2014 started out with me full of plans for a half marathon in the spring and a full marathon in the fall. I spent hours and hours on training plans. I even charted out my weekly mileage and long run plans! Of course, nothing ever goes according to plan...
The first change came when Norm Arons started coaching Luke for him to run his first half marathon at the Marion Arts Festival on May 17. So the Dam to Dam HM was out of the plan. then I had to change things for Billy's wedding date, which he set for October 11. And then I added in plans for several more races. All in all, I ran in 9 races in 2014. I really enjoy the running community at races.
Copy/paste from my C25K thread on Lucky Run 10K on March 29 in Palo:
The 10K yesterday was great! It turned out that I was pretty much on my own since my friend was too sick to come, and he was the friend I had in common with the other group that was coming. That's okay though. It was a pleasant race and route, though lots of uphill. There was just as much downhill, of course, but those were steeper, so not as long. I decided to wear my Garmin but to try not to consult it very much. I did look at it now and then for distance info, but I didn't really pay much attention to the pace it showed. Instead I tried to keep the first 3 miles in a conversational pace (yellow), the next 2 miles in a single word speaking pace (orange), and the 6th mile as a hard pace (red). I couldn't go out slow enough with the constant uphill in the first mile to not go straight into the orange zone. But I recovered okay in the 2nd mile.
I went the full 6 miles without needing a walk break, though I did walk for a few seconds at the water stops to drink my dixie cup. By mile 5 I felt fantastic - definite runner high! I pushed myself in the last mile. I was following this one girl for a long time and was hoping to catch her in the last quarter mile when I kicked it. But she kicked it too, so I finished behind her. My time was 1:09:35 which is a PR for the 10K. My Garmin also told me I had some PBs, including a 9:59 mile. Yay!
Today I was sitting in church remembering my first running 5K in June 2012. I ran the full time without stopping, and even so, my overall pace was something like 13:30. The next day at church, I remember I could hardly walk up the steps, and I was incredibly sore and tired that whole day. But today, after racing twice the distance and much faster, I feel absolutely fine. I'm just so incredibly grateful for the last 2 years.
I learned a big lesson on electrolytes and my need for salt pills on long runs after a 13 mile training run on Good Friday:
The weather predictions continued to be favorable to Friday, so I skipped Thursday's run and did 13.1 on Friday. Let me just say that it was one of the most miserable runs I've had. Ever.
I decided to go to the Vinton Old Creamery trail. I liked it quite a bit last fall. I stashed some water and gaterade and gu about 5.5 miles out at the next town on the trail. I was planning a 6.6 miles out and 6.6 back. Also I carried a 20 oz water bottle on my belt and a package of shot bloks. And off I went.
The first 2 miles were okay. It was all messed up from there. The trail was torn up from about 2.5 to 5.0 miles by 4-wheeler vehicles that left deep ruts and made the trail bumpy and difficult. It really started to get to me, but I just kept on keeping on. I did okay until the 5.5 miles and refilled my water and drank some gaterade. Then I continued to the turn around and back to the 5.5 for more gaterade. At that point I had eaten 4 of my shot bloks and my gu, and I had 2 more shot bloks for later in the run.
From there on I was completely miserable. The weather forecast had winds at less than 5 mph, but the wind was in my face and a lot more than 5 mph all the way back. My left hamstring was complaining, and my right foot had a blister angry at me for all of the uneven surfaces. I struggled through those stupid mud ruts, and by the time I got to the last 2 miles (which would have been pleasant enough), I was so worn out, I walked almost as much as I ran. I finished the 13.1 miles, but only because I really had no choice. I had to get back to the car.
It was over, but then the real misery began. While driving back to Garrison to pick up my stash of stuff (including the sunglasses and HRM that I left in the bag there, so I couldn't just be a litter bug and abandon the water and gaterade bottles), I started feeling very sick to my stomach and dizzy. I had to pull over several times on the drive there and then the drive home. It took me 40 minutes to go a total of 15 miles. When I got home, I sat in the car for a long time before practically crawling to the house and up the stairs to my room. I collapsed into the recliner in my office and stayed there moaning and miserable for another hour before I managed to get up to take a shower. I finally was able to pass out around 11pm - I was exhausted, but my nausea and eventual heartburn wasn't letting me get to sleep very easily.
