Quad Cities Marathon

I have officially completed my 3rd marathon in 12 months...and it feels amazing! :) When I crossed that finish line in Moline, IL...I was literally feeling "on top of the world." It was one of the best feelings in the world....

Quick wrap-up of highlights...

My Top Ten Moments of the 2010 Quad Cities Marathon (in no particular order):

10. Spending the night with my sister and her husband and all getting ready together with Megan and Jeremy in the morning :). Only other runners can understand and appreciate pre-race morning "rituals" ;).

9. Seeing a good friend from college, Rachel Annen. Rachel participated in the relay event and ran the second leg of the relay. I saw her around mile 7 or so and we ran together for a mile or so, including part of the course along the Mississippi in Davenport and part of the Centennial Bridge from Davenport, IA to Moline, IL. I got to see her brand-new engagement ring, as well! Congratulations to Rachel and Ryan!

8. Running around Arsenal Island (which felt a LOT longer/bigger than I ever realized!). This island is a military base. Dozens of military personnel in uniform were cheering the runners on as we made our way around the island. It literally brought tears to my eyes as I thought about how really meaningless what we runners were doing was compared to the sacrifices each of them had made and were willing to make to serve our country. Nodding and smiling in thanks as they cheered seemed silly. It was pretty amazing, really. And, the arsenal definitely provided a scenic route!

7. Feeling the community support. I would still run without spectators. I enjoy running for the sheer joy it brings me and the sense of personal accomplishment. However, it is a lot more exciting to run as spectators cheer on the crowd of runners :). It's really neat to run past families with little kids who are SO excited to put their little hands out to give the runners high-fives as they run past. It's energizing to listen to the local bands and musicians who play along the course. It's humbling to see the hundreds of volunteers who turn out for an event like this....the people giving out water, GU, and fruit along the course...the policemen/women stopping traffic...the women standing with sticks of vaseline (haha!!! I haven't needed to utilize this, but I am sure some people are very thankful for this! ;) )...the Palmer Chiropractic students who give adjustments after the race...the massage tent workers (I never wait in line for post-race massages, the lines are always WAY too long!)....the people cutting off chips and handing out medals at the finish...the people serving food at the finish....etc., etc. I made sure to say "thank you" to as many people as I could (especially the policemen blocking traffic!)...which I recognize is a small gesture, but it does mean something to some people based on their smiles.

6. Running the ENTIRE race. In my previous two marathons, I have had to walk at least a bit of the race. In Chicago, after about mile 11, I walked 30 seconds to a minute at many of the water stops. I had heard that this was a good strategy...to walk a bit at water stops to ensure you could get all of the water down and to give your muscles a little rest. "It is better to be in control of your body and walk a bit when you choose to as opposed to walking because you HAVE to," I was told. In Minnesota, I probably truly walked close to a mile as I neared the end. I had to stop and walk a few times after about mile 18. I truly "hit a wall." That was my most miserable marathon experience of the three (though still an amazing overall experience!). The course was hilly...it was HOT...and I started at too quick of a pace. At the Quad Cities marathon, though, I literally ran the ENTIRE thing. I never slowed to a walk, even at water stops. Right, wrong, or otherwise...I didn't even grab water at some of the stops (particularly the later ones toward the end). I just kept moving...

5. Having minimal pain. I'd be lying if I said I ran this marathon completely pain-free (ok....really...your body is in motion for approximately 4 hours...that's not going to always feel great! It's definitely not an easy feat!). In the weeks leading up to the marathon, I was experiencing lots of discomfort and pain in my right leg. It was mostly my right knee and right inner thigh. I employed the help and advice of many in the weeks leading up to the race. In fact, for the 17 days leading up to the marathon...I didn't run on land at all! If you know me, you know this almost killed me and turned me into a crazy person (well, a craziER person ;)). I did LOTS of running with a buoyancy belt in the pool...hours on end. It was boringboringboring, but apparently paid off. My knee did give me some discomfort throughout the race, but I pushed through it. I won't go into how I am feeling right now, a week after the fact ;)...let's just say I'm taking some time off.

4. Sharing a monumental occasion with my family....this was my sister Megan's second marathon (her first was the Quad Cities marathon last year!) and my husband Jeremy's first half marathon! I am SO proud of both of them!!!!!

3. Hearing an awesome band, The Funktastic Five, perform after the race! As Jeremy and I walked to our car from the "post-race party," the band started to play "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy"....which is probably our FAVORITE "wedding-song" to dance to at weddings, parties, etc. We turned and smiled at each other, paused...then turned around, sore legs and all, and hurried back to where the band was playing to take pictures and dance a bit (as much as our sore legs would allow ;)). This is the band that our good friends Aaron and Katie hired to perform at their wedding reception last May...they are really great!

2. Seeing my brother-in-law Danny with about 1/4 of a mile to go, then seeing Jeremy right after I crossed the finish, and seeing my parents a minute or so after crossing :). Seeing them all there meant the world to me. After we all got cleaned up, the six of us all went out for a post-race lunch at a family favorite, Red Robin, in Davenport. We missed Dan and Laura, though (they were both at school)!!! :(

1. Getting a PR....I finished the marathon in 3 hours, 53 minutes, 51 seconds. As I crossed that finish line, I could not stop smiling. This was approximately TEN minutes faster than Minneapolis in early June and approximately SEVEN minutes faster than Chicago last October! While I still have a long way to go before getting a Boston qualifying time (I need to get 3 hours, 40 minutes, 59 seconds for that....which means shaving 13 minutes off of the time I got in the Quad Cities)....I am still very happy with my Quad Cities performance.

Now...it's time to get back to work. Marathon Four is on the horizon!

