Around The Lake Marathon: Am I Boston Bound?

YESTERDAY WAS FINALLY THE DAY!!!!

Hard to believe that it was only 24 hours ago that we (Danielle and I) embarked on our Marathon adventure.

For me, things got off to an inauspicious start, as I locked my keys, phone and purse in my car at a gas station. This required a bit of futtering around as I trolled around for a phone to borrow and a lock-out service to come to my rescue. I was, in due time, able to get on my way and hoped that this was a sign that the drama was out of the way. It also confirmed that I'm a bit of an idiot...

All of us arrived at a very decent hour and proceeded to become very bored and jittery (oh, that was just me?) Luckily Eric was there to capture our bored moments.  

We are very intimidating runners in HUGE shirts.
I wish for shirts that fit.

Stylish. No foolin'.
I have pants on for REALZ.

Pre Race. We were still able to smile and laugh and function at this point.

So many fans, so little time...
This is what you do when you have 3 hours to kill.
Update Facebook 300 times...

We had a legit tailgate party!
Well. Our support team did, as we struggled and suffered for our insane sport...

My cousins came to watch and brought me a FANTASTIC sign.
ER. MA! GERD!!!! Is all I have to say.

As time wore on we tried to snack, hydrate and use the porta potties a million times. I was nervous but feeling like my non-plan-plan was going to serve me well. My "plan" was to run at what felt like an steady pace, not pushing it too hard 10K style but to try to keep it moving along with that 8:12 pace in mind. I knew that given the 90% humidity this might be tough but I felt like it was a reasonable way to head out. Per the norm, my nutrition plan left something to be desired but I knew that at certain laps I could expect to snag certain food items at certain times from my epic support squad.

And we were finally OFF!!

Lap one felt good. Really good. I was a little tight in my shins but otherwise felt really comfortable and like I was keeping a steady and reasonable pace. And yes, reasonable pace is subject to opinion...

You can tell that this is early on because I'm busting out the Jazz hands and showboating like a geek. These behaviors ceased around the 13.1 mile mark or so...

Danielle after a couple laps with her SUPER TALL hubs.
Her faces always are excellent.
And her hair always looks perfect, GAHD!!!

For me, the race was a pretty steady and normal feeling workout for the first 9 miles or so. At that point darkness took over and that presented a minor challenge. My legs continued to feel good, my silly stomach was behaving for the most part (15 second port a pottie break at the 1/2 way mark) and I was feeling very happy to make it to the 13.1 in 1:44. I was getting progressively more tired though, and was VERY glad when Eric confirmed that I was indeed halfway there.

I knew that the final 4 laps were going to be tough. It was dark, humid and there were creepy clouds of tiny bugs that were getting stuck to my sweaty face. Yuck.

Just before darkness took over.
Helloooo leg muscles.
After this picture taking got a bit tricky...

Despite the minor factors of buggy darkness, and the ever growing feeling that a blister was forming on the bottom of my right foot all still felt ok as I ran in for mile 17-ish. I had more or less lost my ability to form a coherent sentence at this point so was communicating with ridiculous grunts or monosyllabic un-helpful words. Excellent.... My ipod had shit the bed. I was wondering how Danielle was doing but had asked for a status update around the 10 mile mark and was told that she was doing well!

Then.... With two laps to go.... I got EFFING EXHAUSTED. My poor little brain checked out. I wanted nothing more than to stop, sit down, sob, and go to bed. This was not a good way to be feeling with a 10k still left to go and I expressed my feelings to Eric with a slightly teary "I JUST... WANT... TO... BE... DONE!!!!" as I ran by, like a little cry baby. Luckily he responded with a "you've got this! you're flying! you're just having a rough patch and you'll work through it!" Which I thought was completely logical and well reasoned so I manned up and got on with things. Jeesh, me and my fussing and whining!

This is the best tweet ever.
And so factual!!

I continued to slog along, slapping my feet down laboriously but knowing that I had a tiny bit of time to play with. ....tiny being the key word.... Coming in under the clock for my last lap I saw that I had 30 minutes to finish in order to snag a BQ and I thought that was totally manageable.

