A quick look back....

It was a heatwave yesterday. Like, 52 degrees.

I had some mile repeats to tackle so I dressed accordingly. And AWESOMELY!!!!

 

DEAD. SEXY.

Starting to think about the upcoming races. The Derry 16 miler is in less than 2 weeks. I expect that will be my "long" run for the week and I really enjoy a long run that maxes out at 16, not gonna lie.

Just the thought of 16 being an easy long got me to thinking.

1 year ago I had NEVER EVER run farther than 13.1. And I was mostly fine with that. Marathons were not legitimately on my crazy person radar yet.

And THEN I started thinking that two years ago I had NEVER EVER run farther than 6.2 miles. And I was A-OK with that too! (that might be a fib, as I was more or less in half marathon training.)

But really, the point of this rambling is that 3 years ago I did not run. At all. Not a single step ever.

I feel like I have made progress. (towards insanity, gahd...)

 

One year ago: Getting Ready to PR at an Indoor Half

 

Two years ago: When ALL my training was on a treadmill. The HORROR.

 

It is so strange that I went from being a nice normal lady to someone who sees no problems with running 40 plus miles a week, every week like it is no big deal. And who also sees no issue with the fact that every Friday afternoon/evening of my life is taken up by long runs of doom. Honestly, if anyone had told me 3 years ago that I'd be doing THIS I would have laughed them right out of the room. Oh well. I'm awesome :-) (and seriously, if I can do it so can 99% of you out there!) (well. not if you want to have any semblance of a "normal" life but who wants that?)

 

What I learned in 2012

2012.

It was quite a year, wasn't it?

I have a post New Years recap of 2012 planned, but for now... A few important things I learned.

 

This is what happens when you over train.
That was the most important thing I learned in 2012.

But despite the over training I discovered that I am, shockingly, capable of running 26.2..

We discovered that Jazz Hands are my go-to-pose...
We also discovered that I will say "yes" to almost all bad ideas. 25K trail run anyone?

This is true.
One does not simply marathon into anywhere, duh...

Running is always better with friends.
After being the #1 loner for years I now have a posse.

It was discovered that races without chip timing, I always line up in front.
AND LOOK PISSED!!!! HAH!! DON'T MESS!!!



I can run a sub 20 5K. UGH!
Don't need to do THAT again...

Clearly, it was the year about running with friends.
Running is always better with your best friend!!

And it's always good to have your other best friend there for moral support!

Happy New Year everyone!

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... 2012 edition, the SWAG episode!!

YAY! PRIZES! (no, I'm not hosting a giveaway. calm down.)

I LOVE a good race medal! Truth is, I even like a terrible race medal. One would think that after years of equestrian life I might not be so excited over paltry prizes and merch but come on.... it never gets old to me!

I won a few things this year that made me shriek in joy. After murdering myself and running to 4th place in the 4 on the 4th I scored some sweet gift cards to Maine Running and New Balance, enough cash money to actually buy myself some fun shiny new things *dies in happiness* If I had been smart enough to check at the following races I would have won awesome age group prizes: Great Bay Half, Tri For a Cure 5K and (as we all know) MDI- where I won my AG and due to the low IQ after 26.2 didn't even think to check. And there for missed out on the chance to win the prettiest award ever. I'm still legit sad about this and might be until my dying day *insert too much drama HERE*

The award for the best Swag Bag by FAR goes to the Maine Half Marathon. SO MUCH STUFF. Sweet shirt, samples, coupons, odds and ends and (randomly) a can of baked beans which I certainly could do without. Aside from that I'm always excited to collect my sack of happiness from them and am sad that we are parting ways next year.

OK. Chit Chat over. Time to move on to my favorite (and least fav) prizes!

PS: It was tricky. I actually like ALL my merch from this year. for the most part anyways...

My Absolute favorite! The MDI Medal.
So gorgeous. So Big.
That's what she said.

The hard to photograph All Women's Half Medal.
So pretty! So heartshaped! LOVELOVE!

