Egg Shell Shuffle: Race Director Perspective

Why don't we put on an Easter themed race?

Ryan and I had this idea in December, right before we left for the Cruise. We started planning things a little bit during the cruise (during the ship days of course:)) and figured with me not having a full-time teaching job, we could plan things out easily.

Boy were we wrong.

I finished one long-term job the second Friday in January and started planning things right away. We got our Permit, started making postcard ads (thank you vistaprint.com) and started creating a website (jrraces.com). Luckily for us, with my dad being the President of the Hillstriders Running Club, we had quite a few resources at our disposal.

We had the logistics all down on paper and were busy planning....and then I obtained another long-term sub job, 7th grade Science. Let's just say it's a little more difficult to teach than Math, Language Arts or Social Studies, all of which I've taught before. Ryan had to do a lot more work to pick up for my throwing myself into school work.

We also ran into a problem with our egg hunt. Eggs didn't start appearing at stores until the beginning of April, so we really had to work hard in stuffing all of the eggs with candy. Luckily, Ryan's little brother was incredible and filled them every day after school for two weeks prior to the race. We had over 1,000 eggs out there! Next year, we are planning an "egg stuffing party," which we had wanted to do this year but just got too busy to do!

Shorts were our main cost and what caused a lot of people to sign up:) We had a local company (Think Ink) in Crystal Lake create them for us. The design that we used (thank you Tim Schocke!) was screen printed on 500some pairs of dri-fit shorts. We had a lot of people sign up on race day, so a reorder is in the works.

RACE DAY!
After waking up at 4:30am, we proceeded to drive with the big truck (full of water jugs, bottled water, PowerBar products, mile markers, etc) and the PowerBar car to Busse Woods. There was a cop waiting for us... turns out, we could have come at 3am (as we had planned), so we'll plan for that next year!

While Ryan and his dad put out all of the mile markers and water/Perform stations on the course, I prepared our registration table and Ken and John put the finish/start lines together. Right around 6:30, people started arriving in packs... it was crazy! We had a lot of people sign up race day, which I was better prepared for (side note: I put on a "Run for Hope" race for a student of mine with an inoperable brain tumor two years ago and did NOT staff the registration table well enough, so I made sure we were fully staffed this time around!).

I was busy literally until the gun went off for 5k....which started 15 minutes after the 1/2 marathon. While everyone was running, we started putting out PowerBar product for post-race and setting up the awards (PowerBar waterbottles stuffed with product! Easter Baskets with PowerBar product for overall male and female winners).

We got so many comments about how cool and unique the awards were too! Ryan did a GREAT job. The weather even cooperated--for the rainy two weeks we had leading up to it, the ground wasn't nearly as wet as it could have been. The sun came out right before we did the Egg Hunt too....Mother Nature sure was looking out for us!

JDRF will be getting a nice check from us thanks to all of the great participants we had. Our initial goal was to donate $1,000 and we'll easily be close to $5,000 when all is said and done. Incredible!

After emailing all of our participants, we found out that there were only a few major glitches for a first time race.

1. we started the egg hunt too early. In Ryan's defense, people were getting a little antsy (heck, I was getting antsy), as we had started the kids 7&under hunt at 11:30 with the intention of starting the regular hunt at 12. We'll have to better monitor that next year, OR have one egg hunt after the 5k and one after the 1/2 marathon.

the prizes for the egg hunt were outrageous: Cubs tickets for Memorial Day weekend, a signed Kane picture, a signed Cutler helmet, PowerBar product;), Alter-G treadmill passes, sunglasses, Timex package and a Starbucks basket.

2. we need to do a better job clarifying things on our website. We have never created one before, so definitely something we'll better research next year!

We had SO many compliments on our water stop workers (thanks WNHS girls track team, Ricky & Danielle, NHS volunteers, Starbucks volunteers, participants' family members, Grandma Larson/Carolyn and Ryan family) and other volunteers. We couldn't have done it without the incredible volunteers we had!

Thank you for all of the support and especially for coming out for the race! We are SO excited for next year and are already starting to plan!

Please feel free to email us (jrraces@gmail.com) or leave a comment on here about the race. We are planning on making this race much bigger and better next year!

Shamrock Shuffle: Running with 40,000 of my closest friends...

Kidding, but honestly, what race (an 8k of all distances) gets 40,000 people signed up for it and sells out?! Only the crazy Shamrock Shuffle.

Before I get straight into the race, I'm going to kind of recap the week. Tuesday I had a 13miler since I didn't do a long run last weekend (5k on that Sunday). I ran it before teaching at 4am, so I figured I might be a little fatigued on Wednesday, but even during my morning run on Thursday, my legs were hating me. I was pretty nervous for my 400 repeats since my legs seemed to be sore from a measley 13miler two days earlier! However, when I finished coaching and all of the boys and girls had gone home, my warmup on the track felt pretty good. I will say I had some entertainment--a boy, maybe a student but I wasn't sure, was doing 100m repeats. This wouldn't have been strange to me in any way, except for the fact that he was doing them in jeans that were rolled up to just below his knees, yet was wearing spikes. If anyone understands this, can you please let me know? (although it did let my mind wonder the entire time). Anyway, the workout went a little faster than planned, so I knew I was ready to go on Sunday and the 30:30 time goal was easily doable--shoot, I wanted to crush 30 after that workout:)

Enter race day.

