The More Half Marathon

Post-race with my favorite cheerleader

I was so nervous for the More Half this weekend. I have no idea why. I felt totally prepared. But there I was, packing my bag (and Liam's) super early the day before, carb-loading, laying out my outfit, checking my alarm clock a dozen times, going to bed early. Bill was like "Are you nervous about tomorrow?" I said "I must be. I don't feel like it, but I'm acting like it." I usually blow half marathons off as I would any other race but I was treating this one like it was the full.

It's kind of funny how much other stuff you have to worry about when you are racing as a mom. I guess mainly just the breastfeeding thing...making sure all of the timing works out. Luckily it did. I also realized that the days of seeing Bill cheering me on at 50 different places on the course were over. But that is fine by me. I am happy to see them once (especially since Liam is there!).

My plan I announced to the world was that I was going to try to do a 10:30 pace. My plan in my head was that I would be happy with any pace with a 10 in front of it. :)

I knew that I had to run this thing smart because I had some nasty hills scattered throughout the course (it was two and some change loops of Central Park). I also know that I have a tendency to run fast in the beginning and regret it later. I planned on keeping it nice and easy on the first six and then figure out if I needed to go faster after that. I wasn't going to worry about the first mile too much because that's always the "finding your pace in the madness of the crowd" mile. I also was going to only look at my pace on the mile, not my overall pace.

My first mile felt like I was dragging, but nope, I was clocking a 9:48. Whoops. Time to slow it down. I found two girls going at what felt like a snail's pace, but looked like the pace I was supposed to be maintaining. I forced myself to get behind them. Sure enough, the next mile I did was 10:30. Yay! Right on target! But oh no! They stopped for water. So I had to concentrate concentrate concentrate to keep the same pace. Unfortunately I could feel myself getting faster.

I kept the next mile in the low ten range and told myself to SLOW DOWN.

As I rounded the top of the park (the dreaded Harlem Hill) I decided to stop for my GU. It was a little early, but I found that since I've been feeding Liam I need them more quickly in my runs and more often. Let me tell you, it was the BEST GU I'VE EVER TASTED. (It was Strawberry Banana.) I kept putting my tongue up to the top of my mouth to get the aftertaste because it was just that good. Then I started laughing to myself (not out loud) because four years ago I was literally choking these things down and I could only do vanilla.

That mile was a 10:15. I was kind of mad about this because not only did it include Harlem Hill (and therefore should have been slower) but it also included a long water/GU break. So this is where I started staging this inner battle in my head: Should I just run and not worry about pace? I seem to be feeling good...No, 10:30 is an admirable goal considering how I've been running and I need to slow down to do that. But I feel so GOOD! But you are only in the fourth mile. But in the Bronx Half you ran how you felt and got a huge PR! But that was... and so on and so on. In the end, practicality won. I decided to stick with the original plan.

Boy, I am glad I did! Because after I finished Harlem Hill the second time it was game over. I only had three miles to go but I was so tired. My legs didn't hurt or anything, I was just lethargic...like I wanted to go to sleep. Yuck. At this point I was just working on maintaining. I was in the low 10 and high 9s for the past few miles anyway, so I was very happy.

I almost didn't want to look at my watch for the next mile because I knew it was really slow. But surprise! It was a 10:04!

I knew I would see Bill and Liam soon and was soooooo looking forward to that. And Liam really was the cutest ever. If I hadn't been so incredibly exhausted at the point I would have stopped for a Liam kiss. But I knew if I did that there was no way I would finish running.

As I was coming up on the finish I finally looked at my overall pace: 9:58!!!!
Whoo-hooo-hooooooooooooo! I was so proud and happily accepted my medal.

(Later on I checked the results and they had me listed as having a 10:03 pace. Stupid Garmin. It had me running more than 13.1. I am still counting the 9:58 pace.)

Hurray! Half Marathon!

Thanks to a very special husband who decided that I had trained way too hard (haha, I guess it's all relative) to skip my half marathon and decided to skip his cooking class instead, I was able to run the first of the Grand Prix races this year!

I have to say, I was feeling pretty guilty about this when I woke up on Saturday and it was FOURTEEN DEGREES and I pretty much just wanted to say "forget it". However, I sucked it up and got my butt over to the park. I was so so layered for the whole thing...sports bra, t-shirt, crazy ninja shirt with speedskater hood, fleecy headband, all weather jacket, compression socks, tights, pants and gloves!

I made my way to the last corral (I was planning on run-walking this thing, so if I would have been in my assigned corral I would have gotten plowed over) to stand around shivering for 34 minutes (because I overestimated how much time I needed to get there). I seriously was starting to wonder about my level of sanity. I think it was a mutual feeling amongst all of the runners there who kept saying things like "WTF is wrong with us?" and "WHY was it a good idea to sign up for this?"