Quincy Half Medal.
Looks ok from here. But kinda cheezy in real life.
Take my word for it.
(Quincy also had HORRIBLE race shirts which would have been in the running for Worst Shirt had I not dropped it at Goodwill...)

Around the Lake Medal.
Well, it was my first marathon so it has meaning...?
I totally puked on it. (for real.)
But it's really really small. Itty Bitty. I wish for my prizes to be large, damnit.

Pineland 25K Cowbell.
COME ON! IT WAS 25K! Give me a freaking real bell...
It horrifies me whenever I lay my eyes on it. As you can see...

TEENY. TINY. 

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.. 2012 edition, episode TWO!

Today's edition of Best of/Worst of 2012 has to do with fashion.

EPIC FASHION. OH YES.

I seriously got 3,256 shirts this year. 3,252 have already gone to Goodwill. World, you are welcome. 

Honestly, I don't expect decent shirts at races. And at 5K's I'd kinda rather that they gave all the money to the charity and spared me the trip to the thrift shop (just sayin'...) I have come to expect the hideous, the heinous and the poorly fitting. I have made my pics, it is official!

As usual Beach To Beacon gave a solid shirt. I wear it all the time as I did with last years shirt and it is possibly my favorite part of that race (I'm a Debbie Downer about Beach To Beacon. I'm the only person in the world who doesn't love it and think it's the best thing ever, Oh well.)

Anyway. Onto my Best and Worst Race shirt fashion moments from 2012.

Photographed by my excellent exclusive dating partner, who is lucky enough to get to help with my blog. Every man's dream right there...

Would you look at THIS!
WORST RACE EVER...
Gave a damn good shirt. Figures...
I never wear this shirt running but put it on pretty much every day when I get home from work.
Actually. This outfit is almost exactly what I put on at the end of every day.
Lucky my boyfriend. 

And the oddities continue!
BEST RACE EVER (MDI) Gave out this TENT that sleeps 8.
Wow, this is a ladies XS. It goes down to my knees, no lie. IT IS THE WORST.

Seriously. WTF?
A study in why 5K races should just cease and desist with the ghastly shirts.
Furry Friends 5k, humanity wants you to never give shirts again.

My Dog is ready to climb up in this enormous shirt, from the looks of things.
But he's too scared of the fire hazard material and blinding hue.
I love it, as you can see.

I kinda love this shirt!
Thank you All Women (and one lucky guy) Half!!!
It fits! It's cute! I have actually worn it in another race!!!!
BIG SOLID WIN!!

On a side note. After being a champ and taking pictures for me and kindly loading them into the computer Eric settled down to do random Man Stuff (or so I thought.) I was over here at my computer, typing away when suddenly my computer went freaking nuts. Up on the screen popped: lerhekthve vkwehrv krvh!!! I was like "UH OH, WHAT IS THIS??" I tried to figure out if I had hit some catastrophic button to cause mass mayhem when the following words appeared "Eric is so sexy.. And he likes your boobs." Looking around I discovered that sneaky Eric had powered up a random wireless keyboard and was having a grand time effing with my head and my blog. HMMMPH! I laughed hysterically for about 10 minutes. Ahhhhhh, I'm so lucky!

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... 2012 edition!!

2012 was quite the year.

I ran about 47 races (or so it felt. I actually have no idea, perhaps I should count...?)

Some were awesome, some were horrid and a LOT were just little blips on my radar that I no longer even remember. (because clearly I'm too cool to be bothered with OMG so many boring races, haha..)

Since we are quickly getting into the Holiday season, and thus the year's end I have a few blogs planned to chat about the highs and lows.

Today's Episode!

ALL THE RACES. Well, a couple of them anyway.. What did I love? What did I HATE??

Read on to find out...

 

Around The Lake Marathon
Wins for: NEVER EVER AGAIN!!

