Marathon 2013 Dreams- The Oregon Marathon

Hi everyone! In a little over 3 days I will be having a baby. That means it's time to plan my races for the year. :-) That is what keeps me sane after I have a baby. Plus, I am antsy to get back out and exercise after taking a few months off.

So, it is perfect timing to find out about the new Oregon Marathon. This is a race that is put on by Uberthons. I have participated in many of their races and their timing system is unbelievable!!

http://www.uberthons.com/theoregonmarathon

Tomorrow is a one day price of $75 to register. After that, it will be $90. Who is in? Oregon is a beautiful place to run and the weather should be perfect. If you are coming from a higher altitude, then you will have quite the advantage.

Let me know if you sign up. Sarah, you better sign up! :-)

I would love to hear what other races you are all training for and excited about. Let's get this blog going again. I need motivation!

Can't wait to run with these guys again! (Well, at least start with them. It will be a while before I run WITH them!)

26 Reasons to Run 26 Miles: An Invitation to Run a Memorial Marathon for Sandy Hook Elementary

To all the marathon moms, I want to invite you to dedicate your next marathon, whenever that will be, mile by mile, to each of the twenty-six innocent children and educators killed in Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut this past Friday morning. Our endurance will be but for a few hours, but the families and friends of these victims will have to endure for a lifetime.

If you are looking for a reason to run a marathon, here is a reason for each mile:

1. Charlotte Bacon, age 6
2. Daniel Barden, age 7
3. Olivia Engel, age 6
4. Josephine Gay, age 7
5. Ana Marquez-Greene, age 6
6. Dylan Hockley, age 6
7. Madeleine Hsu, age 6
8. Catherine Hubbard, age 6
9. Chase Kowalski, age 7
10. Jesse Lewis, age 6
11. James Mattioli, age 6
12. Grace McDonnell, age 7
13. Emilie Parker, age 6
14. Jack Pinto, age 6
15. Noah Pozner, age 6
16. Caroline Previdi, age 6
17. Jessica Rekos, age 6
18. Avielle Richman, age 6
19. Benjamin Wheeler, age 6
20. Allison Wyatt, age 6
21. Rachel Davino, a Teacher
22. Dawn Hochsprung, the School Principal
23. Anne Marie Murphy, a Teacher
24. Lauren Rousseau, a Teacher
25. Mary Sherlach, the School Psychologist
26. Victoria Soto, a Teacher

If you like, please leave a comment indicating which marathon you will dedicate to Sandy Hook.

Any St George Runners?

I will be running St George in a couple of weeks and bringing some friends from Oregon with me! First off, my cute husband, Jeff will be running his very first marathon- woo hoo! Also coming is Annie, who I met through this blog and is now one of my close friends and she is going to rock St George!! There are a bunch of other men coming from Oregon to run also. We have all been training together (well, me somewhat training- I have had a few setbacks!) by running down a mountain every week. We hope it will get us ready for the downhill. I am most excited to see my long lost running buddy, the famous Suziepetunia! She is currently living in Utah and is meeting us in St George. Oh, how I have missed her and I can't wait to catch up! So, who will be joining us for this awesome race? I love the St George Marathon. It will be my 3rd time running it and my 10th marathon! What is everyone else training for?

Still here!

Are you running?? I totally dropped the ball on the weekly mileage posts. Actually, all blogging has ceased since we moved last month. My home computer is sitting in the corner of our little condo and I haven't been able to upload pictures to any blogs on my iPad so I'm taking a break. The first few weeks here running also took a break. I didn't have any workout clothes so I wore my husband's clothes for a week. Yes, that was quite the sight so I limited myself to running in the wee hours of the morning so few would see me. The second week some of our boxes arrived so I now have running clothes, my Garmin, etc. yet, running was still tough after several weeks off from regular running. But I feel things changing! I was able to run just under 8 miles earlier this week and today's 4.5 miler was quick and easy. It feels so good to be running again! Tomorrow night I'll join the local running group for a fun run. It's going to be deathly hot but I need to find some new running partners. Any of you in Corvallis, Oregon?? I have no races planned, at the moment, but am leaning towards running CIM (Sacramento) again in December. It was such a great event and weekend -- and best of all, my running peeps from Carlsbad, Calif. will meet me there.