For Shamrock Shuffle, a lot of Ryan's dad's side of the family races as well. Ryan's dad and his little brothers were also all signed up, so we figured we would just all drive together. We planned on arriving to the Egg Bowl (our parking lot nickname--John and Ryan didn't believe me that there was such a thing as the Egg Bowl...google it and you'll see I'm serious) at 7:50 since Shamrock starts at 9. Well, there were a lot of cars on the road, so we didn't even make it to the Egg Bowl--instead, we were okay with parking 4 blocks further, but we didn't arrive there until 8:15. I kept my cool and reminded myself that I only needed to do a mile warmup and then drills and strides because it was so hot out anyway. We were all rushing over together.

And then we reached the Corrals.

Ryan's little brothers and dad were using a friend's bib (three separate ones) since they signed up but couldn't compete. They had to meet in Corral H. Apparently Alex (Ryan's littlest brother) didn't get the memo. He followed us until we got to Corral D. We looked around and Jason (other brother) and Ryan's dad were nowhere to be found. It was just about 8:35 at this point. Ryan told me he'd take care of Alex and for me to put my stuff in the Elite Team tent and warmup. I was very thankful for what was a great idea...except for the fact that the open gear check people were all crowding to get into the A/B/C/Elite Corrals. By the time I got to the Elite Team tent, it was 8:40. My teammates Jean Marinangeli and Shannon Ring could tell I was a little (or a lot) flustered and rushed to help me get ready. Jean even found a bathroom that I could use. How awesome are my teammates?:)

After quickly changing shoes, putting on my singlet (I was wearing a different shirt to warmup in as I didn't want my singlet to already be sweaty by the start of the race) and going to the bathroom, we rushed over to the start as the gates were closing in two minutes. Ryan's dad and Jason were stading over there, "Where's Alex? He's lost? Where did he and Ryan go?" I told him I had no idea, just that Ryan was with him and I had to get to the start line or I wouldn't be allowed. I broke down when he left. Thank goodness Jean was there with a water bottle to splahs on my face so no one knew, but that is NOT a good way to get ready for a race!

The five of us Saucony/Dick Pond/Fast Track (http://www.fasttrackracingteam.com/) runners all decided we'd go out in a 6:00 mile, which is what the Fleet Feet girls were thinking too. I decided I'd rather have the company, even if we went out in a 5:55.

That idea quickly faded as the girls pulled away--I slowed up and still went through the mile at 5:50. 5 seconds faster than the fastest Cari and I had agreed to go out in. Shoot.

I could see my teammates Suzanne Ryan and Jessica Langford, but decided I needed to stay a little further back since they were still probably going slightly under 6. I was right--hit 6flat at mile two. This is where I really started to feel my calf. It had flared up a bit right after the first mile (I'm thinking because I literally did NOTHING before starting the race). I told myself as long as I continued running sub 6:10 pace, I'd hit my goal, and that pace wouldn't be quite as hard on my calf. It worked out well. Mile 3 and 4 were both at 6:09.

Between 3 and 4, I really started feeling mentally fatigued (I was slightly upset that I had no warmup, drills or strides and knew it was affecting my performance), but saw Jessica stop to stretch, so knew I had to keep pushing myself. She did finish, but I wasn't able to talk with her after the race. I think she's okay though, just a hot day out there:(

The last almost mile was tough, but my DPFT teammates were 100% there for me. Two of the men passed me and yelled at me to stay with them. It worked for maybe 400m, but it was definitely a faster 400m because of them, so thank you! Also, Dave Schaefers really pushed me the last 800. I can't even explain what I was feeling--I felt like my calves were on fire and my legs were ready to collapse, but Dave slowed his race down so that he could cheer me on. He is such a wonderful person and I know everyone on DPFT would agree that we are so grateful for him and his leadership and encouragement.

I finally finished--30:27. Still under the 30:30 goal Cari had set for me, but of course I walked away disappointed. After talking with Cari, we know that I could have been down closer to 30flat (I still think I could have been sub30), but without that warmup that my body's used to, it just wasn't going to happen.

I had my thoughts of dedicating this race to my sister (see below), but am glad I didn't today. When I have an incredible all out effort that finally fully satisfies me (hopefully in a few weeks), THAT is the race that will have been run in Kristina's name.

Tuesday:(

Probably one of the worst days of my life besides my grandparents' deaths. I was at home, making soup when my mom comes in, visibly upset. I figured it was her last day with her trainer (Nic, Ryan and I bought her a personal training package to try to get her through the winter as that's SUCH a hard time to stay motivated during!), but asked her what was upset.