I don't know what caused it. I wasn't dehydrated - my urine was pale yellow and I drank around 40 ounces of water as well as about 12 ounces of gaterade. Maybe my sodium levels were low, but it's hard to believe they were that bad when I had gaterade as well as gu and shot bloks. I would buy into the idea that I hadn't cooled down enough before stopping, but I walked most of the last mile, so that story doesn't fly. I just don't know what happened.
Marion Arts Festival HM with Luke on May 17:
It was a great race today. The weather was chilly, but it was beautiful out with sunny blue skies and lots of spring green. I ended up wearing long sleeves and capri pants, and I was comfortable enough. I'm so glad I didn't wear the jackets and layers and gloves that so many others wore. I would have been dying of heat or would have had to carry a bunch of stuff after just a mile or two.
Luke and Norm lined up at the front and I went to the very back. Gary took video and some pictures, but I haven't seen those yet. I only have pictures from my phone right now. I can't wait to see the video of Luke and Norm crossing the finish line. Luke's finish time was 1:52:16 and he took 3rd place in his age division! He's so fast! Norm got 2nd in his age division. They crossed the finish line together.
I wasn't so fast as that, but I did finish with a PR, 3:10 better than my first HM. I felt really great through the first half. I didn't go out too fast, and I was going to stick with the yellow/orange/red run-by-effort plan. The route was soooo hilly though. The uphills were long, and the downhills were short and steep. And then the last mile was all uphill. 
All the way up to 11.5 miles I was right on target for a 2:35 finish, but the last 1.6 miles of hills took it out of me and I finished in 2:36:38.
Funny thing is, they reversed the route this year. Last year it was clockwise on the route, while this year it was counter-clockwise. If it had been clockwise, the last mile would have been a gradual downhill, the uphills would have been steep but short, and I think it would have been much better. But they had trouble with a bottle neck at a narrow bridge about 1 mile out, so they had good reasons for the reversal. {sigh}
Luke had a great time, and he's really proud of himself. He doesn't want to run another HM for a long time though. He wants to focus on 5Ks, and he doesn't plan to do this HM next year. I told him that I'd probably do the Dam to Dam HM next year then, and he said he'd do the 5K.
After this race I struggled a lot emotionally. Everyone I know seems to be much faster than me. Even the slowest person in the rec center running group finished her first HM in under 2:30. The people on C25K made me feel better though.
The Biggest Loser HM on June 14 in Rockford, Illinois:
I'm back home from the Biggest Loser half marathon which was held in Rockford, Illinois. It went really well. I was worried that it would be really difficult because I caught a sinus cold, and also the city was a lot hillier than I expected. I woke up around 2am Saturday morning with my sinuses and throat really hurting, and I tossed and turned until 4am when I finally decided to get up. I took a really hot shower, and that helped somewhat. The "goody bag" had a 10 pack of Advil Allergy medicine for nasal congestion, which seemed just too coincidental. I took one of those, and that helped more.
The race started out okay. There were a lot of walkers. They even had a prize division so that you registered as either a runner or a walker. (Looking at the results for the overall winners, I find it hard to believe that the overall winner of the walker division was actually walking at a 9:10 pace!) I didn't have any trouble with going out too fast, and the first half of the race went fine. There were a couple of really steep hills. Since I was feeling tired from lack of sleep and the head cold, I decided to walk the steep hills and run the downhills. There weren't many of the steep hills, and it worked out okay. By the halfway point, I was starting to really need to pee. I was going to go before the race, but they didn't have enough porta potties. They had a porta potty at each water stop, approximately every 1.5 miles, but there always seemed to be somebody waiting, so I held on. I was on track to finish in less than 2:35, and I didn't want to mess that up.
Things started getting really hard around mile 8 - I can't remember exactly when - and I started taking short walk breaks every 3 or 4 minutes. I wasn't happy about it, but I just kept on going. My time was still looking okay if I could hold on, but I had a pretty painful blister in my right foot, and my bladder was really screaming at me. I was really disappointed, but I decided to let it go and just try to do what I could.
Somewhere around mile 9 a man stepped out of a porta potty just as I was getting to it. I stopped and told him "timing is everything" while I jumped inside. 
Looking at my data, that ended up being my slowest mile at 13:04, but still not too bad considering.
