Already, a Slip-up

I like to think that the reason people read my blog is because they can relate to me...ie, I make too many mistakes to be considered a "serious" runner. I like to think this, but it doesn't mean it's true :) I think it's because when I read blogs and someone is like "And I just didn't feel like eating healthy today, so I didn't." It makes me think that maybe I shouldn't chastise myself too badly (because someone else is in the same boat).

So, here it is, the second day of my workout plan and already I have a (hopefully) "relatable" story.

Last night I went to bed early. I think this is because I was tired from waking up early to run yesterday (pat myself on the back). It could also be that I had a stressful day, but that's another story. Anyway, when the alarm went off at 6:45, I got up to do my cross-training workout and my calves felt sore. So I told Bill "I'm going back to bed, my calves are sore." Now, this is why I told myself (and Bill)it was okay to go back to bed, but seriously? I was just tired.

Because honestly, instead of doing Jillians 30-Day Shred this morning I could have done yoga. That would have also solved my sore calves, which, btw are no longer sore.

So, it's day two and I've already fallen off of the "waking up early to work out" wagon.

Oh yes. And I had a really greasy cheeseburger last night.

With a vodka and tonic.

Make that a vodka tonic and a half (like I said, I had a rough day, so I pretty much jumped at the chance to get "a" drink after work).

Soooooo anyway...the workout gets pushed to tonight, and tomorrow morning is 4 miles NO EXCUSES.

New Toy/Experiment

So, my little 2-mile run this morning was really more of an experiment than a workout.

Yes, I said morning, and that is the key word. I am NOT a morning person. Every attempt to work out in the morning is quashed when I have Bill hit snooze, hit snooze, and finally just reset the alarm. However, I realized on Christmas break that I actually felt better when I worked out in the morning (thank you Mom and Sarah). Granted, the morning was like 8:30, which is pretty much when I have to leave for work when I am not on Christmas break, but even so...

So today I decided to get up for my first "easy run" of my marathon training. At SIX THIRTY. AM!

And I survived.

The idea is that I would do my runs in the mornings and some stretching/weights in the evening. This is a good solution because 1) I am not dreading working out all through the day and 2) If Bill has to work late (which he always does) I don't have to skip my workouts because it is too dark/scary out in the park.

We'll see how it goes the rest of the week.

And now, the fun thing.

Bill got me a Garmin Forerunner 405 for Christmas this year!!! I can't really say I love it, because all I've done is program it and charge it, but I do love the idea of it and all of the things that it can do! I am especially intrigued by the "Virtual Partner" part of it, which allows you to "race" well, yourself, basically. The only thing that I am not so happy about is the fact that it is only PC compatible. Come on Garmin!!! Get into the 21st century! You know, the one where a lot of us have Macs? They say that this should all be resolved by "the first quarter of 2009" but from what I've read on the message boards, I shouldn't hold my breath.

Oh, and my Garmin is the green one.

It is so cute.

Whew!

So, I have actually not done much running since my Turkey Trot. BUT, I have still been working out. In fact, I found a whole set of workout dvds that I actually like, because they combine weight training with aerobics and stretching, which is great for me because I think weight training is so boring. The set is called The Firm, and my mom got them for me for Christmas. Don't get me wrong, the workouts are still cheesy (just like any other dvds), but I can actually feel the results on these ones. I also got the NYC Ballet workout, which I love, and had on VHS and had to retire. That one is GREAT for core and flexibility training, although I don't know if I would recommend it to anyone who has not taken ballet classes before. The prompter assumes that you know all sorts of ballet terminology and the whole thing is set up like a barre workout, which could be confusing. I also got Jillian's (from the Biggest Loser) 30-day Shred which I'm hoping will kick my butt.

Because of all of this working out over Christmas (I got up every morning with my mom and sister to workout) I didn't gain a single pound from when I left for Christmas break. This is a miracle, because I really truly overindulged in the eating/drinking department.

Today I put together my marathon training schedule for the Flying Pig. Whew! It totally stressed me out just looking at it. My main mistake last year was not enough hill training. So this year I have hill workouts on every Tuesday. Most of them are from Ramon's hill workouts for the Marine Corps Marathon. I feel like that should put me in good enough shape to run the Pig. I also have speed workouts on most Thursdays (once again, a carry over from Ramon's plans).

