butt with lifting that leaves my muscles begging for mercy. Hold me to it, will ya? Link up to your favorite weight workouts!

Finally, we face the problem of hills.  Honestly, I haven’t really come up with a solution for this one yet. I thinkkkkk that what I might do is dedicate one shorter run (either Tuesday or Thursday) to running hill intervals on the treadmill.  I’m thinking running hills on the mill is better than not doing them at all. What are your thoughts?

One final note, I tried a new-to-me method of fueling during my run.  I know 6 miles doesn’t really require fuel, but I know I am going to fuel during the race, so I don’t want any surprised the day of. I stocked up at Sports Authority last weekend with a few types of fuel and today I decided to try out the infamous Gu. I went with Gu Energy Gel in Tri-Berry and I had a so-so reaction to it.  I wasn’t expecting it to be so thick and I kind thought I was going to barf when I took my first hit.  Luckily I didn’t and I was able to gulp down the whole thing at a red light. The flavor was good and I didn’t cramp or anything from it. I just don’t know if it did anything. Around mile 5 I was really dragging and I don’t think the Gu really helped all that much.

(Source)

I have more fuel to try out during my runs and I’m willing to give Gu another chance. I think I’m going to force myself to get used to it because Gu is a sponsor of the race and will be on the course.  I’d rather not have to carry my own fuel since it’d be a lot more convenient to just grab a packet as I ran by.  We’ll see how it goes.

So there ya have it, my ramblings for the week. How is everyone else’s training coming? Any advice for a newbie like me?