What I did not account for was the epic, projectile vomiting that I would have to stop to do at mile 25.5. NO SHIT. With the finish line almost in viewable distance I was flat on my face, hurling up a ton of water and energy drink onto a poor unsuspecting tree. As soon as the retching passed I jumped up to run again and after 3 steps was struck with the voms AGAIN. BADLY. It took me a minute to get back up this time... I lost a couple, if not a few minutes in this disgusting episode of "what did I eat/drink today..."

When I got back out on the road I gave myself a huge mental shake. I decided that I felt alright, I still cared enough to go for it and that I was going to run like hell. Which I tried my best to do..

And I ran under the clock in 3:34:10 (still unofficial. but whatever!)

I expected to feel thrilled, emotional, and like all my efforts and hard work had paid off.

Honestly? All I could do was stand there, with poor Eric basically holding me and my vomity self up as I went on repeat with "I. Am. So. Tired." while sniffling a little, feeling completely overwhelmed and exhausted beyond all effing reason.

I was led/guided/possibly carried back to the tailgating area, sat down, un shod (and my feet cramped up in the most painful way possible causing the salt pills to be passed around...) I drank some water. Took off ALL my sweaty clothing in a stunning display of parking lot nakedness. I threw up AGAIN  all over my feet and some shrubs... I might have visited the medical tent really quick...

Danielle ran in right before I hurled all over the world looking like she wanted to do the same. Instead of being a good friend and asking how she had done I just sat there and kinda waved at her a little, while she lay on the pavement and wished for death to come.

It was a bit of a messy way to spend the evening.

Fast forward to the next morning.
Or 4 hours later since this was a 7PM marathon 2 hours away from home...
Ice bath!

I woke up this morning and was much more excited about my successful finish and feeling an awfully lot better. I ate pancakes. Tried to walk around. Took an ice bath (hate.) The good news is that I was coherent enough to be pretty damn happy about my results.

Danielle and I might have texted a few times about out imminent retirement from all things running none the less, but the wheels were more or less back on my bus.

So, to sum it up: BQ BABY! If my BQ time gets me in, I'll be there ready to roll in April.

I felt like it was a solid first Marathon effort, definitely some things that I need to work on but I have time.

I'm going to take a little running break for the next few days to heal and rest the old legs then I'll be moving on to the next big thing.

So... Thank you all! Thanks to my friends, family, ringers of cowbells, makers of signs, passers of water bottles, and ALL of you who gave me encouraging words, texts, and tweets yesterday. Every little bit of support helped me to keep moving when things got tough (and tough they got, it was NOT all unicorns and sunshine!) I don't have the words to thank all of you as meaningfully as I wish to but know that I thought of all of you out there on that long, dark course during the highs and the lows. Thank you for the well timed pep talks, the sherpa skills, for pushing me when I wanted to stop and for being there...

This has been a long road. I'm so happy that I met my goal and it took all of you to get me here!

Today is the day... That I lose my Marathon Virginity!

Once upon a time, in a faraway land (called Waterford Maine) There lived a girl (that would be me!!) who was prone to making questionable life choices (specifically in the "running 1000 miles sounds like a GREAT idea" kind of choices...)

After running a few pretty solid Half's in early 2012 a wise decision was made that this would be the year of unbridled and amazing marathon success....

Little did the girl of odd running choices know what kind of long and twisted road she was about to embark on!

So what have I been doing for the past 18 weeks?

Let's take a walk down memory lane....

The decision was made to run said marathon right about here...
Great Bay, 2012.
Where our Big Pimpin attitudes were revealed to the world! Bwahahaha!

After GBH An epic training plan was selected and taken on with righteous indignation determination and mad skills!

Actually, the plan was taken quite seriously. Come rain, snow, sleet or hail, injuries, chaos, the plan was followed, adhered to and regarded with great reverence. (or a tiny bit of hatred. who really likes running 800's?) I found that doing "real life" stuff was simply out of the question. I was either running, planning to run, recovering from running, thinking about running or running some more.