The other good thing about training for the Flying Pig is that I will get 4 scored NYRR races in during my training. I am only going to actually "race" two of them. The other two will be just training runs. The reason this is important though, is because if I run 9 scored NYRR races in 2009 and volunteer for one race I will automatically qualify for the New York Marathon in 2010! (As long as they don't change the rules again this year).

Unfortunately, I am still getting over a gross cold that I've had for 5 days and am totally tired. So I won't be running tonight. I am going to try and get 2 easy miles in tomorrow with some cross-training. I know. I am a wimp. But I HAVE to start easy.

Turkey Trot

Yes, I know, I have been terrible about posting. Mostly this is because I am doing more weightlifting than running, and really, who wants to write about weightlifting? (Boring!) So, I am going to take a holiday break from the blog until I start training intensely again (January!) for my next marathon. BUT, not before I write about the Prospect Park Turkey Trot.

It's so funny. The Cincinnati Turkey Trot is a HUGE deal. I mean, they even have an entire website dedicated to the event. And this year they had 11,558 finishers. It's also cool because you kind of get to preview part of the Flying Pig course.

Well, Bill and I signed up for the Prospect Park Turkey Trot knowing it was going to be a lot smaller, but we had no idea how small. It was like a cute little neighborhood run. It was actually a LOT of fun. And there was no pressure at all.

It is put on by the Prospect Park Track Club, and is a 5-miler in Prospect Park (obviously), which is a very pretty park in Brooklyn designed by the same guys who did Central Park. They had 1290 finishers.

Because Bill and I don't get around to Brooklyn that often we were totally lost. We almost didn't make it to the start. We just started following people with race bibs, and it's a good thing we did, because I don't think we would have made it in time. The whole time I was talking strategy with Bill: "Do you want to run together? What do you think your pace will be? I'm taking it easy...maybe I'll start with a 9:30 and then if I'm feeling good I'll do a 9:00 pace, but I'm not going any faster than that..."

It turns out that it didn't really matter :)

This start was NOT the millisecond-precise, super-anal-retentive NYRR start that we are used to. In fact, I didn't even hear a gun, or a horn, or an announcer or anything. Bill and I just kind of noticed that the people in front of us were moving. So we ran about 20 feet, and then...we were suddenly walking about 10 feet. That's when I was like "FUN RUN!" Forget time, forget everything else, just have fun.

I did end up feeling pretty out of shape. It's not like I felt like I was running fast, just that it took a lot out of me.

The best part was that Santa was at the finish line (everyone kept yelling "Just around the corner and you'll see Santa!") and that at the end, instead of water, they had hot chocolate!!! Perfect!

Oh yeah, and we also got really nice bags from Jackrabbit instead of t-shirts.

All in all, it was a lot of fun, and I think I would definitely do it again!

Running Again!

I finally got to run outside again this weekend!

I can't figure out what I want to do with running this winter...I think I've found out that Bill's job pretty much makes him come home too late to run. I mean, I guess I COULD save my running until after dinner/after Bill gets home. But a lot of times that would mean that I wouldn't get my workout in at all (because I would have to run after 11pm-ish). I also have to be realistic about this...after I eat dinner am I REALLY going to want to go out in the dark and cold and do a run?

The other option is to run in the morning.

I am NOT a morning person. Plus, when my alarm goes off for me to run in the morning I basically just reset it and promise to do my run at night. Plus, my life is a little stressful right now and I am counting my blessings when I actually do get a full night of sleep. So I don't really think I should be skimming off of that end.

But it looks like that might be the only option. So I'd better learn to be a loser and go to bed at like, ten, and wake up early. NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM.

It WAS nice to run outside instead of on the machines this weekend. My legs are even a little sore. I think this is because there is no way a treadmill can replicate the workout you get outside. Running outside clears my head, and I was even happy to do the 4-mile loop around the park, even though just a while ago, I was so sick of it.

Well, I am not going to worry about the running schedule thing TOO much, until after Christmas, when I start really training for the Pig. I do have a fun little run in Prospect Park (which is in Brooklyn) on Thanksgiving morning. Bill is running it with me too!