I had mostly given up on the 2:35, but the last 4 miles of the route were really nice, along the river on the park trail. There were a lot of runners and bikers who obviously weren't in the half marathon, and I could tell it was a popular path. It wasn't overcrowded or anything. Near as I can tell from the results (with walkers and runners split into different groups), there were only 440 people in the half marathon, and we were pretty spread out by that point. I was walking at the water stop around the mile 12 marker, when another runner and I started chatting. Her name was Mary and she had a bad blister also. We decided to push each other through the last mile. I wanted to give up about half way through, but she wouldn't let me. She wanted to give up a little later, and I didn't let her stop either. The 13th mile ended up being my 2nd fastest mile of the race! And we both finished in under 2:35. My chip time was 2:34:41 (11:48 average pace), and that included a porta potty stop! I'm really thrilled with that.
Run or Dye 5K with the MRJ team on June 9, 2014. It wasn't timed, but we had a great time!
Party in Pink 5K in Vinton on June 27, 2014. Maya ran this one with me, and we both wore pink tutus. My time was 36:16, 11:41 pace.
During the summer I started on a long streak of around 20 miles per week with a 10 mile long run every Saturday. I finally took a break from those long runs in August when I went to the Aiming for a Cure 10K on August 23 and the Boomtown 5K on August 30.
The 10K race went okay. The weather didn't cooperate and so it was light rain for the first 5K and then pouring for the rest. It wasn't too bad though. It's my first rainy race and my first real run in the rain. I enjoyed it actually. Since the weather was bad, they didn't have the number of late entrants that they had last year. There were only a couple hundred or so runners and walkers there, and most were doing the 5K. I finished in 1:10:57, in last place with the next slowest person finishing 6 minutes before me. It is a very hilly route so I wasn't expecting a PR, but being last wasn't fun. Oh well. I feel like I ran okay.
AND
Last week was a very light week with 14.8 miles total. The Boomtown 5K race on Saturday was short. It was only 2.85 miles! After the race, I took Luke to bowling, and then I ran another 2.65 miles so I would hit 15 miles. But then I realized at home that I didn't even do that. Oh well. The cut back weeks were nice.
The Park to Park HM in Waterloo on Sept. 6, 2014. (Time was 2:34:14)
It was a perfect day for the half marathon. The temperature at start time was 50 F, and the forecast was for sunny and light breezes. The sun wasn't a problem at all because the route was in Wythe Park and was almost all shade. The park was sooo beautiful. It was definitely the prettiest route I've had on any race so far.
I got there an hour before the start and there was a long line of cars for parking. I lucked out and ended up being directed to a parking spot in a grassy area that wasn't more than 100 feet from the race amenities and start line. I didn't bother with checking my bag. I just took my stuff back to my car a few minutes before start time. The National Anthem was song live by a woman with a FANTASTIC voice. I'm pretty critical of live performances, being a amateur singer myself (and one who knows that I could never go pro). She was American Idol winner material! And then we were off.
Just a few minutes after we started I realized I had started the wrong playlist for my music so I ended up walking right away while I fixed that. But after that it was smooth sailing. I tried to keep it slow and steady, taking short walk breaks at the water stops and a longer walk break after the first hour to eat some shot bloks and take a salt pill. It was a very pleasant run, and I felt good through all of it. I did start getting tired during mile 12, but nothing serious.
I didn't pay much attention to my watch for pace or time, but I did start to think that this could be a PR. And I was right. It was a PR by 29 seconds! I guess that beats being 29 seconds over my prior time. 
I probably could have pushed myself to go a little faster, but that might have caused me to burn out, so I think it went very well.
The shirt was pretty nice, but it's a bit too big. I'm wearing it right now to lounge in, but I wouldn't consider running in it because the too-long sleeves would drive me batty. They had 2013 shirts for sale for $3 each, and they didn't even have the year on them, so I snagged one with long sleeves and one with short sleeves as well as a nice water bottle for a total of $14. Can't beat that for race souvenirs! They also had pizza from the local favorite place (cooked there on site!) and pulled pork sandwiches and loads of fruit, cookies, chips, and other individually wrapped snacks. And 2 free beers for each runner. It was a nice party. I will definitely do this race again next year. It ranks up there with Dam to Dam for my favorite race experiences.
That's when some knee pain began. Knee pain became a big issue in my training for the full marathon causing me to only be able to do two 15 mile long runs and nothing longer. The last 3 weeks prior to the marathon, I didn't run at all, but stuck strictly with pool running, mini-trampoline workouts, and lots and lots of walking. Needless to say, I was scared going into the marathon.