It is amazing that my friends have stuck around thru this madness, I have been a very, very poor Friday night drinking buddy lately! I managed to run thru chaos, horrible weather, thunder, snow, 90 degree heat, at 4AM, after dark, when I was sick, when I was hurt, and when there were better things to be doing... (like WHAT? what could be better than running????)

This is what my Friday nights have consisted of for the past several months.
Running long, long miles and ending up at Angie's house.
Not to have fun, but to demand Gatorade, Advil and a ride home...
(damn, I'm a fun fun girl!)

During my long runs I have had plenty of time to think about what has brought me to this point. A lot of stuff happens over the course of such a long training plan (like, multiple seasons change. I have had several birthdays. the children I know who were in first grade at the start of this madness are now graduating college... oh time, where have you gone?) I hit 1,000 miles for the year sometime in late June... I wore out at least one pair of perfectly good shoes. I consumed endless quantaties of Gatorade (and yet still have not found a damn thing that I can eat mid run. you'd think 1,000 plus miles would have given me enough time to sort that mess out. no..)

I can't say that I've solved all of the worlds problems while pounding the pavement of the surrounding towns but I've certainly solved some of my own. As much as I sometimes hate running I'll give it full credit for my fantastic mental health (ok, there is no need to argue this point. I'm clearly a very stable and sane person. and awesome. and fast! and badass so don't mess....)

It's also inevitable that one will suffer from a series of horrible injuries when running 200 miles months.
Hopefully I'm healed enough to pull this off!

Running is a strange and twisted combo of being the hardest thing I have ever done and the easiest. In a way it is so simple to throw on your shoes and hit the street, simply putting one foot in front of the other. When I'm having a great day of running it honestly feels that easy and in those moments I remember why I continue to put up with this absurdity. At the other end of the scale, when I hit the wall at mile 20 and start to break in every possible way it takes a huge effort to talk myself into the fact that I can do this. But I can.... Because even when running feels like the most foolish and impossible thing that I've ever done I know that if I continue to put one foot in front of the other I will reach my destination no matter what.

How running makes me feel most of the time...
I hope I don't look like THIS later today...

It hasn't been easy, these past few months, but it has been good. I've followed a plan all the way through with only a couple bumps in the road. I am as ready as I can be.
What happens from mile 24 -or so- on is completely uncharted territory for me. I have no idea what my legs and my head are going to be doing at that point. What I do know, is that I'm as prepared as possible and what will be will be....
Do I have a plan for tomorrow? Plus a plan B? A back up plan in case things fail? And a plan for if things are awesome?
No.... I am going to take it one step at a time and simply remember to keep on trucking.
That is, after all, what I have been doing every day for the past 18 weeks.
What happens today happens, I have no excuses and I plan to throw it down, 100%.

This is how I HOPE to look around mile 25.
Huh. That's a big goal!!

So here I go, about to loose my marathon virginity to 26.2 miles of repetitive road, around some random lake in Wakefield Mass.

I hope that when all is said and done that I feel good about giving it my best effort (and I honestly hope that I do not break somewhere along the course, requiring rescue...)

This is it kids. This is what I've been working my ass off for, for 18 weeks. Blowing off my friends, making my family raise their eyebrows in horror while I basically lived, breathed, and dreamed about running. What am I going to think about at mile 20 when if the wheels come off my bus? The fact that after 18 weeks of running obsession I still have friends and family who love me and have stuck with me every step of the way, kicked my ass when I needed it, given me pep talks, picked me up, fed me, and reminded me that I can DO THIS!

Thanks you guys. There is nothing that I can't do with the kind of support that I have had. I'm a lucky girl and I certainly don't say thank you enough...

Here I come, 26.2 miles, you had better watch your back....

One Week....!!!!!

One Week.

The panic has officially set in.

I find myself at this time to be in a state of relative disbelief that the past 18 weeks have gone by so quickly (what the hell? did I fall asleep and miss a few weeks? am I senile? fail!!)