I just couldn't give up the tradition of doing a race on Thanksgiving. Even though it is only a 5-miler, it makes me feel so much better about piling on all those potatoes later in the evening. ;)

Boring

My workout life seems pretty lame and boring when I'm not training for a marathon. Don't get me wrong...I am totally and completely enjoying all of the free time, but it IS rather boring. And I have to pretty much force myself to workout.

Last night I did arm weights and crunches. I am really into testing this whole "muscle makes you lose fat faster" thing. Plus, I would just generally like to tone up. Lifting is SO BORING it makes me want to cry. So I really have to make sure that I am pushing myself as I would do in my running. Last night I was really good and did reps until I was too tired to keep form, rested, and did two more sets like that, for each weight lifting activity. Boring.

I also realized that when it comes to anything but running I am pretty much out of shape. Which is kind of sad.

I think people have a picture in their head of everything a marathoner is...lithe, strong, muscled and pretty much able to do any sport. I think most marathoners I know would laugh at this. I especially would.

One thing I am VERY happy about is that I am losing all of my weight fairly easily (well, as easy as one can do it...). I just remember that it took me 4 months to lose 18 pounds in the winter and 6 months to gain it back. I was so bummed that it would take me 4 months to lose it again.

But I have been pretty vigilant about my diet and working out for the past two weeks and have already lost 5 of those pounds. Thank goodness. I was starting to think there were not too many visible benefits to all the work I keep doing. But at least it is easier to lose all of that fat than it was last time.

I also have been scarfing granola from my stash when I'm hungry instead of cupcakes from the office kitchen. That Bear Naked stuff is actually pretty good (but not as good as cupcakes).

I was planning on treadmill tonight, but I think I'll mix it up. I got this lame (I'm thinking) video a long time ago which I've never tried out. If anything, it will be a hilarious workout.

I did look into Bikram yoga and actually found a great place RIGHT BY MY WORK that is offering 30 days for $30. That is awesome because that is how much ONE class would cost. So I'm going to try it out...but I have to figure out my life scheduling right now. Balance is NOT something that is working out for me this month (ha ha, maybe I COULD use some yoga then).

A Little Late, But...

I decided that I am going to be proud of myself for my Marine Corps Marathon time.

I am NOT trying to be a big-head or be overly braggadocious. But here's the thing. I was pretty darn disappointed with my time. I was like "Yeah, yeah, I did ok. BUT I didn't make my time goal by a long shot." (Even though it was my long shot time goal.)

And Bill just kept telling me "You dropped 26 minutes off of your Pig time. That's a minute per mile!" And I was like yeah yeah yeah.

But I just went back to look at my splits from the Pig in May, and I decided I can be proud of my Marine Corps Marathon time.

I guess that's why everyone says to keep a running log.

So anyway, yay!

On and Off of the Wagon

Well, I have been doing pretty good with my workouts...especially since I have hit some stumbling blocks.

I always find it hard to run in the fall/winter because it gets SO DARK SO EARLY. This is why I originally enlisted Bill to run with me last winter (yes, yes and also because I thought it would be cool if we enjoyed another shared activity). It is basically impossible to run in Manhattan because of all of the traffic, unless you are running in the park. 99% of the time that I am in Riverside Park at night I feel completely safe. HOWEVER, I do not think it is a good idea to run there by myself at night. Bill's been working the crappiest hours ever this week, so in addition to not ever seeing him :( I also have to plan alternate workouts for my running days (I just feel safer running with him in the park). So....I've been hitting the gym in the basement of my building and doing the much dreaded treadmill.

Yesterday was a weights day and I was all psyched to go down and use the weights machines. Trouble is, it is one of those combo type machines. Since the machine bolts were screwed down so d@mn tight, I couldn't adjust them to do "multiple" things. This may be because no one ever uses the machines. Come to think of it, I've never seen anyone use them. Or, it may be because I was doing something wrong. Bill said he's used the machines before, so I will have to have him show me sometime. Sooo...I got to do my hamstrings, but not my quads, my triceps, but not my biceps, etc etc. Now, I know how to use free weights (but for some reason hate them), but some guy was using the ones I wanted. But I am proud of myself...I went back upstairs and did my own free weights (8 pounders) while watching "The Simpsons".

So I've been sticking to my plan.

Except...