Actually, that is a lie. If you want to pay my entry, buy me a sweet new outfit (plus shoes!) and pay for me to get down there then I'll do it. If you require that I run fast I require quite a bit of extra moolah though. Something about running a marathon in the middle of the night in the MIDDLE of the summer promotes death like agony, so I'll pass. Thanks. This was no fault of the race organizers, clearly. They ran the whole silly shebang just fine. However, this race is not for me...

MDI: The clear winner of BEST RACE!!!!

MDI is THE BEST FUNNEST MOST AMAZING. Do it. Take my word for it.

I expect that there will be a lot more people in the "start" picture next year and I CAN NOT WAIT!

Best Lesson Learned at: Tri for a cure 5K

And what lesson is THAT? I suck at fundraising. I absolutely CAN NOT run anymore races that require me to raise a certain amount of cash- I just can't do it then I pay the whole amount. And go broke. SUCKSUCKSUCK.

 

 

Color Me Rad
Wins for: STUPIDEST RACE EVER.

Call me Buzz Killington but I thought Color Me Rad was a silly, messy, VERY EXPENSIVE waste of time. At the time, I claimed that I would never do one again and this is a FACT. Spend that money on something, anything else!!!  And it was only 2.8 miles AND was untimed to add insult to injury. It was also horribly organized and total chaos and bedlam. And it was a disgusting mess. *grouchygrouchygrouchy*




Pineland. The race I swore to never do again.
But clearly will.

Pineland was a hilly, hilly nightmare. This is also where the shin shit of 2012 started. However.... They throw a damn good party, there is beer, food, cookies, friends and it is kinda fun to run thru the woods (for 5 minutes.) This one is already on my to-do list for 2013 because I'm straight up stupid.

Great Bay Half. My least favorite race, that became my most favorite race.

I am a fickle woman. That is all.

Sadly, GBH and I will not be reunited in 20136 because of this little race I have going on called the Boston Marathon. GBH actually kinda kicks ass if you can handle the hills. And there are good medals, beer and food. Notice a trend? Beer and Food are VERY VERY important to me!!

A runner up for me on the "best" list is the Maine Marathon- I ran the Half per the norm. Great race, very organized, so much fun (terrible weather) Sadly, not on the list for 2013 because of other TBA plans!

So there you have it, my expert and very legit list of my favorite (and least fav) races from 2012. Stay tuned for the next episode of my end-of-the-year recap!

Smutfest Recap

Bet you all thought I was still running since I'm so damn late with this recap! But no, I'm still here ready to fill you in on all the gory details paired up with some of the worst running pictures in history thanks to my Dad (who is usually quite a good photographer. We shall blame the camera, the odd light in the dome, or- more probably- the fact that I was so damn fast that the camera couldn't handle me. Yeah, that's it...)
Before we get into the wonderous world of photos here's the stark facts about this little sprint. I really loved running on the track- not gonna lie. The temp was perfect (although I was sweating like a pig. not that pigs can even sweat but STILL.) It was a novel concept to have no worries about potholes, ice, giant hills, 30 MPH winds, dinosaurs, rapists, 18 wheelers, rabid dogs- yeah- all those things that I try NOT to encounter. I ran at a pace that felt good and never got out of breath or pissed off. Usually there is a point in a Half when I'm just like "Dude... This feels like such a bucket of assholes..." and I never got to that point. And I did NOT throw up which was the highlight of the whole experience.
Anyway. On to the good stuff. Ahem.

We drove to Milford. It was 3 hours away, just like everything else in the world. My Dad decided to come which was good- we always have fun on roadtrips and have a lot of snacks. And my Dad pays for the tolls which is a perk. You can see a blurry little me in the above picture. I ran past my poor Dad 68 times (count em. sixty freaking EIGHT.) and I showboated every time. Are we surprised by this may I ask? Doubt it.... Oh, by the way? I'm not gonna apologize for my white pasty legs. Avert your eyes and remember that I live in Maine and do not tan.