I also knew that this could basically last forever since I was run-walking with 3 minutes on and 2 off. I mean, my 6 miler was done at a 13:47 pace and my 9-miler at a 12:39 pace. I feel like I need the run-walk right now though, so it made me a little nervous when I had to run through 10 minutes of the intervals at the beginning because the field was so crowded. I was kind of sort of okay with it thought because it was SO COLD and walking would have frozen me even more.

Oddly enough though, I felt pretty good. And when I looked down at my watch I saw that I was maintaining a 11:38 for those first 2 miles. Awesome! Of course a lot of that was because I ran the first 10 minutes, but even so...

Another strange thing is that when I got to the second water stop and took the frozen water it actually tasted really good. And not just the water but the ice...in fact the ice was preferable even though I was soooooo freezing and it would take me until mile 5 to even start to feel my fingers a little (this from the girl who never used to wear gloves running because I was always too hot).

I made the first loop and it wasn't so bad, but I didn't know about this whole second loop thing. I didn't know if I was up for it. But before I knew it I was at mile 9!!! And I was still maintaining a pace of under 12 minutes (even though it was inching up to the 11:50s).

In fact, at mile 9 I started picking up the pace big time. I felt awesome! And I kept thinking about how I was going to see Bill and Liam at the finish and we would go get breakfast, which just made me happy.

Before I knew it I was in the final lower loop (The race is two loops and then another lower loop...grueling mentally.) I will say that the last two miles kind of weren't the greatest. I was getting tired. But I still felt good enough to run through my last two walk cycles. I kept looking at my watch, trying to get my final pace numbers down.

And guess what? I finished at an 11:32 pace! And that's run-walking!!! I was pretty proud of myself.

So I guess I could do a half marathon with 21 miles of training over 3 weeks. Although I am pretty sure that this was still a stupid thing to do. I am now going to take a couple of weeks off and start training for my spring marathon (or half marathon, I can't decide). I was also so pumped that I went ahead and signed up for the More/Fitness magazine half marathon again.

Hurray! Half marathons!

My Adventures in the NYRR Medical Tent

Before I start this post I just must say: no, it wasn't a big deal, but yes, I ended up in the medical tent after the More Half Marathon. It was actually my first experience of this sort in all of my running career, which I guess is sort of impressive...especially considering my tendency for injury when I ran cross-country in high-school.

Anyway, it all pretty much started AFTER the race. I was freezing cold and couldn't wait to get into my warm and dry clothes since I had been running in the rain for 2+ hours. Bill and I maneuvered this over by bagcheck. He held up two umbrellas and handed me dry clothes while I did a soccer change (this is where you change your shirt into a new shirt without showing any skin...it came from the days when we would get our soccer jerseys the day of the game.) I was so glad I brought lots of clothes. Off came the soaking technical shirt and sportsbra and on went the dry race t-shirt, a dry sweatshirt hoodie and a dry racing jacket. I also dumped my wet socks and shoes for sandles. Unfortunately, I didn't even bother with bringing pants because I figured there was no way to change out of my skirt in a non-obscene way. (Yes, I could have gone into a port-o-let, but I think that's kind of gross and anyways I don't trust my balance these days.) At any rate, I think this whole not-changing-out-of-my-skirt was my downfall. (In my defense though, I DID look all over for those space blankets for afterwards, but I think they had run out by the time I finished.)

We then proceeded to find Gina to cheer on our other friend Bess, who hadn't finished yet. Gina and I were very pumped to go to brunch afterwards. So after we saw Bess finish, I stepped off of the curb to head over to the finish and OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

I didn't even know what to call where I was feeling pain. My inner thigh? Was this my groin? My adductor? All I know is that it was this immense, radiating pain and it made it very hard to walk. I have NEVER EVER felt pain like this. We were now way behind Gina and I told Bill we might be taking a cab to brunch, even though it was only a few blocks away.

Each step intensified the pain and I actually started making audible noises. They were so loud that people started looking. Luckily, one nice man said "There's a massage tent back there." We thanked him and turned around. Bill texted Gina to go ahead without us. The massage tent seemed so far away, and I couldn't even tell which tent it was. It was getting worse and worse and I really couldn't move.

Bill then went over to a course attendant and asked where the medical tent was. Luckily it was only about 10 feet away. But those 10 feet seemed like a mile. I barely made it in. I just kept thinking "Maybe they could get a wheelchair and bring me in."

Now, from the minute we got into the tent it was all business. I kid you not. NYRR does NOT mess around.

They made me lie down on a cot (quite a feat) where they covered me in three blankets. They made me wrap one around my head and I felt like I looked like the guys in the sleeping pods from 2001 Space Odyssey.

This lady with a clipboard asked me for my number (of course, attached to my wet shirt in a plastic bag within a bag, so that took awhile to get) and took down a bunch of information from my tag.