That I just scarfed down two platefuls of potato chips that I got from the kitchen at work. Dodging snacks is going to be the hardest thing...

Back into the Swing of Things

Ah, the two-week self-mandated waiting period to start working out again ended this weekend. Which means that I actually ran again this weekend! Granted, it was only 3.4 miles, but hey! It's all about starting easy again, right?

In fact, I may have to keep reminding myself that.

See, I now have a couple of goals looking forward. The first is to lose that awful 18 pounds that I put back on during the marathon season. (Really...gaining weight during marathon season always ticks me off.) Right now, most of it is a carb belly. Yes, my waist has expanded and now (unfortunatly) the two pant sizes that I dropped last spring I got right back into. :(

My next goal is to be a healthier, more well-rounded runner. This includes eating healthier (of course)...getting enough protein for muscle building, eating LEAN fats like olive oil, etc instead of the fats I tend towards, and quitting my once a week McDonald's habit :( Bill and I already started this this weekend. We planned a bunch of healthy meals for the week and went out and got groceries last night. Luckily, we are not sacrificing taste because we got a bunch of really great cookbooks that have delicious, easy, healthy food (this is how I lost all of my weight last winter). I also decided to stop snacking at work. This is really hard because we get free snacks at work and they are SO BAD. Like cheese doodles. When was the last time I wanted a cheese doodle? Well it doesn't matter, because when they're sitting out I eat them anyway. So to combat this, I brought a bag of healthy treats to work today and stashed them in my drawer. In fact, they are pretty much all of the samples of things I got from the marathon expo.

The second goal also includes stretching and a weight program. I KNOW the benefits of weight training, yet I don't participate. Since I want to go even FASTER in my next marathon I am definitely going to have to be vigilant about this. Stretching includes doing yoga twice a week so that I don't become injured.

Oh yeah, and Bill is in on all of this too, because he decided to train for the Pig Marathon with me...that's right, the whole 26.2 miles.

So I made a little weekly schedule and put it up on the fridge. It lists our workouts for every day and also what we are eating (since they coincide...like when I do a weights day we have a high protein meal).

So far, I am not doing so well (and I just started Saturday). Yesterday's workout called for weights and yoga, but when I got home from shopping I was all grouchy and didn't feel like it. I whined and complained to Bill and then didn't do it. Hmmm. Not off to a good start. But then again, I might have been a little overly ambitious with my workout plan for this week too (seeing that it IS my first week back).

I just have to remember: BALANCE.

A Perfect NY Day!

It's so funny. I complain and complain and complain about the marathon season being too long, and then the week after the marathon? I'm out on the course cheering like crazy!

This past Sunday was the New York City marathon. And one of the mentees in my mentee group was running it, so Gina and I and some other TNT friends decided to go cheer. The marathon starts LATE. The elite women's start is at 9 am and then everyone else goes out based on their corral time. It would kind of stink if you were running it, because you have to be on Staten Island by 5am because they close off all of the bridge traffic. All those people, sitting around for 5 hours, waiting to run? Yuck!

Our meeting spot was at 116th Street and 5th Avenue, up in East Harlem. It was mile 22 and we figured it was a good place to see the elites and all of the other runners too. I got there at 10:00, followed shortly by my TNT buddies. We saw a lot of the wheelchair athletes...and then? YAY! We saw Paula Radcliffe, and once again I was starstruck. And then I saw Kara Goucher!!! She is my hero! So I was super super excited.

But I have to say, even though I get a thrill out of seeing all of the superstar runners, my favorite part of watching the marathon is cheering for the normal people...people with times like mine. :) I was also so excited when I saw a Roncker shirt in the crowd. I punched Pam in the arm and was like "HEY! I USED TO RUN WITH HIM!!!" and I started waving to him wildly and he smiled and waved back and then I was like "That was stupid. If I was running a three-hour marathon there is no way I would be waving to some girl that I may or may not remember."

We all went crazy with the cowbells and with our signs and of course yelled out everyone's name on their singlet. We went REALLY crazy when we saw other TNT people. And they usually waved back or smiled. And I think I pissed some people off too. Because when people started to walk I would say things like "You can do it! You look great! Just stick with it." Some people smiled at me, some people started running, but some people smiled at me like "Shut up lady. I don't see you running 22 miles." I also saw Jim, from last season's Biggest Loser (which I love).