I was plagued all last night by horrible marathon nightmares, the worst of which being a lengthy one about running alone thru Mordor. Honestly, I cant think of anything much scarier than that. Think: Eye of Sauron, Gollum, so much terror (and legit geekiness. yes.)

Then this popped up on my Facebook in all its awesome glory:

(thanks Eric)

And I felt much better. Clearly, I am well equipped to run thru the scariest place on Earth!
Which in 7 days time will actually be Wakefield Mass. OMG. Denial!!

Color Me Rad... Color me messy!

I'm pretty much going to let Danielle take this one over. Want a GOOD blog? Look HERE!
And I'm going to shamelessly steal her pics, since mine look BAD!! SO BAD!!

Oh Man. One of those messy races!! But we are all cute...

MESS. Which took several showers to wash off!!

Her blog wins the award for making this race sound more fun than it was. Or maybe I'm just a grouch!
Here are my unbiased thoughts.
1- A 5k is not 2.4 miles, and that is a verifiable fact. We are probably the only people there who cared! But come on. Really.
2- Crowded. Chaotic. Silly. Messy. VERY messy. This shit was HARD to remove!! Holy crap!
3- A good way to see friends. But we should have met up for a legit run then eaten lots of food or something more logical...
4- IT WAS HOT. And running in a parking lot is THE HOTTEST!!!

Honestly, grumping aside it was just fine. An ok way to spend 2.4 miles and with the raging popularity of these races I must admit that I was curious to see what the fuss was about. Perhaps I was simply expecting something different? Who knows!

Then I went back to Maine and ran a legit 16. That was more like it... And it was cooler in Maine which was awesome. And there was more awesome stuff like beer and pancakes and the fact that it was Eric's longgest run ever which was badass... But I'm too tired to talk about how awesome that all was because I have taper brain and just want to sleep, lie in an ice bath, drink alllll the gatorade and have it be July 27th already. Hah!

And in other awesome news I totally twisted my ankle this morning. Doing what? Screaming and running away from a spider, that's what. Man, I am just too cool to even survive!

In which the gang takes the Harrison 5K by storm!

This is officially IT. The last time that I do some stupid, ill advised sprint on an 86 degree night up a mountain side before I marathon. However, I wanted to get this taper started on the right (wrong?) foot. HEH HEH.

Wednesday evening. 86 degrees. The end of a long, long day in the middle of an even longer week in the middle of the longest month in the history of EVER. Perhaps I exaggerate but you get the idea- we all were moaning just a bit about questionable life choices, how running is a terrible hobby for already overactive people and how perhaps we should all be sitting by the beach drinking beer instead. After the complaining hour was over we all manned up and got seriously pumped and decided to get the eff out there and kill it.

For the past 300 years this terrible twosome from Vermont have won the race on the men's and women's side of things. This is just unacceptable to me that you come in from away and steal the thunder of all of us hard working locals. When I saw VT couple out of the corner of my eye I took a page out of the book of horribly unsportsmanlike behavior and decided to kick their asses in a big way. Note to the youth of America: this is both wrong and immature. do not use me as a role model...

We look boss. Jon (Angie's hubs). Angie MY DAD, me, Kate, Dan & Sue.
This was my Dad's first race since approx 1946. He is awesome.

The course was an out and back, UP a huge hill around a little loop and back DOWN. Not a PR friendly course but that's the norm for this area of the world.

We started and immediately 5-6 ladies shot to the front setting a ridiculous pace which I kept up with because I tend to set a ridiculous pace occasionally as well. My inner monologue at this point "Well... I was planning to run 6:40's but was secretly hoping to be able to run 8:30's and still win. that's not gonna happen. why does that 6 foot tall 17 year old girl think she can beat me?? that's just absurd, I'm clearly going to take her down. OMG what is that other girl doing way out at the front of the pack? UGH I guess I have to catch her... WHERE is Vermont....?? Huh, I know where the actual state is but where is the dreaded VT runner??"

As you can see there was a lot going on in my noggin at this point. Chatty Cathy up in there...

the pace stayed very consistent throughout the race but according to my unsportsmanlike and diabolical plan I picked off the girls one by one, plus a few guys and finally reached the turn around.