Two days til #3!!

In just two days from this moment I will be almost an hour in to my third marathon!! :) :)
Have I mentioned that I'm super, super, SUPER excited?!

20 miles, take two

So i survived my second 20 mile training run of this marathon-training-cycle! I went around 12:30 today. The weather was glorious....in the low 70's. Awesome, really.

The first mile really sucked. I almost turned back, but that would've been quite pathetic and I try to not rock the pathetic-ness on a typical basis ;), so I pushed through the discomfort. After a mile, while still feeling some nagging discomfort in my right knee and thigh....it got better.

Was it the 4 Ibuprofen that i popped before the run? Was it the full hour of pool running I had done yesterday (which, while a bit boring at times, was overall pretty wonderful.....ZERO pain or discomfort. Oh water, you are my dear, dear friend!). Was it the probably-somewhat-ghetto-looking bring pink KT kineseotape Jeremy and I rigged up together on my knee and thigh after watching online tutorials???? Hahaha!

Aaaand, thanks to Nate's advice (trainer at the Sports Enhancement Center here in blo-no) I've been trying to tweak my form a bit. Easier said than done, naturally, but I'm starting to maybe see/feel some improvement that is *hopefully* more than simply mental

Whatever it was, though, today's run was better than I was thinking it would be. And....i'm grateful for that!

Three weeks til the big marathon numero tres! Here's hoping it's a success story :). I'm excited!

Aaaaand....the big news is: I'm pretty sure Jeremy is going to run the half marathon at the Quad Cities event! He actually ran 12 tonight (the most he's run yet! He's done 10 a few times). He's been slowly but surely building up his mileage. I've been teasing him that he's going to do the half....and, in true Jeremy form, he's adamently denied it.

He hasn't registered yet, that I'm aware of anyway, but I'd put good money down on the fact that I'm pretty dang sure he's gonna do it.

And THAT, my friends, is freaking hot to me! :)

Yeaaaaaah!



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REGISTERED!

It's official! I registered for the 2010 Quad Cities Marathon!

37 days....here it comes, ready or NOT! :) :)

Yahoo, bring on Marathon THREE!!! :)

It will be my THIRD marathon within a 12-month span! :)

I can't wait :).

Just 5 1/2 weeks....two more 20-mile runs :)....many more miles....one pair of new shoes (ordered!)...

Lots of smiles :).

Goodnight!

New accomplishment!

So, I ran 80 miles in the past 8 days!

80.6, to be precise!

WHEW!!

Last Saturday: 7.75
Sunday: 19.25
Monday: 4
Tuesday: 9
Wednesday: 6
Thursday: 4.6
Friday:10
Saturday (today): 20

TOTAL: 80.6!

WOWSA!

Tomorrow=day off=whew!! :)

I feel pretty accomplished!

In this training week (my "week" is Monday-Sunday), I have run 53.6 miles...the most I have run in a week in my LIFETIME! :)

Yahoo for new accomplishments! :)

AND, yahoo for a day of rest tomorrow! Let me tell you what, my legs are needing that in a pretty MAJOR way!! :)

Happy Running!

Guilt

So, I have been a bit of a slacker marathoner lately. Ugh. So, instead of running...I'll blog about it ;). Ok, ok...it's 9:43pm and I've been home for a whopping hour today. I guess I shouldn't feel TOO guilty for sitting here at my computer unwinding by blogging for a bit ;). But I still do. Anyway....

So, in my post about last week's "week-in-review"...I had written that Sunday was TBD. Hal called for 8 miles (well, actually, I had flipped Sunday/Saturday this week)....but all I got in was a four mile run. Two miles in, I started to feel awful. Awful with a capital A. I pushed through...but when I started in on that third mile, I had to slow to a walk. that never happens. Ever. I walked myself to a port-a-potty located in a park along my route...and let's just say it was very, very lucky that the port-a-potty was located where it was. Whew. I was able to run the final mile of my 4 miles after...some relief ;) (UGH!) and ended up running a 7:30 mile. So, I didn't feel as if the entire workout was wasted. But, I finished the week with a 4-mile deficit in my mind. Ugh.

Monday...I was supposed to do 4 miles. It was raining. I hate rain. I didn't feel like truckin' through the rain after a nasty day at work. I didn't feel like running on the loathed treadmill at the gym. Plus, my stomach was still jacked from the previous day. So, when Jeremy suggested that we go see Inception after work...I jumped at the opportunity. Relaxation? Score! Running? Fail.

Four mile deficit for the week thus far.

Sigh.

Tuesday....I was supposed to do 9 miles. I muscled through a very painful 6. My stomach has felt AWFUL ever since Sunday! It is really disgusting. I am sure it may be due to some gluten I accidentally ingested somewhere...but not sure where or what it was from. That makes it even more frustrating...I am so careful!

Three mile deficit from Tuesday, added to a four mile deficit from Monday...equals a disappointing seven mile deficit for the week.

Today...(Wednesday)...Hal called for 4 miles. I (SUCCESS AT LAST!) got up at 5am and did 8 miles before work!!! SO...that is a surplus of 4 miles for the day!

Seven mile deficit for the week, subtract a 4 mile surplus from today...remainder of a small 3 mile deficit for the week! (*Feelin' a BIT better about things* :)).

Tomorrow Hal calls for 6 800's. We'll see. We'll see.

Work has been somewhat stressful again lately, too. It stinks when I can't feel like I can get things under control there...especially when I can't get other things in my life under control (like my training) as well.

Sigh.

Tomorrow is a new day :).

Actually...a new day starts in approximately 2 hours and 6 minutes. If I want to be in bed before that, I need to stop blogging and finish up my work for the night!!

Goodnight! :)



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