It was a lot of fun. We stayed till almost the very end (4:30ish?) and we were the only people left cheering. And now all of us have sore throats :)

Beat The Bridge : The Final Miles

Yes! Finally! I was at the 14th Street Bridge. This was supposed to be the be-all and end-all of the marathon. I had heard it from everyone; Ramon, Christine, even John Bingham. If you made it past the bridge and felt okay, you were good to go. I was trying not to think about the fact that I already felt like crap. In fact, my 19th mile was a 10:19 feel like crap.

I desperately wanted my coaches. In particular, Coach Steve. My coaches had been yelling and screaming and going crazy all throughout the race. That was all well and good. I mean, I felt great at the time. But now I felt like crap and I needed them to run with me. Coach Steve is especially good at this. He says just the right things, and runs with me, picking up my pace ever so slightly to what it should be so that I don't notice, and then I'm running all well and happy on my own. I knew he was coming up, because when I saw him at the 10K mat he said "I'll see you on the bridge at mile 20!" So I kept looking around, like "Where's Steve?"

This bridge...I don't even know what to say about it. It was like a bazillion miles long. All flat. But that kind of flat that drags on forever. Not like a pretty bridge either. This was a highway overpass. Gross. I HATE running on the highway. WHY does EVERY marathon have a section like this? At the END, no less!!!

Yay! I saw Steve. He was on a cellphone, like, coordinating with the other coaches. I heard him say that he saw me coming up and he got off his phone to run with me.

I honestly can't remember everything he said. But he did help me pick up my pace AND he was like "Uh, you only have one 5-mile loop of Central Park left. You can do that in your sleep and I know it because I've seen you run it a million times." And I was like "He's so right!" He also told me Mike (the coach from Brooklyn) was coming up, which made me happy. Another coach!

Back down to 9:54 for mile 21 AND off of the million mile long bridge.

Into Crystal City...our TNT Hotel HQ! For some reason (deliriousness) I felt like I knew this area, so it would be easier. I was thinking of it as my stomping ground even though I've never been to DC in my life and had only spent 1.5 days in Crystal City. Lots of crowd support, lots of pretty, colorful flags and...
what? A turnaround? I HATE turnarounds. Especially at this point, because they are always longer than you think. Plus, right before the turnaround, they had you duck into this circular driveway. What? Mentally this was horrible course planning.

It did make the miles go faster though (at least in my head. Not in timing.)
Mile 22 - 11:10 (OUCH). Uh. And that's when I had to go. Like really really badly. My stomach was in all kinds of knots and I knew I had JUST passed a port-o-let. My time was also bumming me out. I was like "TRY to get back to the 10s."

Mile 23 - 10:47. Come on. I really really have to go. Where was that port-o-let on the other side?
Found it! Not ideal, but I had to cut across the runners going the wrong way to get there. Needless to say, my mile 24 was a slow 13:08.

I was finally out of Crystal City, thank goodness, I never wanted to go back there again.

I was now on to...a highway. Seriously. I am going to beat whoever thinks that it is a good idea to put final mileage of a marathon on a deserted highway.

Yay! I saw Mike and I was so happy!
Plus, Mike had great news. He pointed to the Walmart truck and told me 1. There was a water stop. (Hurrah! I thought I had already passed the last one!) 2. That was mile 25.
I was super energized (well, as energized as I could be. I knew at that point that I WAS going to finish).

Now, in my mind I was kind of cheating. I don't think I really needed the water, but I needed to walk. And I was NOT going to walk this marathon. AT ALL. But...we all know I can't run through the water stops without choking. So the water stop was a perfectly valid reason to walk a little but then have to run as soon as the water was done. I picked up mile 25 to a 10:18.

And right around the corner? Coach Christine! I told her I felt like crap and she was like "What? You're kidding! You look great!" Now with most coaches I do not buy this at all. But she really for real sounded sincere. And I was like "Wait. I am doing great. I screwed up my entire marathon, but I'm still doing 10 somethings." So that made me speed up a bit.

Mile 26: 10:03.