Coming back towards the 2 mile mark I saw Sue, running so fast that she was burning the soles off her shoes. Hot on her heels was Dan, followed closely by Kate, Angie and My Dad (who Angie caught at the 0.5 mile and shouted at him "You're running an 8:30 pace and you need to slow down!!!") (my Dad wanted to stick to a 10:00 mile so she was right.

My inner monologue at this point on was more like this: "OK you idiot this is your race to lose don't effing blow it" WHERE is VT???" UH OH... There she is... Can she catch me? maybe. I don't like this what do I do 5k's this is stupid and dumb and so am I! UGH. UGH. there is so much sweat in my eyes that I can't see. damn VT needs to stop chasing me. I want my Mom..." OK yeah, I'm awesome.

I was able to keep ahead of her by what felt like a semi-comfortable margin but in reality was only 4 seconds, proving that 4 seconds is a LOT of space at a 6:38 pace.

So I FINALLY snagged a 5K win (in an ok 20:35) and can now happily retire...

Post race sweat. So much sweat...

Everybody else ran a kick ass race. Jon (who I did not see at all because he was hot on my heels) ran thru the finish in 22:11 which is super annoying because he barely ever runs. He also places 2nd in his age group which is (again) annoying since he claims to hate running and not be any good at it... GAHD! Sue finished in 26:30 which is just insane for her first 5K- Dan was about 20 seconds behind her. Kate ran home in 27:55 which met her goal of sub 28! Angie PR'd like a complete boss, shaving 3 or so minutes off her best 5k time and managing a solid sub 30 with 28:35! YAYYYY! And my Dad sauntered in in 31:55 looking like he had taken a casual stroll... (again, annoying!)

We were all pretty pumped. Talked a lot of smack. High fived repeatedly. Mentioned about 100 times how much we all love running so much and think that it's the best hobby ever for overactive people. Won prizes and merch. And went home to a sweet after party thanks to my excellent Mom!

And now.. Time to taper for real (or so I say today...)

Sweaty Sisters

Being Fashionable and Fast is hereditary...

In which we kill our last long run.....

I'd like to say as early on as possible that the title of this post is a complete lie. I just did that to get your attention. In reality I should have used one of my other ideas...

A few possible titles for today's post:
In which our last long run kills us......
In which we learn that not all long runs are easy....
In which we narrowly avoid certain death....
In which we try to run for our lives and end up dying on the side of the road....

Do you see a pattern? Anyway, on to the good stuff.

I would imagine that one would hope, wish, pray, beg and negotiate with the running Gods that their last long run pre taper be a good one. I certainly know that I was at 4PM yesterday evening...

I can only hope that a bad dress rehearsal leads to a damn good show in the running world- if not, I'm screwed every which way until Friday. Or, late evening on the 27th of July....!

We had things like the weather working against us- it was 90. And humid. I know that I pregamed like a boss: steadily drinking water all day, smartly eating decent food beforehand, bringing my LARGE handheld and a stash of nasty GU. I talked myself into it big time- I was mentally as prepared as I could have been (despite a bit of complaining) and really thought that we might kill it.

So off I marched to meet up with Danielle at her house to take to the streets of Portland, Westbrook and beyond to dominate everyone and everything and to make running our bitch.

**that was the plan. seriously. game on. big pimpin style**

SO OFF WE WENT!

Despite the intense heat we both felt alright for the first 6 miles. No problems. Except that I totally ran out of water despite the huge bottle. Before mile 6... NOT a good sign...

Topics covered: All of Danielle's Marathon domination, her creepily clanking ankle, the bowl of milk at mile 0.04 that had my initials on it (ok. why won't THAT picture load?) our copious amounts of sweat and how the world is so lucky to have us. Which is a fact.

Emergency Water Stop NUMBER ONE!
Bottom line: There was NO WAY that we could keep up hydration given the amount we were sweating.
Thanks to Danielle's super cute Dad for the H20. Lifesaver...