Then, they moved me to the "warmer part" of the tent onto another cot. A man asked me what was going on and then called over a doctor saying that it was my hip (aha! my hip) and that I needed it worked out.

So the doctor asked me all about the pain, and I just kept stressing how this has NEVER happened, EVER in all my running. Bill thought that this was funny because he thought the guy probably was like "haha. What? In all your training you did for this half marathon?" I really did feel stupid being there. Like I didn't know what I was doing or something and overexerted myself (which I didn't).

I am very very sensitive about this now. I think it's because people keep asking me "Is it really okay to run while your pregnant? Really? Even all of that mileage?" And believe me, everything I've read says yes, its okay, but most importantly my OB says it's ok. So I'm all worried that people will be like "See, you shouldn't run like that!" and "You have to be more careful!"

Anyway, the doctor was great and only had to work my leg for like 10 minutes before I could move it completely again.

He said that it was just a muscle spasm brought on by the cold. Standing around afterwards in a wet skirt certainly didn't help matters. He also said it was probably also due to the fact that my circulation is much much different since I am pregnant. The solution? Go home as soon as possible, get into a warm bath and just make sure I got warm. I could also alternate cold and warm compresses on it. (He also had no problem with me running a half marathon while four months pregnant.)

When I went to stand up, I could move again without ANY pain! I could walk normally without a limp! It was amazing!!!

I actually made it almost all the way out of the park normally without it seizing up again. But when it did, it hurt LOTS. So we took a cab home. A whole 3 blocks.

It must have just been the cold though, because as soon as I got into the building from the warm cab I was walking with only a slight limp, and once I was out of the tub I didn't have any pain for the rest of the day.

Guess I learned my lesson – body temps drop dramatically after you STOP running. I may have been able to get away with it before, but not anymore: change into ALL dry clothes after a wet run.

The MORE Half Marathon

It finally arrived! The day of the half marathon! It's kind of crazy because I didn't have a marathon to train for this year, so this was sort of my "big event". However, I didn't really get myself all psyched-up to run or anything. No big pasta dinner, no going to bed super early, nothing like that. In fact, I was pretty low-key about the whole thing. But I think that was maybe because my goal was just to finish the thing.

I will say, the expo for this event was pretty cool. There were LOTS of good freebies. In the race bag alone you got a full-size box of wheat pasta, a full-size Murad moisturizer with sunscreen, a Lady Speed Stick, a bunch of weird (and scary) vitamin supplements, Silk soymilk, a lululemon headband, and a bunch of other stuff that I really can't remember right now. (I was mainly psyched about the expensive Murad moisturizer, which normally retails for $30!). There was all kinds of other free stuff at the expo tables...Lady Speed Stick was giving away free technical shirts! My parents (who were in town visiting) got me this cool florescent green short sleeve hoodie made out of technical fabric. Along the side it said "I Run Like a Girl". I had to wear it Sunday, so I broke the whole "Nothing New On Race Day" Rule. I actually kind of broke that rule a lot because I also was wearing a new sports bra, new Balga socks (my favorite kind!) and new elastic shoelaces.

Of course, that morning it was POURING down rain. And it wasn't supposed to stop all day. I brought lots of extra layers in a plastic bag that Bill so kindly held during the race. I was pretty psyched because I was in the red corral, which meant I was in the group with the second fastest times (of course, I wasn't counting on keeping that kind of pace for this race). Standing in the rain was COLD, and I couldn't wait until we got moving.

The course was pretty packed, but people were being nice. I was actually surprised at the pace of the girls around me (who also started in the red corral) because we were keeping a pretty easy 9:58ish pace for the first couple of miles. I also decided that while long bangs and layers are stylish right now, they don't make very good running accessories in a downpour.

I felt pretty good, but like I was pushing the pace a little. I was having a hard time taking it back though. I couldn't believe I was already up at the 102nd street transverse! Then, a great surprise! Gina was running right beside me! It was so nice to have a friend to chat with, ESPECIALLY through Harlem Hill. We noticed that we were going a little fast though (I had a 9:21 pace). OK, time to slow down for real. I needn't have worried. Harlem Hill really took it out of me.

Unfortunately, I lost Gina at a water stop, when I stopped and she didn't...which was probably okay, because I needed to slow down a ton, and she was going for a sub 2:00.

I did see Bill though, in the lower loop, and smiled and waved. One loop down, one to go! When I saw him on the other side of the lower loop I was still smiling but a lot more tired. It was more like "One more loop? A whole loop to go?"

I think I looked tired too. When I passed the course monitors at 72nd Street on the east side, one of them said "Good job Emily! Water just around the corner!" I was like "OK." Then I was like 'Wait! How did he know my name?' Turns out it was one of my TNT teammates from the summer. Yay! As stupid as it is, it helps me to see people I know on the course.