And RIGHT at the 26th mile marker was Ramon. I was SO HAPPY to see him. He was happy to see me too. He grabbed my hand and started running with me and talking to me and asking how I felt. I was like "I'm dying!" And he laughed and was like "Of course you're dying. What? You think this is easy? Are you crazy? Look at all these people cheering. If this was easy, all these people would be doing it. You are doing awesome. You look strong. You are going to run up the last hill...NOT HARD, just real easy. Ok. You can do it." And then he squeezed my hand and ran away and I felt the hill in my calves and I was like "This isn't so bad. I CAN do this hill! This hill is nothing!" And then I looked over my shoulder to my left and I was like "OH SH*T. THAT'S the hill!!!" So I took it easy, felt my heart rate climb to a million beats per minute, looked at the overhead clock, saw it was 4:22 (my last ditch goal from the end of the season, my first goal from the beginning of the season) and sprinted (ha ha) it in as much as I could.

4:22:54.

NOT what I was hoping for, but pretty good all the same.
Plus, I beat Oprah. (And Al Gore and Ted Koppel).

SOS: Trying to Beat the Mental Game, The Middle Miles

I had to go to the bathroom.

REALLY REALLY badly. And I had just passed a port-o-let not too far away, which meant that another one was probably really far away. And I was already losing the mental game with myself, so I tried to tell myself this: It's no big deal to stop now. In fact, it's so much better to stop now, because you are way ahead of pace. If you stop at the end you will be mad at yourself. This just gets it out of the way.

YAY! Wherever it was that the Marines were giving out oranges there were two port-o-lets. Of course there was a line. And one person in line was a non-runner, which sort of made me really angry, like "Hey! Let me in front of you!" But I knew that this was also just my anxiety talking. Sensibly I knew that this man had every right to the port-o-let too. I kept looking at my watch and flipping out and the girl behind me was like "I KNOW, right?"

Back in the game with a 13:38 for the 10th mile. TRIED not to look at the pace bracelet to see how far off pace I was. (And I was off pace, even though I had "banked" time in the beginning, which, everyone knows, you SHOULDN'T do.)

Mile 11 - 9:12. Good. (At this point, I was like, "Yeah. Hey, if it feels good, it's good.")

Mile 12 - 9:21. I would like to tell you about the course, but the honest truth is, that I don't remember. I think at this point I was running by the Mall. At some point it got very very narrow and we could only run with two runners across. It was tense, but at the same time it gave me energy. This was good, because while I still felt pretty good I could tell that I was starting to drain.

Mile 13 - 9:23. I was like "Hey! I just finished a half marathon!!!" Because really, at this point I was still feeling like I had a ton more energy than I did at the Staten Island half and the miles were flying by. But the little devil Emily on my shoulder was like "Uh, well you SHOULD have more energy than your half marathon. For one, you are going slower, and for two you are only HALFWAY finished. Oh, and did you notice that you are gaining time? By the end you will be doing 11:00 miles." I tried tried tried to stay positive, but it is sometimes hard to shut up that little voice.

Mile 14 - 9:47. Panic. Because I was feeling like the "Death Drain" that you see when you are trying to beat Tom Morello in Guitar Hero and just can't do it. And? It was only mile 14. I told myself to pick it up a bit, but not too much.

Mile 15 - 9:19. For some sick reason, this made me feel better. Even though I should have known better because it was not in my window. I was like "SEE! I CAN do it!" At this point I needed all the optimism I could get, so when I ran over the 25k mat I was like "Whoo-hoo!" quietly, which made the guy next to me laugh. I mean, really, I had no idea how much 25K was, but I did know that a marathon was 40-something K.

Mile 16 - 9:44. I was like "That's ok. Pick it up in the next one." This just shows how demented I was at this point. Because what I should have been saying was "Perfect! Right on target!" But no, I was telling myself to speed up.

Mile 17 - 9:35. Maybe I regained my senses because I was like "Perfect!" But I also felt like I was dying. Like "OK. That was a good run. I'm finished." Which sucks. You are NOT supposed to hit the wall at 17. I told myself I was almost at the bridge, which was my next big milestone. Everyone wanted us to "beat the bridge." If you beat the bridge, you were okay.

Mile 18 - 10:00. This seemed like the longest mile of all eternity. I actually felt like if I logged a 12:00 I would have been happy. I was so done at this point. I told myself that I was doing great and that I needed to make <10:00 on the next one and to just focus on that next mile.