It looks like I barely have any friends to run with but the truth is that it felt like a constant chase. Anddddd there is nothing I like better than the feeling of chasing down ill advised people who are slower than my sorry ass self. That dude in orange probably was up about 20 laps on me but we can pretend for a minute that I was about to soundly beat him. This, I believe, is in the last 10 laps when the FAST boys had gotten the hell off the track and it was just me, the slower dudes and the chicks.

Why am I fist pumping? Actually, the question is WHY am I running in the outside lane when there is NOBODY else around? DUH. SIGH. Hope I didn't do that too many other times like a big dumb dummy. But HEY- I was showing a little Jersey Shore style love to the finish because I was about to WIN!

OK. I can hear you all say "Yeah Right" but NO REALLY. I really did win. I know.... Gatorade called me IMMEDIATELY and offered to sponsor my fabulous self and insure my ghostly white legs. My fame has spread throughout the world like a highly contagious disease.

I won beer. I'd like to say.... A win is a win is a win. (and a PR is a PR is a PR.) In no way am I having delusions of grandeur here people, my time is NOT the kind of time that would hold up for better than one millionth place at a bigger race- but bottom line- I was the fastest girl out there on that day and that's that! 1:45:32. Best time for me by 8 whopping seconds (no hills!) I need to shave about 20 minutes off of that to run with the rest of y'all but (as they say in the sticks) IT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN!

I do not lie when I say that the best part of the day was feeling quite well after the fact and not hurling on anyone or anything... Good times, good times. Oh. It was also nice winning beer. Have I ever mentioned that I like beer?

And now! Counting down to the VERY hilly and VERY cold 16 miler on Sunday. I'm not scared (yes I am...)

OH! A little PS: People have asked if it was boring and laborious running around the track and no, it was most certainly not. The time flew by, and since it was almost impossible to know what lap you were on all the time it wasn't like "oh there's mile one" then 40 hours later "there's mile two." It was shockingly easy, fast, and entertaining- who would have thought!

Happy New Year!

Last week was light on running heavy on fun. I think 16 miles was the grand total but I'll check up on that later for my official weekly PLAN update!
My cousins came to visit and they are awesome. It runs in the family.

We went snowtubing because that's what adults do!

Can you tell that we are related? That's my cousin, the pirate.

Ringing in the New Year, pirate style with my sister. Yes, we must be related too!

THE PLAN... OH- Twelve Style.

Remember THE PLAN from last year? the pesky little sub-two Runner's World PLAN that became, for a time, a second husband to me? A judgemental second husband, with a secret agenda- one that involved causing me pain, mental strife and taper tantrums of the highest quality. A PLAN which I tried to follow to a tee- but did not complete a whole cycle of for either Half that I ran due to some injuries sustained from snow shoveling and perhaps slight overtraining.

One thing I have learned in the past year. Make that two, actually.
ONE!!! You don't have to be married to your plan in order to complete a Half. Flexibility is key. I was SO burned out in April that I was doubtful that I would ever be interested in running serious mileage again (and look at where I am now- blissfully forgetful of those troubled times... must be like childbirth? who knows.)
TWO! You're gonna hurt. You'll get so used to walking with a hitch, and to be unable to decend stairs in a ladylife fashion that it will become second nature.

Looking towards my Half on January 14th and my SIXTEEN MILER the following week I constructed a PLAN for my own self. I based this plan on the wish to develop strength, mental fortitude, avoid burnout and the hope to be able to complete the whole cycle. Here's to hoping! Also, I was able to construct this plan with an eye on my busy schedule, the Holidays, and there is room for flexibility for things like weather as I hope to get the majority of my long runs done outside. (again: here's to hoping!)

LAST WEEKS PLAN! DONE AND DONE!
Monday- 8 miles, 6 outside 2 on Treadmill (got DARK!)
Tuesday- off
Wednesday- 4 Miles, Treadmill (still getting used to treadmill- I SUCK running on it after taking 10 months off from it. I am a MUCH better road runner!)
Thursday- 3 Miles Dreadmilllll.
Friday- 6.2 Miles Tempo- was shooting for an 8:30 pace and snagged an 8:10- I was VERY impressed with myself especially as the route had some good looking hills!
TOTAL: 24.2 miles

2012 Legendary Race Schedule

2012 is lurking right around the corner. Since winter is the time that (if I so choose) I actually have time to run and/or train to race better than badly I have formulated a plan. Of sorts. Subject to change.