I have NEVER heard my mom say the f word in my life. Ever. The words that came out of her mouth, "the f---n steeplechase" immediately made me realize something was majorly wrong with Kristina (although her roommate Kelsey had posted something on facebook earlier about "praying for those hurt in my life" so I was going to text Kristina right before my mom walked in). I guess Kristina was doing 800m hurdle repeats as her first steeplechase workout of the year.

Let me pause here to say that Kristina ran a 16:55 5k, 9:45 (lower, but not sure exact time) 3k and a 4:55 mile (after doing the 16:55 5k the night before!) during indoor. Clearly, there is no reason for her to run the steeplechase. However, she claims that she told her coach that she was so in love with the 3k distance that she wanted to try it. As a coach, if someone as clutzy as my sister (Aubert's run because they are clutzes, okay?) were to ask me to run something that truly needs good coordination, I would say no. I'm not blaming her coach or Kristina; I know that in life, everything happens for a reason, but I do think it was silly for her to even TRY it.

Anyway, her first one was a 2:50 (I think that's pretty good for an 800 WITH hurdles). She did fall once and scraped her elblow, but got right back up to finish in the 2:50.

The next one wasn't so nice. Her trail leg clipped the hurdle and down she went. Initially, the thoughts were that she broke her fibula, another bone in her ankle, and some of her fingers. The final verdict was that she broke some bones in her ankle and her fibula (where it connects) and her ring and pinky fingers. To make matters worse, she couldn't use crutches because of the broken fingers. It gets even worse. Surgery was scheduled for Friday (this happened Tuesday), but the doctor doing surgery was expecting and his wife went into labor for twins on Friday. Thankfully, Kristina was able to have her surgery on Saturday.

She's going to be completely off from anything for the next 4 weeks, then she can start swimming. It will be 8 weeks on the crutches (or scooter) and a full 4-5months before she is fully healed. I can't even imagine something like this happening to anyone. I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy. Luckily, my mom, her family, friends, teammates and coach are being GREAT and truly helping her through this unfortunate event. I am very thankful myself that nothing worse happened (my sister is the tiniest thing ever, so I could imagine bones completely snapping).

Don't anyone worry. My next race is 100% dedicated for my sister and I plan on dominating it solely for her. The Palos 1/2 Marathon is next up (May 1st).

Back to the race

Overall, today was a success as my team placed 3rd (1st Illinois team!), earning each of us $300--CRAZY! Jean was the 2nd place female, Shannon was pretty close behind. Ryan placed 18th overall, which ironically was his bib number. He ran a 25:02 after hoping to break 25....oh and that was after biking 58 miles hard yesterday. Slight detail;)

Danielle (Ryan's cousin's wife and my friend) rocked the Shuffle despite the heat and my training plan for her worked:) I am SO proud of her! Kim, Danielle's friend, ran Shamrock as her FIRST RACE EVER...I think we gave her the racing bug:)

Wendy interviewed Suzanne and me after, and then had Ryan come in. She asked what the craziest or funniest thing about me would be and he told her of my sweets addiction. Well, mainly ice cream/froyo/gelato. He told her the story of when we went to Italy and averaged eating 7 or 8 gelatos each day. Who does that? Oh yeah, us.

So many of my friends and family ran today, and I am SO proud of every single one of you! Anyone who finished today's race in those conditions (if it was the marathon or a race in summer, I wouldn't be saying that, but Shamrock has had cold or snowstorm weather the past 4-5 years, so this was a SHOCKER) is AMAZING. Congrats to all and I look foward to seeing many of you toe the line with me in a few weeks!

Race That's Good For Life (April 3, 2011)

Oak Park Race That's Good For Life 5k: April 3, 2011

In my mind, the Race That's Good for Life is known for three things: (1) fast runners and fast times (2) being one or two weeks after a 1/2 marathon I've run in and (3) nice shirts.

All three of those things proved to be true yet again this year.

Ryan unfortunately didn't run this year, so his dad and little brothers and I hopped into the brand new Lexus and GPS'd our way to Oak Park River Forest HS (had to include the "riding in style" part as it was mentioned frequently throughout the day).

We didn't get there until about 8:20; with my race at 9am, I was really pushing myself to get my packet and do my warmup/drills/strides. Well, I got close to 2 miles in, one set of drills and one stride. (It's hard to tell people to get somewhere almost 2 hours before they have to be--the females race at 9am, the kids mile was at 9:35, and the men's race wasn't until 9:50, so we weren't super motivated to rush to get there!)

My Garmin wouldn't load, so with 30 seconds til the gun, I just switched it to be a watch and started with the gun. Unfortunately, it kept asking "are you indoors?" so I just turned it off. I honestly had NO idea what kind of pace we were running. I was right with Meg Sullivan, Suzanne Ryan and Jessica Langford (my Saucony/DPFT teammates) and Columba Montes. After we turned the first corner, Columba gapped us a bit, and went through the mile around 5:20something. Jessica, Suzanne and I went through at 5:37/8. Surprisingly, I felt really good.