Mile 19 - This was also rough. I felt like I was dying. At this point I was like "Come on, Emily. You haven't hit the wall. You are still pretty much on pace. In your first marathon you felt great until mile 22. Let's do that again. Just make it to mile 22." I logged a 9:44 and congratulated myself.

MCM: Ants In My Pants, the First Miles

Isn't our team cute? This was right before we headed out to the metro to catch the train to the starting line. I couldn't have asked for better weather, I got the right amount of sleep (like 7.5 hours!!!), I was all pastaed up...but...I felt so insanely nervous. Like, I felt like I was going to throw up. I kept forgetting my mantra that Gina helped me with ("My spirit fears nothing."), my stomach was off kilter and I pretty much did not feel like I could run 26.2 miles. I tried to suck it up as much as I could though.

We left en masse for the starting line. We lost Gina and Donna and the rest of the team almost immediately, but I wasn't worried. Especially when we caught up to them before we even got to the runner's village. We couldn't find the rest of our team but luckily we ran into Coach Steve, who also couldn't find the rest of the team. He got on his phone and was like "I've got 5 of them here." Which for some reason made me laugh really hard inside, which I attribute mostly to feeling sick with nerves.

Gina, Donna and Pam went to check bags and I decided I should go to the Port-o-let. By the time Bill and I had gotten back, the team was gone, so we decided to book it to the start. It was a good thing we did. It was massively crowded. It took me forever to get to the 6-7:00 finishing time area, and I had to get all the way up to 3:45!!!! (Ramon said we needed to start 30 minutes ahead of our projected finishing time.) I think that number (3:45) made me sick to my stomach as well. Last year I would have been happy with finishing anywhere lower than a 5, so the number seemed way crazy to me (even though I wasn't trying to finish there). It was like swimming in concrete. I could NOT get anywhere. I JUST got to the 3:45 flag when people started moving forward.

I was concentrating on my strategy. Keep it at 9:40s. You can go up to 9:50 or down to 9:30 but THAT is the window. If I did that, I would be able to get my 4:13 I wanted, which was my "aggressive goal". Even though Ramon said that only 20% of the people who try get their aggressive goal, I knew I could do it. In fact, for some reason I had the number 4:11 stuck in my head (which I guess was my secret goal) and to emphasize that, I had the song "Come Original" in my head (I guess because it was by 311 :).

By the way, that's me in the purple in the center.

The first mile felt a LITTLE hilly. It was also crowded. I was frantically looking for the clocks they keep at each mile to see if I was on pace. Well, they didn't actually have those clocks. Just little white signs with red writing marking off the miles. So I totally missed the first mile. But at the second mile I clocked a 19:25. According to my pace bracelet I should be at 19:27. Perfect!

My third mile was 9:06. Whoops. I told myself (out loud) "Em, slow down."

My fourth mile? 9:06. Whoops. Yes, I am good at keeping a consistent pace. This was sort of freaking me out. I tried to slow down and enjoy the scenery. It WAS very beautiful out...kind of foggy. At one point we could see the top of the Smithsonian Castle (I think) peaking out of the fog over the water. It was cool.

(Obviously this pic was taken by Bill, not me.)

My fifth mile I was able to slow down a bit and logged a 9:37. This is when we started running into all of the wheel chair athletes. I don't know if it is just how the MCM was set up, or because I was further up than normal or what, but it seemed like there were a LOT of wheelchair athletes in the middle of the runners. We had to keep "making a hole" to let them through. It was a little strange. I mean, it was very inspirational to see them go through (those wheelchair athletes are truly TOUGH) but it was weird to keep weaving right and left during the race.

Sixth mile? 9:09. WTH??? I was REALLY concentrating on slowing down and I KNEW at this point I was screwed. I really needed to run at least my first 9 miles slow and here I was speeding through. I was so mad at myself. This is the mistake I made at my very first marathon and I definitely paid for it in the end. I did NOT want to have to walk this one at all, and at this rate I was headed for disaster.
I really yelled at myself this time. "SLOW DOWN."

Seventh mile? 10:06. Ok. Too much. I tried not to freak out about it. I also was having all sorts of issues with things visually psyching me out. Like the girl right in front of me. She had a shirt on that said "I'm Going to Beat Sarah Palin: 3:59:36". Or, the 4:00 pace group that JUST passed me. Somewhere around here was the big hill too. It looked huge. But you know what? Because of where it was in the race it really didn't bother me at all. In fact, I felt great at that point.