Here is a casual list of what I have lined up for the near future. Races in "bold" are races that I have either signed up for or will be shortly.
And FYI- my thought process when a little something like this (prepare to be scared or confused.)
"I want to do 12 races in '12 as that is very catchy. I'd like to run 4 half marathons, and for at least one of them to be a new one. I'd like to try something that I never have done before. I'd like a challenge that pushes me out of my comfort zone but do not wish to marathon because I might die. I must keep in mind that by June 1st my real training season will be OVER so anything during the summer will be casual- per the summer norm. I must also keep in mind that last year I did not race in May, June, and September so if I plan to uphold the same schedule I need to race extra in the cold months to make it to the BIG 12 Also... I need to remember that as of right now my Fall schedule is VERY much up in the air and I can't count on getting much done then. We'll see!!!"

December 11- 5K with a friend to wrap up the year. Clearly, this does not count for the Oh-Twelve season.

ONWARD TO 2012!!!

January 14th- Half Marathon Palooza of pure magic in the bizzaro land of an INDOOR Track in NH. No lie here, I am going to run 66 times aroundandaroundandaroundandaround this track with a bunch of my new best friends. This definitely qualifies as both something I have not done before and something that I am not 100% comfortable with. Looking forward to it though as I think it will be a hoot. No bit time goal for this one as (as it turns out) it will be my last long run before....

January 22- 16 miler, "Boston Prep" race in Derry NH. Looks like a real beast of a course, in the DEAD of winter, at an ODD number of miles. 16 miles ABSO-FRICKIN-LUTELY pushes me out of my comfort zone but i think I can handle it. Goal for this race: Be able to GET there- meaning NO bad weather. AND to FINISH...

Feb 19th- Half At The Hamptons, Hampton NH. Did this race last year and despite the fact that it was 17 degrees with a 20 MPH wind I loved it. Great race, beautiful course, fun times. I hope to have no issue getting under the finish in less than 2 hours here...

March 18th- (I need help deciding!!)
EITHER
Half Of Quincy (Quincy Mass)
New Bedford Half (New Bedford Mass)
Any thoughts?

April 7th- Race The Runways Half, Brunswick ME. Run 13.1 miles around a big old airport? YES... I see no reason that I should not be able to sneak in under 2 hours here as well. This is ANOTHER new race to me which I am very excited about!

Here marks the end of my super fun, ultra challenging, and VERY COLD winter race schedule. For may and June I currently have NOTHING in the book as there is little to choose from at this point (and my Equine Competitive season is in full swing thru those months.)

July (all tentative, but I almost always run these...)
4th- 4 on the 4th, Bridgton ME: Two choices here, PR like a boss or run with the kids and PW like a fool.

11th- Harrison 5K- usually 100 degrees but is 7 minutes away from my house and is right next to a bar. Yessssss.

21st- Lovell Old Home Days 5K- Always has the worlds WORST race tee but they have really good donuts post race..

August- Beach 2 Beacon (if I get in.)

October- Maine Half Marathon- Kickass..... Loved this race despite the shittastic weather.

Mid October my town always has a cute 5K that I enjoy.

Apparently in November there is going to be a Half literally NEXT DOOR (well, next town over) to where I live. Barring unforseen events I fully plan to do this.

Also in November I can scoot over to Lovell for a Gasping gobbler.
I hope to run the Portland 4 miler on Thanksgiving as it is not my year to cook!

Anywhoo. That should get me my 12 in 12 although as I mentioned the Fall schedule is out of my control at this point with MANY variables.
Feel free to leave some feedback, suggestions and let me know if any of y'all will be racing theses races. We can meet up for a donut....