I started singing in my head to distract myself. I got stuck on Britney Spear's "Radar" (I know, I know! Lame!) which ended up being good because it is nice and easy with a good rhythm...exactly how I needed to run. Before I knew it I was at 102nd Street again!

It was here that I realized that I was sort of kind of cold. Like not hypothermia cold, but just uncomfortable cold. It was distracting me (but not in a good way) on Harlem Hill and all I could think about was how I wanted to get OUT of my wet clothes AS SOON AS the race was over...especially my soaked sports bra that was right against my skin. Ok. Time to stop thinking about that.

Finally I was over Harlem Hill and I started segmenting the race in my head. My next goal was 90th street, where I knew the little rolling hills were over, then 72nd, where I would see Bill again and also only had one more lower loop to go, then 72nd on the east side, where the race was almost over.

I started feeling good again, and my splits went from 11:30s (for the past two miles) back to a 10:15. I was now shooting for a sub-10 pace for the entire race. It was definitely doable.

Oh. Except for the fact that I had this nagging nagging nagging need to pee. The problem was that I had had this need for about the entire race. At this point it wasn't even nerves or adrenaline, it was just downright annoying. MOSTLY it was annoying because I only had 1.6 miles to go. I tried to ignore it more. It just wasn't in the cards...I had to stop. ARGH. Luckily, in a rainstorm in the 11th mile of a half marathon all of the port-o-lets are deserted.

Back on the course, and when I passed the carousel on the east side, I picked it up. I entered the long corral at 72nd street and looked at my watch (I couldn't resist)...looks like I was averaging a 10:03 pace. NOOOOOOO! So I REALLY kicked it in.

But...I couldn't do it. I finished with a 2:12, which averages out to a 10:04 pace. But I was still happy. I ran a good and tough race and now I had a pretty medal to wear all day :)

12 miler

This is it! The longest run of the season before the half marathon! I was definitely excited to do the mileage, but still a smidge sore from a 4-miler I did during the week while I was traveling in Philly. Seems my calves had it in for me.

Luckily, we had a whole group to tackle this task, which always makes running more fun..A bunch of my friends are doing the More Half Marathon and we decided to run it together...EASY, and then reward ourselves with brunch.

It's amazing how much faster it all goes when you are chatting. There were 4.5 of us (Donna only did 6 miles with us because she is not actually running the half) and we never ran out of conversation :)

We also maintained about a 12 minute mile because it was Bess' first 12-miler, Gina said she hadn't really been training like she should and I was nursing super sore calves. Guess what? It totally worked! I was sore up until the evening, but after that, I was fine! I was so amazed. I also told Gina that running at that pace seemed a ton less daunting even though it took a lot longer.

Gina said that taking your long runs at a much slower pace is actually a very crucial part of the Pfitzinger plan which is an intense plan that is heavy on mileage but promises extraordinary results. Gina used the plan to get her first sub-4:00 marathon in NYC last year and ended up smashing her goal! I had told her that if it worked for her then I was going to try it for my next marathon. (So I guess I have to try it now).

But I was very intrigued by this whole long slow distance thing. I mean, Coach Ramon ALWAYS tells us to do this, but the fact is, I run my long runs not THAT much differently than my goal pace for the marathon.

Anyway, we were all proud of ourselves when we finished, and walked another half mile to brunch, where I rewarded myself with a stack of pancakes and a plate of cheese fries (gotta have the sweet AND savory!)

Running Again

Yes, it may be trite, but it's true...if you don't feel like working out, you should sign up for an event.

A few weeks ago I signed up for the More Half Marathon. I figured:

• a half marathon is much more do-able than a whole one
• it is all the way in April
• the race is actually run in Central Park...where I train, so there are no surprise hills or anything and I have no excuses if I am not ready for it

But mostly I was wooed over by the More 16-week training plan, which kind of freaks me out because it is much much much less mileage than normal. But I am going to try it, because I have been reading lots about how people overtrain for long distances and it gives me a chance to fit in my cross-training workouts without having to double-up on days or workout for unreasonable amounts of time. In short, it is doable. (To be fair, I am not following it EXACTLY...I am using it as a mileage guide, not so much a pace guide.)

And because misery loves company, I have enlisted a few friends to help: Bill will be my day-to-day training partner. I knew he was in the minute I said "low-mileage". Unfortunately, he does not get the payoff of actually running the half, because it is for women only. Bess, my friend in Brooklyn, is running a 5k for the first time on my birthday (Gina and I challenged a bunch of our non-running friends to train for and run a 5k with us). When I tossed the idea out to the non-running group, she said she would consider it. Gina said if Bess signed up, Gina would too. So, by default, I now have 3 people training with me. Hurrah! THAT is really what will get me out the door and running. :)