I kept pushing myself and figured I might as well see if I could catch up to Columba and see if I could get the Lifeline prize (Ryan did that last year, so I thought it'd be really cool to do that too!). I could tell she was too far away as we turned a corner, so just tried to maintain.

Mile 2 came and went (11:25)--I qualified for State! (kidding, but I do use this as motivation for my athletes) I saw a fellow DPFT teammate and he yelled out to me, "she's fading, go get her" and, as nice as that was to hear, I just kept thinking, "do you know how big of a PR I'm already on track to get? I'm pushing as hard as I can!" It was really awesome to have that support though, so thank you:)

Mile 3 felt like THE LONGEST MILE EVER! Part of the reason for that is due to the mile being mostly the same direction the whole way (with the exception of two turns) and it just happened to be that it was into the 10-15mph wind. I just stayed mentally focused, telling myself that if I slow up now, there's no way I'll have a chance of breaking 18.

With less than a 1/2 mile to go, Dave Schaefers greets me with a huge smile and load of confidence in me. If it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't have pushed as hard as I did at the end--I was exhausted! I went through mile 3 at 17:20 (5:55 mile) and knew I had to empty my tank if I wanted to break 18. I now know how Mary (one of my studs that I coach at WNHS) felt during her last 100m of the 3200 at Sectionals last year: it was as if I was running in slow motion. I knew I was giving everything I had, yet could not go any faster...it truly felt as if I had another mile or ten to go before the finish line!

As if the dragging last .1 wasn't bad enough, I crossed the first line right under 18, buuuuut shouldn't have stopped there. I guess the first mat was there so that they could announce you as you finish whereas the SECOND mat is the one you had to cross for your time. So, officially my results were 18:04. The curse of the "04's" continues (two years ago, everytime I tried to break 19, I'd run a 19:04, so it was a running joke with Ryan's family that I would always run an 04).

Columba ran an incredible 17:40 in the "cyclone" of wind that we had during what seemed like every part of the race! I placed second, my best by a lot at that race, and my teammates came in right after. SO cool to see all of that bright orange out there!!!

Jason won the Youth Mile and Alex barely got third (if the boy's dad wasn't there to yell at him to "kick it in, he's right on you", I think they would have pulled off a 1-2). Very fun race to see. Oh, and did I mention that Ryan won the Home Team Charity Race 10k? He won 4 tickets and a parking pass AND gets to throw out the first pitch with Jean Marinangeli (female winner) next Sunday after we race at Shamrock! He also will be getting Bulls and Hawks tickets with VIP treatment (we aren't quite sure what that means, it just sounds cool). Very fun day for us, especially since we went to the YoGo Station and Starbucks after--frozen yogurt is my weakness!

Regardless of my time, this was my favorite 5k I've ever run. I can't even describe how cool it felt to be running with my teammates, all of us leading 500some runners to the finish. It was just a mob of orange in the front! All of this was documented by Wendy Shulik (http://www.wix.com/wendysity1/milesandtrialsfilm), so very cool way to preview hopefully next weekend. The above link takes you to Wendy's Miles and Trials film which documents a bunch of really great girls as they attempt to qualify for the Olympic Trials (sub 2:46 marathon). If you have a chance, check it out--donations are greatly appreciated as this is mostly on her own funding currently!

Speaking of....next weekend is the Shamrock Shuffle! My teammates are all STUDS: Jean Marinangeli, Jessica Langford, Shannon Ring and Suzanne Ryan. I'm super pumped to race with these ladies and think we have a great shot at placing top three for the women's division team race.

March Madness... not the basketball tournament...

7, 5, 3, 1. That's all I was telling myself after last year's Cary Hillstriders 1/2 Marathon. My first year running, I was the 7th female overall. In 2009, I moved up to 5th and in 2010 I was 3rd. I will say I was joking when I told my family and Ryan that based on the numbers, I'd win this year. But I also said that before I was being coached.

Throughout this training cycle, I have yet to have a "bad workout" that runners so often complain about. Even with the hour long tempos I had to complete, I was expecting to not be fit enough. Last year, on my "easy days," I was running 7:30 pace. My coach, Cari Setzler (http://therunningdepot.com/Coaching_From_The_Running_Depot.php), is VERY knowledgeable about running, and not just "do this to run that" type stuff. She knows the science behind EVERYTHING that she has me doing and knows the importance of certain workouts and everything. So when she told me 7:30 pace for an easy run was ridiculous (Tera Moody runs 7:30 pace for easy days, and I'm WELL behind her!), I listened when she said to run easy days at 8:00-8:30 pace.

Apparently running your easy days super easy does have major benefits. My hour long tempos were able to be completed at below the pace I needed to hold for a big PR. The first tempo I ran on Ryan's treadmill because I was nervous that I couldn't hold the pace outside (plus, having TV shows to distract me seemed nice as well). The night before my next hour long tempo, I decided I didn't want to wake up at 4:15, so I'd sleep an extra 20 minutes and run the workout outside. I ended up blowing my last tempo out of the water.... I averaged 6 seconds per mile faster! After telling Cari this, she knew I was ready to PR big today.