The race report I posted on C25K:
Wow! I can’t believe it’s over. I look back on this “year of the marathon,” and so many emotions come flooding in, but very few coherent thoughts. It’s been the ride of my life. A little less than 2 years and 9 months after I started running, I ran my first marathon. Those 2.75 years have been a blur of activity and emotion, and I’m so grateful to God and to all of the people who have walked (and ran!) beside me on this spiritual journey.
I signed up for the Space Coast Marathon on Valentine’s Day 2014 when registration opened. The half marathon sold out within 24 hours, but the full marathon didn’t sell out for several more months. Many people who signed up for the full marathon only signed up for the full because they couldn’t get into the half. The race director even told people that if they finished the first half of the full marathon and couldn’t finish the 2nd half, they would still get the medal and have this year qualify towards the 3 and 5 year “Big Bang Series” special medals. I was one of the few folks who intentionally signed up for the full marathon despite having the opportunity to sign up for the half marathon while it was still open. Silly me!
I proceeded to run 3 half marathons during training – Marian Arts Festival HM in May, Biggest Loser HM in June, and Park to Park HM in September. Those all went fine, and I felt ready to go into the longer distance training, but then injury reared its ugly head. My IT band started causing serious knee pain on the long runs. As it turned out, I managed to get in two somewhat painful 15 mile training runs in before the marathon, but nothing longer. I didn’t even run a single mile during the 3 weeks leading up to the marathon. Instead I did deep water pool running, ran and jumped on the mini-trampoline, and walked dozens of miles doing loops in the hallways at work. My emotions were bouncing between confidence that I would finish come hell or high water and horrible fear that my knee would seize up and I wouldn’t be able to finish at all. I asked everyone I knew to pray for me, and I also worked on a special playlist. It included several running related Bible verses that have been important to me, and it also included recordings from family and friends who gave me short recordings that I would listen to for the first time during the marathon. Those readings from the Bible and from my loved ones were amazing boosts of inspiration and energy during the race, and I’m grateful to them.
I traveled to Florida for the race on Friday after Thanksgiving with no travel delays or problems. I wasn’t sure if that should be a red flag since domestic travel and me don’t usually get along, but I decided to not think about it. After spending Friday night with my sisters in Brandon, I drove to Cocoa Beach on Saturday and went to the expo. Of course, I spent too much money on a car magnet, a Christmas ornament, a bracelet, a neoprene compression wrap for my knee, and a Brooks short sleeved shirt with the Space Coast Marathon logos. I don’t begrudge any of those purchases though. I wore the shirt for the race because the temperatures were higher than expected, and I knew the long sleeved shirt I had originally planned would be too warm. As it turned out, I love the Brooks shirt. It was so comfy and perfect for the race. I also wore the compression wrap on my knee despite wearing it for the first time for the marathon. Yes, I broke all the “don’t use something for the first time on race day” rules. But I am 100% confident that that wrap kept my knee from hurting for pretty much the entire race. Seriously! I fully expected my knee to start seizing in pain by mile 10, but there was no pain at all. There was a little pressure starting around mile 8, but it never turned into pain, and there were so many other things going on, I never had to think about my knee. The wrap did rub a bit during the first 13 miles causing me to have to re-position it a few times, but the BodyGlide kept it from chafing, and it didn’t need any adjustments at all during the second half of the race.
I went to the expo dinner the night before the race and saw the presentation by Bart Yasso. I had read his book so there weren’t any real surprises in what he talked about, but he was so entertaining, much more so than his book. And his confidence and encouragement was really contagious. I’m very glad I went to the expo. Bart Yasso was cheering on runners during the last 0.2 miles of the marathon, and he was there when I was coming in. “Here’s a woman coming in with a purpose!” is what he said as he gave me a high five. I didn’t have a chance to think anything coherent to say to him at that point, so I just smiled and kept on going as strong as I could. Having his praise at the finish was super nice though!
The night before the race I went to bed early and slept well and woke up about a half hour before my alarm was going to go off. I couldn’t have planned that better! All of my morning preparations went fine, and I headed down to take the 2nd bus to the race site. At the race starting line I met Matt and Amy. It was their first marathon too, and we took pictures of each other and shared our excitement as the countdown began with the video and sound system for the launch of the Challenger space shuttle. It was very emotional for me as I remembered those months when I worked at Kennedy Space Center the summer after the explosion. I thought of a dear friend from those years who worked there and was my mentor at NASA, and I wondered where he is now and if he’s still alive. We crossed the start line 4 or 5 minutes after the gun time, and we were off!
