Back at E.I.U

Eastern Illinois University has always stood for one thing in my mind: State track meet.

This year, EIU had an even bigger impact on me than in years past. After going to state Freshman year, I had just assumed that it's what you do to end the season. I never realized how difficult it was to qualify for State until I started coaching.

Last year, my distance stud missed qualifying by 3 seconds. It was the most devastating race I have ever watched in my life: 300m to go, on pace; 200m to go, 45 seconds to finish; 100m to go, 22 seconds to finish. Those 22 seconds turned into 25 and was the most agonizing 25seconds of my life. It was as if my runner had hit a gust of wind that was just holding her back. She had no idea how close she was to qualifying. She literally gave EVERYTHING she had; collapsing at the finish line, she grabbed the watch from my neck and saw the time. She burst into tears and we had to carry her off the track. I promised her that if she worked hard this summer, she would qualify for State in Cross Country and Track (although I was not the XC coach, I did trust that he could keep her in the shape she was in--he did and she qualified for State in XC).

This year, she had many setbacks and obstacles in her way: her knee cap randomly doubled in size over Spring Break, causing her to miss 10 days of running and she got Laryngitus the week of Conference. However, this year there was another distance stud as well.

My Junior used to be a soccer player, but decided to go out for track this year. In her first meet, she actually ran against Ryan's freshman cousin in the pouring rain. They were neck and neck and literally ran the same overall 5:54, but I knew that I had a lot of talent that I was working with. She continually improved her times throughout the season: when I finally put her into a meet completely fresh, she ran a 5:40 (on Monday). The next time she was put into a meet fresh (Thursday of the same week) was Conference, where she ran a 5:32. After Conference, I told her dad how close she was for qualifying for State (time standard is 5:25). This runner has a "whatever" kind of attitude, in a good way. She never puts pressure on herself and just listens to you-- the most coachable athlete I've ever had. I could tell her "get up with the girl in green" and she'd be up there in less than 5 seconds. She is just incredible.

Up next: Sectionals. My Junior tells me she has a game plan: 1:24, 2:37, 4:02, 5:24. Her first lap was a 1:24, second was 2:38 ("you need to get up with the girl in green" and she does), 4:01 ("you have to get around x, x, and x if you want to go to State, GO, GO, GO!!")... 5:23. Incredible. 10 second PR. Who does that in a 1600m race?!

In addition to our 1600m runner that qualified for State, we also qualified a Discus girl. I remember last year when I started coaching track at Woodstock North, her dad called me to tell me that his daughter is state-qualifier material and will be there, if not this year, next for sure. Unfortunately, throwing isn't my specialty, but we did have a throwing coach on the boys side. He worked hard with this girl and she did end up qualifying for State this year. She just continuously improved this year and always had a good attitude; she was fun to watch when I was actually able to!

So, at the State meet.... After driving the 4.5 hours to EIU from Woodstock, we warmed up on the track/disc area. The girls seemed pretty pumped to be there. When we went to check in at the hotel, I ran out to get my license and the female receptionist says to the male, "Make sure it shows she's 21." Why being 21 was relevant, I am still unsure, but the girls got a kick out of the fact that, despite JUST turning 25 the week before, I was being questioned as to if I was old enough to drink?

The hotel that we were staying at was THE SAME ONE I STAYED AT MY FRESHMAN YEAR. Definitely had tears in my eyes when making that realization. I told the girls that there was a Dollar General behind our hotel (there still was) and that we used to decorate our rooms with streamers and such in celebration of being at State. Well, my assistant coach wasn't there yet, so they asked if we could decorate his room....so we went to Dollar General and had a good time putting streamers up in his room.

We then went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant, the girls' choice. A sign on the table said something about a Buffet, I thought it was "Birthday Buffet" and it actually said "Sunday Buffet".... I apparently can't read. But next thing I know, the freshman that we brought along for experience had told the waitor that it was my 21st birthday and they are bringing me a sombrero, shot of tequila and singing! CRAZY! We poured the tequila into the salsa (I hate looking like I don't appreciate things, but I was NOT going to drink any sort of alcohol on a school related function, despite how much crap my family and friends gave me!).

I really enjoyed spending time with the girls in a different setting than as a coach. We ended our night verifying that my assistant would be taking down our wonderful streamers (he thought it was funny and appreciated the hard work). The only reason I even mention this is because we actually got charged a "repainting the ceiling" fee from the staff taking down the streamers and paint being pulled off. None of us believe this but when it's their word against yours, what can you do.