The tricky part about the Cary 1/2 is that the first three miles are fairly flat, if not downhill, so many people make the mistake of running them fast. Boy, are they in for a surprise come miles 6-11. I did my best (Ryan too) in warning those who I knew would be running so that they didn't suffer the same fate I had during my first run here. Cari had me promise her that I would go through the first two miles at 6:30 or slower and then progress to 6:25 pace for the next four.

Mile 1: 6:40. A fellow Dick Pond-er asked me if I was using this as a training run. She then went on to PR on this crazy hilly course after dominating a stair climb yesterday. She's one tough girl!

{This had to have been near the beginning--look at that smile!!}

Mile 2: 6:31...stay focused. This is where I passed one of the girls and she started to go with me... it was SO hard not to push myself to stay ahead of her.

{Right around mile 4}

Mile 3: 6:21... in my defense, this is a HUGE downhill (the same one you go UP right before mile 10). Side note: it was down this hill that Ryan caught me (he was doing a workout since he has a BIG duathlon this upcoming weekend) and later told me that two deer came BOLTING out of the woods, saw the runners and retreated. A Hillstriders member told us at the after party that two deer came running out (not knowing Ryan had also seen this a few minutes prior) and one retreated while the other SKIDDED to a halt as a runner was jumping over the deer, narrowly hitting it with his foot. How crazy!

Mile 4: 6:26. Perfect pace. This mile is where I saw one of my 7th grade Science students from Marlowe. I was about to pass a girl as I saw him, but was unsure it was him. After I pass this girl and can no longer see him, I hear, "Go Miss Aubert!" I LOVE LOVE LOVE my job and the students I teach!

Mile 5: 6:12...yikes. There might have been quite a few of my dad's friends cheering at this point and that might have influenced me to go faster. Oops.

Mile 6: 6:24. This is up the first hill "shoe tree hill." I was surprised that I was able to keep the pace, but obviously very happy.

Mile 7: 6:39. This is the mile everyone dreads. After you go up a decent hill, you reach a school and that is 1/2 way. Of course I looked at my watch to see 42minutes. I was happy with that and just kept plowing along. Funny thing was, it was exactly this point last year where I passed a former Woodstock High School boy runner, so after the race he came and talked to me about how crazy it was. Next year, I'm haulin' him with me:)

Mile 8: 6:25. Back on track. Thank goodness. I was worried for a second....until Cari told me I needed to run a 1:23 today if I wanted to run a 2:46 marathon. Eek! Run faster!!!

Mile 9: 6:09. I again saw my student John, was so touched he was still out cheering for all of the runners. How many 12 year olds do that from 8:45am-10:00am? This is the extremely flat part of the course too, so I pushed a little hard here. Plus Cari motivated me quite a bit;)

Mile 10: 6:48. If anyone needs a good hill repeat hill, use this one! It will kick your butt for the 2+ minutes it takes you to get up it. Oh, and it's never ending.

Mile 11: 6:27. Ryan started running his cooldown from his workout at this point, so I had him pretty nearby the entire time. It was really nice since he had a specific pace to stay at, so I could gauge how I was doing based on how close he was to me.

Mile 12: 6:26. It was here that I knew I could break 1:25. I was fairly confident throughout the race that it was possible, but I was also uncertain how the wind and rain would affect me. While passing through mile stop 12, the girls cheering me on really motivated me...I started running sub 6 pace. Thanks girls!

{Right around the finish... the next picture is cooler with the stoplight in it!}

{Pretty neat picture with the stoplight and rain!}

Mile 13: 6:17. SO much energy. All I wanted to do was haul it in. I could see the finish, it was starting to downpour, and my legs were getting pretty tired.

{Literally everything I had!}

.1: 52seconds. My dad and mom (who both came up to me, despite having race duties, right away to hug me and put an umbrella over my head and get me warm clothes) said I looked like one of the guys surrounding me sprinting in. This is super surprising to anyone who has seen me run before because you KNOW I have zero "kick" at the end. I don't know what got into me.... I was just so excited to have finally won my dad's race! I don't think I've ever seen him so proud in my life. I can honestly say that it is pretty high up in my rankings of important and meaningful days in my life. There is no feeling that can beat making your family proud.

Hopefully I can get pictures of this race soon. It was my first time racing as a Saucony Hurricane! My dad was able to spot me from far away with my bright orange arm warmers! Our uniforms really stand out AND they match the Dick Pond Fast Track Racing Team's uniforms, so it's incredible to see the mass of orange at the start line. I am looking forward to not only racing (and training!) with the DPFT team but also meeting my Hurricane teammates.

Thank you SO much to everyone for the congratulations and wonderful comments. It means the world to me to have such supportive family and friends. I could not have done this race without your support and faith in me. Speaking of faith, I've been reading the Bible (yes, I downloaded an "app") and the verse I read the other day from Matthew was about asking God and you will receive. Nothing like seeing God's word in action. Amazing.