My plan was to take it mostly easy and just hope for the best with my knee. I did 2:00/1:00 run/walk intervals which ended up being around 12:30 overall pace. I figured I’d do that for as long as my knee didn’t hurt and then I’d switch over to 1:00/2:00 intervals when it did, and then switch to walking 100% of the time when I couldn’t run anymore. Funny how man plans and God laughs. He had much better plans for me. I was able to hold the 2/1 running intervals through most of the first half marathon. I then switched to 1/1 for a long while, and then finally walking for the last 2 miles but at a pretty good pace for walking (thus Bart’s “coming in with purpose” comment). It wasn’t my knee that caused me problems though. And I didn’t have any cardio issues despite not having trained the distances I had hoped. My problems came about because of blisters!!! My feet were hurting by the end of the first half and they just got worse and worse. By mile 24 it felt like there were razor blades in my shoes! But now I know that if I can prevent the blisters I’ll be able to cut my finish time by 10 or 15 minutes just from that alone. So anyways, all went well as far as running was concerned. I was thrilled about that. I marveled at how well my knee and lungs were holding up, and I enjoyed the race. There was never any despair or doubt or fear. That’s huge for me on so many levels. Not only because of my knee, but I smoked for more than 25 years of my life. I think my lungs have recovered for the most part. 
I ran longer than I thought I could. The blisters were really a b*tch. During the last 7 miles, every time I started a walk interval I thought that maybe I would walk the rest of the way. I knew I could finish within the 7 hours. But then I just kept hearing Mish in my head saying, “Embrace the suck.” I’ve had my share of sucky runs, and I knew that I could go further and run longer, and so I embraced the suck and kept on going. I finally had to walk the last two miles (at a 17 minute pace which is pretty darned good for me) – when I took off my shoes and socks later, the blisters on my feet were worse than I ever imagined was possible. I’ve got to do better on prevention next time...
When I came into the last tenth of a mile, it was really moving. The course ends in the Cocoa Village park on a path that has arched roofing and the spectators on either side. The racers’ names were on the bibs, and I didn’t realize what a big deal that was until I was running that last tenth mile. And yes, I did run that last tenth mile as fast as I could. Everyone was calling out my name and cheering for me. It was so emotional and moving to hear them calling my name! I never did cry during the race or afterwards, but that was when I came really close. And when I look back on it, that is the part of the race that makes me choke up with emotion. Every race should have the racers’ names on their bibs. That was sooooo cool!
I took some pictures along the way. I saw somebody taking a picture of the sunrise and realized I needed to do that too, so I did during my next walk break. I also took pictures of the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) in the distance across the water. That’s where they prepared the space shuttles before driving them (very, very slowly) to the launch pad. I got to tour the Discovery shuttle in the VAB back in 1986. My memories of that summer are very special to me.
There was a “haunted house” close to the final turn around, around mile 19, so I had to take a picture of that. I took a picture of the 20 mile marker. At that point I was telling myself that I had finally finished my 20 mile training run and that the race was just now beginning. I also took a picture of this boy scout at a water stop with his long snake of water cups that he was really proud of. It had to be at least 25 feet long, and when I said I was going to take a picture, he jumped to pose. I wonder if anybody else took pictures to praise him that way. He was so cute! I also have a picture of me with Matt, but I wasn't able to get a picture with Amy since I had to hurry over to the shuttle bus shortly after she crossed the finish line.
There are a million more memories and things that I could describe, but this is already way too long. I’ll just list them here for memory’s sake:
• Chip time 6:06:04, 2079/2727 overall, 156/224 age group
• Breakfast of protein cereal bar and Zingers (yes, Zingers!)
• RaceJoy app cheers from my husband
• Phone call from my husband as I went through a water stop – “I’m not talking to myself, I’m talking to my husband.”
• People walking 3 across blocking route
• American flag speedo guy
• Girl in yellow shirt with surgery foot boot in full marathon
• Guy in crutches in full marathon
• Lady firefighter with full oxygen tank on back in full marathon
• Guy with a stroller – hey, those aren’t supposed to be allowed!
• Dinner afterwards was too rich and tasted awfule
• Toes numb for days