We ran steadily, although with additional complaining inspirational words of motivation from miles 6-13 with another crisis water stop thrown in there somewhere. Right around the Half Marathon point we both started to come undone in a big way kill it, kill it, and run at a 6:30 pace, sprinting thru red lights and plowing over old people on Jazzy scooters and small children like it was our business...

Topics discussed at red lights which we hoped would last forever: How running sucks, how we literally could not run to save our lives, shark porn, potential vomiting, Oh, and I had to come to a full halt to watch a plane land. Yes I am very cool. We kept shouting things at each other: UGH! DAMMIT! FUCK! I HATE THIS AND I HATE YOU!!! (oops sorry) being the most popular.

I have no idea how we managed to get to mile 22. No. Idea. From mile 13 and on both of us could not have hated life more. I have to give my legs a tiny bit of cred for having (maybe) one decent mile in there. ONE! UGH!

We stopped at Dunks for emergency ice water which I proceeded to plunge many body parts into my cup and basically rub the ice all over myself. In the middle of the store. It was very, very sexy. NOT.

Topics covered: How not to behave in public, how to get sponsored by an amazing running clothing store (um, by behaving better in public perhaps?) How Danielle should push me home in a shopping cart, how neither of us would notice or mind if the other one peed in her shorts- but how the each of us would mind the feeling of having urine soaked shorts.

OMG. We are so awesome.

At the end of the run we had to sneak in something silly like 0.3 miles, which we did by running around and around and around at the end of a road, making airplane arms on the turns. WHY!!? Why.... Oh right, because we are awesome.

Topics Covered by my inner monologue in the last 1 mile: I CAN NOT TAKE ONE MORE STEP. (but could I run 4 more miles if I absolutely needed to.....? yes. but they would EFFING HURT!)

And the normal stuff like;  I wonder if I'm going to throw up? dammit my feet are killing me, how does Danielle's hair manage to look so good after all that??, my clothes are so sweaty that I feel like I have been swimming, are we done? NO.. Are we DONE? NO!!! Are We Done....?? YES....

Holy crapola kids, we look freaking amazing in this picture.
This is why hot running clothes companies should send us merch to pimp...
22 miles of death and still rocking the fashion!
As good as we looked I don't think either of us felt very well.......

Because this happened.
Dead.
Hate Life.
But we are still sexy.

Danielle announced that she was going to drink so much water that she would probably throw up.
I suggested sitting in an ice bath and drinking it thru a straw. Then I was grossed out.
She lay down to die.
I sat down to focus on imminent death and or violent hurling.

I left to die alone and then this happened.

The aftermath: I awoke this morning feeling like I had been hit by a truck and run over several times. The Plan called for 6 recovery miles and I had to call it a day at mile 4 because I was a complete strugglebus. I might have cried.

Luckily 4 bottles of water and a fistful of Advil later I had improved somewhat.

I got a text from Danielle, who basically NEVER feels pain saying that she was still iffy too. I was glad that I wasn't alone in my anguish (although by 2 PM she was texting me to man the eff up and eat some ice cream. dude, I'm lactose intolerant...come on.... :-))

I like this text very much.
We are totally talking ourselves into it, HAH!!

So at this point that's it. Taper time is here and what's done is done. Both of us have made it to this point with only a few bouts of hysteria (mostly mine...) a few broken legs (mostly mine...) and a bunch of man the eff up texts (mostly Danielle's to me....)

19 days... OMG.

Bridgton 4 on the 4th: A race of awesomeness!

This might have been the best race day EVER!
There is no better way to spend a national holiday than getting up at the asscrack of dawn to run a few miles as quickly as humanly possible. I actually mean this, which should come as no great shock to those of you that are familiar with me and my crazy.
I was pretty excited about this years race as a group of us were going to run, and dominate, obviously, at a variety of speeds.
I was nervous and had butterflies threatening to make me vomit due to the fact that I was determined to meet a couple of serious goals.
1) Sub 30. If I did not meet this goal I would have hung up my running shoes and crawled under a rock like a troll, never to come out again.
(yes. I know that trolls live under bridges. I would have just been an especially anti social troll, OK?)
2) Manage to place in the top 10 women. This was a lofty goal and I was absolutely convinced that it was fairly unattainable.