Next up: Race That's Good for Life 5k.

Indoor!

While looking over my training during the cruise, I had noticed that my coach was planning on having me do two indoor track meets. One meet was going to be a Masters USATF sanctioned event, so I wasn't too worried, while the other was going to be a college race, which I did worry a little bit about. I did my research and saw there usually weren't too many females in the Masters races compared to men, so I figured I'd do okay; the college race, I wasn't so sure about. I mean, these girls are TRAINING for this kind of stuff... I was just hopping in a race to see where my fitness was at after the longest training week of my season.

The first Indoor meet I participated in was the Masters meet. Well, it was worse than I figured: there were ZERO girls signed up besides me. I was put in the 1500 race with the men. I figured it would be alright as I would just try to stay up with as many as I could. I ran my warmup inside as it had started snowing pretty hard, was all warmed up and ready right at 10 (like they had said), and they didn't start until 10:30. I was pretty antsy doing my strides and trying to keep myself warmed up. The first lap was a shocker: right away I could feel my throat on fire (which I assume happens to everyone during indoor?). I went through in 35, which was 1 second faster than my coach wanted me to. Shoot. I held back a little and just ran the rest of the race at a pace I could hold. It was pretty frustrating to go around the guys just to have them then try to pass me again...I felt like I could never really get a strong sense of how I was doing and what my speed was. Anyway, with one lap to go, I sprinted and passed a few guys and almost caught the second "lead" group. I actually continued to the "100" so Ryan could get my mile time. 5:30. I guess that's what you have to expect after running a 16-miler on the Friday before and closing the week with 62 (an all-time high) miles. We knew I'd be tired going into this, but I will say that I didn't give up:)

University of Chicago Meet
The next meet I participated in was three weeks later at the University of Chicago. A huge thanks goes out to Eric Wallor for getting us in the meet. For the mile, there were probably 12 girls running in my heat. I felt much better going into this race than the prior mile, so I knew I could be up near the top. I had Eric seed me at 5:25 just to make sure I got in the fast heat. The first lap was terrible: the girls TOOK OFF and I was immediately boxed in. Because I had seen the other girls' seed times, I KNEW I had to get out. I sprinted the first straight away so that I could get ahead of them before the second curve. Turns out, I didn't need to do that, and I paid for it. The next laps I stayed strong and pretty close to a girl. With one lap to go, I heard Ryan yell at me to pass her...usually when he says things like that, I just shrug it off, but I was feeling good and confident and passed her quickly. I ended up finishing in 5:20 flat, exactly what my coach wanted. I ended up going 71, 2:36, 3:59, 5:20. I was happy with it as it was very close to what I was doing my freshman year in high school, yet I did it while marathon training. Oh and did I mention that Ryan ran a 4:20 mile with little competition? If he could focus on running, I honestly think we could see him in the Olympics....

2011: Snow Fun Run

What is there to say about Snow Fun besides that it is hands down the best after-party ANY race could ever have (and Shamrock Shuffle with the Giuliano's is pretty darn fun).

I went into this race not knowing at all what to expect. All of my training for the past 12 days had been on a treadmill on a ship (went on a cruise with Ryan's family), so I'm not sure how my legs, or better yet my lungs, would respond to the cold weather back home.

I told myself to take the first mile slower... hard to do when the first half is downhill. I went out in a 6:10. I was thinking 6:15, but attributed excitement to that 5 seconds. My next mile was a 6:08, a pretty flat mile, so I was a bit surprised that I had actually increased the pace. My lungs were definitely feeling it and I was coughing quite a bit (just ask Dave Schaefers--poor guy heard me coughing the whole time!). Third mile was a 6:09... I was pretty proud of myself for maintaining still, especially since there is a slight hill at the turn-around in mile three. Mile four was a 6:11, so still not bad. And then comes mile five... remember the hills we went down? Yeah, we get to go back up those when we hit mile five. I just tried to push my way up (plus there was a guy right in front and in back of me, so I made it a goal to pass the guy in front and not let the guy in back get me since hills aren't exactly my strong suit), and I stayed in front of both of them. I checked my watch and realized if I gave it everything I had, I could break 31 (the last time I ran Snow Fun, 2008, I ran a 32:09, so I was hoping to be well under that). I finished in 31:10, respectable, but a 6:14 average meaning I slowed a LOT on that last mile.

I was still happy with it as it indicates that running Shamrock in 30 is definitely doable and something to shoot for.

The after party: Ryan ALMOST won the Hunk Dance (as Danielle said, the old guy winning over Ryan was, "like the fat girl winning homecoming queen: pure sympathy votes" haha). So Ryan came in with two seconds, I had a third, and a HECK of a good time with the Hillstriders, Nic and his crazy college friends, Ryan and his aunts and Danielle. Too bad Snow Fun isn't every month;)

Next race: Indoor Meet TBA in February

Updates/2010 race recap

Updates!
Well, I haven't been on my blog for awhile (although I have created new posts, I haven't been able to publish them, but we got the computer fixed so I think problems are solved!). I will start by saying that, in general, 2010 was definitely not as awesome as 2009 was.