Monday Miles: 6/11 - 6/17

How was your week? Please share! It motivates everyone.

Monday Miles: 6/4 - 6/10

How was your week? 

Full Circle

On Saturday I ran the Newport Marathon for the 4th time. Apparently, I like it! :-) I love that it is my altitude and I commented that it is like an old friend to me. It was my first marathon in 2005. I had a baby in October 2004 and needed a goal to get me exercising through the winter. Somehow I decided running a marathon was the answer. I had a fantastic training cycle. I followed Hal Higdon's beginner program to the "t" and never missed a day of running. I was constantly amazed by my ability to complete each new distance. I trusted Mr. Higdon. I had a great 20 miler and felt fantastic going into the race. All my training miles were around a 10minute pace. My thought was that I would finish in 4:30. I did my first mile at 8:50 and just kept going at that pace. I felt good and thought I would be fine.  Unfortunately, by mile 7 this speed caught up with me and my lungs and heart rebelled. I had to run/walk the last 19 miles- finishing in 5:11. 2:10 for the first half and 3 hours for the second half. I was so disappointed because it was not what I expected. Luckily, I realized that I could do better than that and I learned a lot from my experience. Mostly, not to start out at what you haven't trained for!

7 years and 8 marathons later, my personal best is a 3:48 (run in Newport in 2008). This year, I had a miscarriage in January and was devastated. I handled my disappointment by signing up for the Newport Marathon on February 1st. I had almost 18 weeks to train- a full training cycle. I knew it would be the thing to get me out of bed. (Some mornings I crawled back under the covers after my run, but at least I could do something. )

I knew my friend Stephanie was training for her first so I would have someone to run with. I also ran with my friend, Kirsten, because she was doing low heart rate training, which was the speed I needed!  It was not my easiest training cycle and I had some setbacks, but I did not give up. I tried speedwork a couple of times, but my body said no so I decided to stick with Stephanie and help her have a positive first marathon experience.

We went to Newport with Steph, Kirsten, another good friend Annie and her sister Mary (who was also running her first), and one of my close friends, Heather, who was going to be my driver after the marathon. :-) We stopped by the Outlets on the way down and had some relaxing shopping time without kids. We had a great dinner at an Italian restaurant and went back to the condo. We discussed race strategy and I again committed to running with Stephanie and just hoped I could keep up. I planned on sending her ahead if at any point she felt stronger than I.

The weather was misty- perfect racing conditions! We started out at our goal 10 minute pace. We kept that up for the first 16 miles. Mary, Steph and I were just chatting and enjoying the run. At this point, Mary and Steph were starting to feel pain in their hips. I could tell by Steph's facial expression that she was not doing well. Her family had just met up with us, so she walked with her husband for a while. Mary and I ran together for a little bit and she seemed to be feeling strong so at about mile 18 I encouraged her to go ahead and finish her race. She was hesitant to leave, but she felt good so she went ahead. Steph and I joined up and for the rest of the run Steph would run until she could no longer handle the daggers in her knees and hips, and would walk for a little bit to ease the pain for a moment. I was so impressed with her tenacity. We kept chatting and listened to music for part of it, but overall we just hung in together. At around mile 24, both my knees started aching. I began to look forward to the walk breaks. :-) Steph could feel the end close and we ran the last mile in. It was a very satisfying finish, and I felt very emotional as I relived some of my other memories from the course. We met up with our other friends and shared our stories.

I sure love the friendships that running has brought me.

 I am grateful that my body cooperated enough to let me train for this marathon. It was exactly what I needed to get through these past 4 months. Now I look forward to training for St. George with my husband Jeff. It is his first marathon and I am excited for him to experience some of the emotions I have had over these last 7 years. Boston is still my ultimate goal. :-)