8th mile? 9:05. I was really freaking out at this point. I was not following Ramon's number one rule: BEHAVE. (It was even printed on his singlet in huge letters). So I needed to make a decision. I kept telling myself to slow down because I was going to screw myself halfway through and be in awful awful pain. But at the same time, if you haven't been able to slow down for 8 miles is it really productive to tell yourself that it's going to suck at the end if you don't slow down? Those first 9 miles are so important and I'd already blown 8 of them. So I tried to fake myself out. I told myself this:

Uh, Emily, you've been training harder than ever. Maybe you are just this fast. You will be fine. After all, you wanted a 4:11. You can do this. You are just this fast. That's why you can't slow down.

I don't think I really bought it. But I just kept telling myself that anyway.

Mile 9: 9:30. Much better. Much calmer. Good job, Em. :)

MCM Weekend: Saturday

Friday night I truly got the best sleep ever. Thank goodness that TNT booked rooms at the Marriott. They have something akin to Starwood's "Heavenly Bed" which I think helped a TON.

We had a nice little 20 minute group run at 8am. The team met in the lobby and I realized that we were now branded as the "New York Team." See, there were like 20 other TNT Teams in the hotel from all over the country. Next to the DC team, we were the largest. And the loudest. And that morning, Coach Ramon herded us all together by whistling really loud and yelling "YO! Let's GO." All the other teams looked at us like "Oh. There's New York." :) How stereotypical of us.

That afternoon we had a meeting/singlet decoration party. I was so glad that Gina brought cool stick-on letters from Michael's to put my name on my singlet. I am NOT good at writing in white-out or puffy paint and I wanted my singlet to look somewhat classy, so this helped immensely. Plus, Gina made cute little bags for all of her mentees with cool stuff in it. Aw. She is so great.

Everyone talked about why they were there, including Tasha, our honored teammate. See, our honored teammates are currently battling Leukemia or Lymphoma AND running our marathons with us. Pretty impressive. Plus, Tasha is one of the most positive people I know. Tasha is awesome, and I've found myself remembering her when my running gets tough. I mean, if Tasha can go through everything that she's gone through AND run a marathon I can make it through my miles when they get tough.

The coaches also gave us some last minute pointers and told us that it was important for us to have our names on our singlets so that they could call us by name when they came up to help us through our miles on the course. Apparantly in the past, the runners look at them like "who are YOU?" Since we DO have a very high coach to runner ratio (and some of the coaches are from Brooklyn, so I wouldn't know them by sight necessarily.)

We then made our way back to our rooms to get ready for the pasta dinner. Everyone from our team was instructed to go out and buy I Heart NY t-shirts to wear to this, which I thought was a really cool idea. Bill and I got ready and made our way downstairs. When we got through the hallway we had to walk through this huge barage of coaches all screaming and clapping and making noise.

The New York coaches were going especially crazy, but then again, they are usually pretty crazy.

We then sat at team tables to listen to the speakers...the first being John Bingham!!! The Penguin himself!!! I was so excited because I LOVE him. Since when I started marathoning I was not the fastest runner I really associated with his whole philosophy of having fun and finishing the race. It's funny too, because I always read his articles in Runner's World like "Wow. This is a really good article." and then I get to the end where he says "Waddle on, friends." and am like "Oh. Right. That's because John Bingham wrote it." :) So I was starstruck, which made me feel a little stupid. And I hung around afterwards to get a pic. Which made me feel REALLY stupid. But I'm glad I did. :)

He was also really funny, by the way.

We also had a really inspiring former marine talk to us. I was getting all pumped up.
Here are some things that are REALLY cool:
• When TNT started in 1988 the survival rate for Leukemia was 5%. Now it is 95%!!!
• Over the years, TNT has raised $950,000,000 to help battle blood cancers.
• The New York City TNT Team for the MCM raised $323,000 this year!

The whole evening was really cool and really inspiring. I was very pumped up and ready for the marathon!

Oh, and here is a cute pic of me and my running friends, Michelle, Donna, Gina and Tasha after the dinner.