In 2009, I ended the year with a 2:56:58 Chicago Marathon, shocking and impressing a lot of family and friends along the way. I always run the Memphis Marathon to see two of my friends from college, so decided to still do that. I ended up running a 3:05, good enough for 5th place, but had to stop and walk a few times... I guess that's what happens after you run your PR by 15minutes 6 weeks prior... Well, turns out that was good enough for 5th place, just barely missing the prize money. Ryan also just barely missed the prize money (in his case, the top three guys got DQd since they ran the ending of the 5k course but still got money because it wasn't their fault, and then the next 3 males got money as well--Ry was one or two places off!). SO, we decided to look into prize money marathons.

Mercedes Marathon 2010
I will first admit that this probably wasn't the smartest move ever, but you have to remember that Ryan and I like winning money at races because we would eventually like to be able to save all of that money and get a condo together. So, we found one: Mercedes Marathon on Valentine's Day weekend. How romantic? For us, yes. We were hooked up: the hotel was a 5star hotel AND was literally a block from the start of the race. The only downside is that the town is pretty vacant at night, and we might have been a little scared for our lives while walking around looking for a dinner place!

Anyway, we had looked at the entry list the night before at the expo and Ryan decided to jump into the 1/2 instead of the full. Probably a great idea for both him and for me. The course was a two-loop course, so Ryan ran a few miles with me around mile 13 to kind of recap his race. He did GREAT! Now it was my turn... Ryan said as soon as he saw me, he saw "the face." "The face" is an expression I get when I'm just dead tired and think I can't go any longer (I no longer do that!). He was a little nervous for me, but knew I could make it through. When I saw him a mile from the finish, I got SO excited and started going a little faster. I even passed a female that was pretty far ahead of me. I ended up placing 4th with a 3:00:49. I was VERY upset with my time because during mile 3, my Garmin clocked me at a 5:55 (which I obviously knew meant it was short), and so to make up for this, the last .2 was actually .5, which ended up making the course long! I was very upset as I knew from mile 13 on that if I continued my pace, I'd easily break 3 again. Oh well, I got 4th place, good enough for $350, which was definitely needed.

Boston Marathon 2010
Again, 2010 was not my best (or smartest) year. Ryan and I had already registered to run Boston, which was 2 months after Mercedes. However, I don't regret any of it. Boston was AMAZING and one of those races that you really just have to do for the experience. It was even more meaningful to me as my students were learning about the exact things I was seeing! I took a TON of pictures and the kids loved them:) Race morning, Ryan told me that he was going to go out with the leaders and just hang for as long as he could. TV stations and photographers captured the moment and it is REALLY cool to see your boyfriend running with RYAN HALL and the likes. After about 2.5 miles, he came back to me. We had decided that I would start off at sub-3 pace and just hold it for as long as I could. I thought I'd make it about half way as my legs I could tell were still not fully recovered (although really, what can you expect when you do Chicago, Memphis, Mercedes then Boston in a matter of 6 months!). I made it to about 12 miles and Ryan said it just wasn't worth it. He could tell my breathing had become much more labored and that I was going to exhaust myself if I kept trying to push for sub-3. He was right. He always is. He helped me to be okay with running 7:30s the rest of the way. If I hadn't had Ryan with me, I'm sure the rest of my 2010 year would have been so messed up.

Galena Du--PRO CARD!
About a month after Boston, Ryan and I went to Galena to run in a du/tri in hopes of me earning my Pro card. I did! The year-long bike workout plan (plus the computrainer) helped me to earn my Pro card! It was amazing:) And, the winners got a bottle of champagne and a great prize package at Chestnut Mountain, which we later used in October.

FIRST HALF IRONMAN--Buffalo Springs Lake, June 2010
Ryan had convinced me to do a 1/2 Ironman earlier this year. I had never been to Texas, so I figured what the heck (kidding, Ryan was already signed up, so I signed up too). We had been using the computrainer a lot, but I had never actually finished the course. We drove through THE WORST weather I had ever experienced, so were happy when we finally arrived. WOW, was it hot! I didn't know how I'd survive. On race day, my swim was better than normal (Jess, I credit you for your patience with me in the water!), my bike helped me pass a TON of girls, and my run was one of the best female runs overall! On the run, I knew (it was kind of an out and back course) that I was 5th place going into it. I passed one girl pretty quickly. The next one took a bit more work (although, to be honest, I didn't think I'd pass her at all since I saw her wearing a college uniform and she looked TOUGH--I also later found out she's really good!). With 2 miles to go, I surged around this girl and she went with me for a bit but fell back. I really thought I wouldn't be able to keep ahead. It just goes to show you what kind of race these 1/2 Ironman events are! The final girl, I saw her at 1.5 miles to go. I was pretty sore from surging past the previous girl, and I knew the one that was right ahead. She was on the U of I team, not the same year Ryan was, but they knew each other. He had told me before that her run was where she struggled at in the beginning but he's pretty sure I could beat her. So, literally .5 to go, I am finally right on her tail to pass her... she goes "You're Ryan's girlfriend, aren't you?" and I answered yes (what, was I going to lie?) and she SPRINTED. I mean SPRINTED. I tried to go with her, but almost fell over. She beat me by 9 seconds and qualified for Kona. Moral of the story: wait until the very end to pass someone that you don't know! It was still a fun experience and I can't wait until 2012/2013 to compete in some more!