Back to State. Well, as usual, it was a HOT one. My 1600 girl was not used to the heat, or starting out fast (I told her they'd go out in a 1:14/15 since she was in Heat 1; they went in 1:14) and it really hurt her in the final lap. She was still on pace to make Finals in the third lap, but the fast start (or the 80some degree weather!) really hurt her final lap. The disc girl did qualify for Finals--she hadn't really expected to I don't think, and wasn't prepared for it as she was Valedictorian and graduation was Saturday at 7pm!

That night (Friday night), there was a coach's race (open to any non-competing athlete or coach)that the girls had wanted to wach me do. The meet was supposed to start at 8pm. Order of events: girls 100, boys 100, girls 400, boys 400, girls 800, boys 800, combined 1600, girls 300hurdles, boys 300hurdles. Well, the first (of four) head of the girls 100 didn't start until 8:15, so I was already all warmed up for my 1600. I tried staying loose but it was hard. The 1600 was going to start at 9:15....the FIRST heat started then. Figured that I was NOT one of the 20 in that heat. Oh well. I tried my best to be patient and not get mad. Afterall, this was for fun (but I just kept thinking that the girls needed to get dinner and I was holding them back!). I finally ran close to 9:30. I ran a 5:24, which for all things considered (being outside coaching and watching the meet all day, warming up an hour prior) wasn't bad. hey, at least I still qualified for the 2A state track meet!

Saturday, my disc girl threw placed at her seed place for the finals (11th) and made it back just in time to give her Valedictorian speech. Also on Saturday, Kayla Beattie (one of the best female high school distance runners EVER) dominated in the 3200 (9:56) and 1600 (4:46 or 4:43-- I can't remember now after the crazy weekend).

Overall, what a difference being a coach versus athlete makes. I really enjoyed myself and am so glad that my girls had a good time as well. Hopefully, they'll be making the trip again next year too!

Palos 1/2 marathon

I have never appreciated my teammates as much as I did after the Palos 1/2 marathon.

Ryan's big race (Elite Duatlon Nationals) was the Saturday before my Sunday 1/2. I was so excited/nervous for him but had to control my nerves as we were at Kristi's bridal shower. I can't even explain how sad I was for Ryan when I got his message. He had no power on the bike and was just exhausted. Putting on the race just last weekend really took a toll on him he said.

My running the week after putting on our Egg Shell Shuffle race wasn't the best. I thought I'd be fine though since mine was just running whereas Ryan's was running and biking.

I got to the race 45minutes before. I found my teammate Meg Sullivan right away and she graciously offered me a place to put my bag during the race (parking was somewhat far away). After getting my bib and packet, I went for a mile warmup, did a few drills and strides and found Meg again at the start line.

Looking around, I saw Erin Moffett (incredible), Columba Montes (the nicest person ever, and very fast too) and one other girl that I thought I had seen before. Turns out these three would be the lead pack for a good portion of the race.

I started the race conservatively like Cari had asked and ran two 6:25s. She wanted me to wait until mile 6 to really start cutting down, which was perfect since the wind was coming at us for the first portion of the race. By mile 3, I was up with Meg and her pack. I tucked in and ran with them....it was really fun to run with two teammates!

Right around mile 6, I remembered that I didn't have my gel (I put it in my back pocket..... of my pants, not shorts, ugh) so I better start taking some Powerade. I also started having a real upset stomach. I saw a bathroom and thought about stopping, but didn't want to get out of the pack of four I was in.

Right around mile 8, I really started feeling my stomach hurting. I knew I had to find a bathroom. I was on pace to run a low 1:23, possibly high 1:22, and my stomach was getting me. So frustrating. I saw another bathroom just before mile 9 and just had to stop. To make things worse, a lady was in there...and took five hours to come out. I stopped my watch--it took me :52 seconds to wait for her and then go myself. Great.

The last 3.5 miles were not great. I went 6:21, 6:22, 6:26 after previously going 6:21, 6:26, 6:26, 6:23, 6:17, 6:31, 6:15, 6:12, 6:20, 6:17 and 6:21. Definitely a disappointment to be running the slower pace that I had at the start of the race, but I don't think I would have been able to complete the race if I didn't stop when I did.

To my surprise, I still ran a 1:24:55 official time despite my bathroom break. Even more shocking was the fact that I was the 5th overall female!

The best part of this day was running with Meg, Shannon and the guys. They were SO supportive of me and proud of me, despite not having the best day. It is unreal how supportive teammates can be and how just a simple cooldown with them can totally change your day around. I am very blessed to have the great teammates I do in my life. Thanks, friends!

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....