Kate, Angie, Eric, ME, Casey, Sue and Dan.
Our excellent cheering squad of my parents, Kate and Angie's husbands and Angie's Dad took pics, cheered us on and stood in the 58 degree rain for quite some time. We love you guys!!!
PS: Take a moment to admire the various socks. BIG PIMPIN'.

We all managed to get there on time, because we are very organized.

We all looked really, really good because style is the name of the game.

It was determined that we all had varying race plans so we split up, high fived, trash talked and got on with business.

I made a small error and ran the first mile in 6:10. Oops. Excited. I shouted "CALM DOWN STUPID WOMAN" at myself . After 400 weeks of dealing with my stupid shin shit I was pleased to notice that I did not notice it. Apparently sprinting like a complete tool doesn't pain it but running slowly and logically does. WHATEVER.

I did rein it in a little but kept up a decent pace throughout. I chased down two girls and a bunch of guys and just tried to stay with the front-ish of the pack people. It rained enough to make me not notice the copious amounts of sweat cascading down my body, which was nice. It also rained enough to make me want to hurry to the finish which was excellent motivation.

Overall, I pushed as hard as I damn could and hated my life a little bit but not as much as I sometimes do. Which can be a very, very lot...

WOW. PAIN FACE. I'm cranking. Totally going to chick those boys.

I cruised thru the finish in 26:53. Goal completed. Balls to the effing walls. I totally wanted to dry heave everywhere was cool as a cucumber, (but got my shit together) quickly enough to find my Dad and see Eric run thru the finish in just over 30:00. The blue argyle socks were easy to spot in a crowd of boring dressers....

Both of us ran back to track the rest of the crew down.

We saw Sue power for the finish and cross the line in 35:48- in her FIRST RACE EVER!!

We totally missed Kate in her bedazzled top who ran in in 36:46 despite the fact that she got cut off at mile 1 and badly twisted her knee...

Somehow we also missed Casey and Dan who finished right around the 38 minute mark. (this is very impressive for Miss Casey as she kind of hates running. silly child!)

We DID see Angie though, who beat her goal of 45:00 by a LOT and finished like a boss on 41:18!

It was a hell of a good day for all of us.

I did manage to meet my top 10 goal as well, with a 4th place overall woman's finish. Dear Mizuno, I am a legit scary runner, please sponsor my feet and send me some sweet new kicks!

So overall it was a damn good day on the racing front. Everybody beat their time goal, nobody threw up and then we all went home to ice our legs, sit around in compression socks and demand to be waited on and to be fed PB&J's. Oh that was only me? Whoops....

Look at lucky Eric. Big Pimpin with all the cute ladies...
We all look pretty damn good for running so fast.!!
It's ok to hate all of us for our undeniable good looks, fashion and fabulocity...!

202 Miles. Big Pimpin'.

I ran 202 miles in June. UGH!!!!!!!!!

Highest mileage month ever, beating out May which was 194 and at that time was a HUGE month for me by many, many miles..

When I run that many miles I start getting perma-pain face as seen in following picture.

It seems that this is my perma expression while running, due to the fact that I am in a bit of pain, and am also a little tired. Luckily, my amazing outfit destracts from the agonized grimace upon my face.

Luckily as well, I don't look like that in real life. I am afflicted with IRL permagrin, so there...!

Perma Pain. OUCH.
But I'm flying, holy crap!

Officially counting down (in terror) to the marathon on the 27th.
I have one more long run this coming weekend and then I start backing off on the mileage.
If I was not so cool, hip, amazing and big pimpin I would be scared shitless. Luckily I am all those things so I'm relaxed, calm. collected and dismissive. HAH! LIES!

I'm running a 4 mile race on the 4th with a great group of people who can plan to eat my dust :-)
I kid, I kid! Sort of... Hoping to lay the smack down and set a course PR for myself. We shall see!