Steelhead 1/2 Ironman--July 2010
Well, I knew going into this one that I wasn't as ready as I had been for BSL. I had stopped doing a lot of swimming due to my work schedules and just wasn't mentally in it. The swim was awful. I was one of the last waves and, even though I was happy to be passing people, got kicked in the face a LOT and my goggles kept coming off. Onto the bike... it was raining. Not quite what I like, but just like at PowerMan Alabama (I didn't write about this one: it was in March and one of the hardest races I have ever done, especially since the whole bike was in the rain and on HUGE hills--one male racer was taken away by an ambulance), I knew that if I raced smart and slowed a little, I'd be okay. Definitely could tell I hadn't been biking NEARLY as much as when I raced BSL, but my run was something to be semi-proud of. 1:34 1/2 marathon... although it wasn't one of the fastest (2nd in my age group), I'm still proud of it since I didn't give up.

During the summer, I had been offered a teaching job in Memphis and Ryan had been offered a job by PowerBar. Ryan accepted his job and I turned down mine. Throughout the summer, I took on WAY too many jobs as I hadn't even been offered a teaching job yet. My training really suffered and before I knew it, it was the weekend of the Wisconsin Ironman (which Ryan was both racing and working at) and I had yet to get a 20miler in (this is the second weekend of September--yep, BAD news). I rocked out an AWESOME 20 miler (10miles at Marathon Pace, 10 miles regular) but definitely felt the effects of it for awhile.

Chicago Marathon
I will start by saying that Chicago has always been a HUGE hit or miss for me. 2007 (yes, the year of the terrrrrrible heat that they closed it down because of) was my first Chicago and the only goal was to finish it with dad. 2008 was again a hot year and I blew up at mile 16 with blisters bleeding through my shoes. Thank God Nic and his college friend Dan were there, because I thought I was just going to drop out (after medical wrapped up my feet and drained the remaining blisters, I finished the marathon painfully). 2009 was the best year ever, and then there was 2010. I 100% blame myself: I raced in a pro duathlon race the weekend before (I was wanting to show that I deserved to be a pro as I had yet to race anything pro yet). Obviously, I wasn't recovered and, with doing minimal marathon training, I suffered within the first two miles. My legs felt dead. I told myself I have to finish: Nic is doing his first one, we are doing it in memory of grandma and grandpa Swift, and dad is doing it too. Unfortunately, as soon as I saw Ryan's friend John working the aid station at mile 12, I dropped. I was heaving and almost passed out; I called mom to let her know, and she was glad I was smart about it.

Monumental Marathon as a training run?
Since Chicago was so bad, I contacted Cari Setzler, who I had trained with for Chicago 2009. She told me I needed to find a coach that wasn't myself and wasn't my boyfriend. I immediately started searching but realized how expensive coaches are when you don't have a full-time job. Even with my teaching salary, I could have afforded a coach, but just making money through subbing (which is so unreliable), I couldn't. Thank God Cari is the awesome person she is: we worked out a deal and she started coaching me. The first thought was if I would run a marathon for 2010 or just start training for 2011. Of course, being the competitive person I am, I told her I wanted to run a marathon for the confidence that I can still run sub-3. We decided on Memphis as it was a course I was familiar with and I could easily compare my time to the past two years. I treated Monumental as a training run, but was feeling SO good (and in the company of other Fast Trackers) that I wish I would have completed it. I guarantee I would have easily broken 3, probably close to a 2:55. But, it was a training run.

Memphis Marathon
What is it with my bad luck with hot marathons? Memphis is NEVER hot. Never. The START of this year's marathon was 55...that's like almost a record high for Memphis in the morning in December (no joke). Obviously, my feet weren't used to this (I had tried new shoes since the ones I wore at Chicago tore up my feet) and at mile 8, I got the SAME blisters I had in Chicago 2008... I dropped out. I have never had a more disappointing year in running. It's not like me to drop out of a race, but having a coach helps you think differently. We had decided that if I wasn't feeling it, I wouldn't finish it. No point in having to delay our 2011 training by "half-assing" a marathon in 2010.

So... 2010 wasn't the best year for running. Quite frankly, with my two wonderful grandparents passing, it wasn't the best year of anything for me. I was not very focused and pretty negative throughout the August-October as my grandparents and their support meant so much to my family and me. However, I know that God is taking care of them and everything happens for a reason.

BRING ON 2011!