Run the Reagan - February Half

Overall, my February Half Marathon 'Run the Reagan' in Atlanta, GA went well!!  This was a small race, so there aren't many photos of me, I apologize for not having many photos to put on this blog entry.

As many of you know, I was concerned about the elevation profiles and I had reason to be worried.  I went into this race thinking that I would look at it as two races: the first 9 miles and then the last 4 miles.  And I think this was a good tactic overall.  One thing I had a hard time with was settling on a goal for this race.  I wavered between a few....
1) Run all the hills no matter what and walk some in between if needed
2) Run the entire time
3) Just do better than my previous race in Auburn

I think the fact that I hadn't settled on a goal really messed with my head.  But by mile 10, I had run all the hills and had run the entire time and was actually on my way to a personal record!!  Not too shabby!  But then the uphill portion of the race descended upon me with a thud and my goals went out the window.  So, the question is... Did I make those hills my bitch?  Well, yes and no.  The rolling hills that had killed me in Auburn were easy during this race but the two long uphills for all of miles 10-12.5 really took it out of me.  I had to walk up a portion of them both.  And then I was just plain tired and had to walk/run.  So, there goes both goals #1 and #2.  And I went ahead and pushed for #3, which was easily accomplished!  Yea!!

I'm not a big fan of sharing my finishing time because of the judgement that surrounds it.  I remember reading in a magazine about Katie Holmes running a marathon and her time was pretty slow.  And I judged her.  Sure, she's richer, prettier, skinnier and married to Maverick, but at least I'm faster (not by much, but still...)!!  And then I remembered that anyone running a marathon is amazing.  But I still judged her pretty harshly.  So, out of fear of folks judging me, you'll notice that I don't talk about my times much. 

Honestly, I'm not a time person.  I'm not ruled by the clock.  I'm not ruled by a pace.  I know what my PR is for a half but have no idea what it is for a 5K or a 10K.  I try to rule myself by the 'Just Finish and have Fun!' mentality.   But after doing the last 2 half marathons (yet 10 total halfs and 2 fulls) and planning to do 10 more over the next 10mos, I'm starting to get a little ruled by the clock!  I want to be faster!  I want to push harder! Yikes!

So, here it is.  I'm going to come clean.  Feel free to judge.  But be sure to go run a hilly half marathon before you judge too harshly!   I ran a 2:22 for the Run the Reagan.  I'm not going to say what Auburn was because between the conditions and the hills, it was tough.  But lets just say I did much better for February.  My PR is 2:15.  I'm hoping to beat it sometime over the next year.  I think I can.  I'm definitely getting stronger and I'm getting faster.  So, I'll continue to be honest and let you know how it goes!

DC Rock N Roll is March!  Looking forward to it!

Making Hills Your Bitch

Back in November after the Puerto Rico Half Marathon, I promised myself and the World that I would start looking at Elevation profiles for Races.  I'm kind of wishing that I hadn't promised this, because now I'm obsessed.  I don't like hills, seriously, I hate them.  The only way I can get through them is to constantly think 'I'm going to make this hill my bitch'!  Sometimes that works, most times I get made the 'Bitch'.

This is the elevation profile for the Mercedes half marathon in Birmingham, Alabama.  Notice the 249 ft gain.  I've done this half quite a few times and there is a long huge hill that starts at mile 4 and ends around mile 8. My friend Jenfer and I always make this hill our bitch.  We get to the top where a Marching Band greets us and it might as well be playing Eye of the Tiger, cause that's what I'm hearing!  I want to jump around and shout 'Adrianne!!!'.  In fact, we run this half marathon knowing we will always run the hills.  Walking is for the flat areas.  We get all high and mighty and scoff at the walkers as we run by on hills. 

Hills aren't the only thing that can make me their bitch....Karma can also make me her bitch.

Here is the Puerto Rico Half Marathon,   190ft of Gain, which I believe means the sum of all the hills elevation.  Looks pretty hilly right?  These hills made Me their Bitch.  And that's all I have to say about that!

Here is the Auburn Half Marathon.  223ft of Gain.  I'm sure you can imagine that if 190ft of gain in Puerto Rico killed me, then yes...the Auburn hills hurt worse.  Although, they look so demure, don't they?  Made the bitch once again.

And here is the race that I'm doing this coming weekend, Feb 18th.  The Run the Reagan in Atlanta.  272ft of Gain, the worst yet!!  Arrrgggggg.....I'm not doing myself any sort of favors lately, am I? 

But I like to sandwich the bad between the good, so I'll end on this elevation profile.  Above is the original 'Make this hill my Bitch' Hill and where my hill mantra was born.  It was leg 22 of the Hood to Coast relay race in 2008.  It is almost a 400ft gain in 1.5miles.  It scared me to death.  And the only way I knew how to conquer it was to come up with a new mantra, put my head down, blast Eye of the Tiger and run.  This hill will always be special to me, it is the first hill that I truly conquered.   And I was rewarded with an awesome downhill run through the beautiful woods of Oregon.  One of the best runs of my life.

Back to the task at hand.  THIS weekend.  I'm going to approach this race as two races.  The first 9 miles and then the 'other part'.  I'm going to think of how much I'll enjoy those first 9 miles and how wonderful they will be.  How calm and serene I will be...  And then once I get past mile 9, I'm going to start thinking about making that last huge 4 mile hill my bitch.  Wouldn't it be empowering to know that I ran all the way up that last hill?  Probably time to make sure 'Eye of the Tiger' is on my playlist.  I'm gonna need it!

Bradying

I rarely post something two days in a row.  Mainly because I can't imagine anyone would want to know what is going on in my life THAT much!  But, I realized last night that I rarely post about the physicality of my actual runs.   So, let me tell you about my run last night...

It was awful.  Every runner knows that sometimes you have that day where nothing lines up correctly.  It was a cold, windy, rainy dark night...I was running alone and I have been sick this week.  But every now and then, the consistent culprit of my 'awful' runs sneaks up on me with a vengeance.  And that culprit is my calves.  They seize up like rocks and every step is fairly painful.  I have to stop and stretch them almost every quarter of a mile until they finally loosen up at mile 2ish.  I've found a pretty sure fire way to prevent this and it is a combination of Yoga, Foam Rolling, Compression socks, Calf strengthening exercises, good nutrition and 2 Aleve!  None of which I did last night.  Oh, how arrogant I've become!

So, my calves threw a tantrum that rivaled that of a spoiled 4 year old in a toy store.  I guess I haven't been giving them enough attention lately.  Add in the fact that the environment was harsh and my mind was already in a crappy place.  I never give up.  But last night, I gave up at 2.5 miles and went home.  Hence the Bradying reference. 

Because if I could, I would have sat down in the middle of the road in my stylish running skirt/reflector jacket and Bradyed. 

Every runner has these days.  I've been lucky that they are few and far in between recently.  It is hard to overcome the fear that my next run will be similar to the last.  It is hard to not be angry that I didn't get in my 4 allotted miles.  The best I can do is accept some humility, thank my body for the 2.5 miles it gave me, make adjustments and try try try again.

Sick...and Tired

Let's get one thing straight, I'm not sick and tired of my 12in12in2012 challenge.  I'm just sick....and also tired.  The flu hit me this past weekend after a long 11.5 mile run and even though I had my flu shot, it still hit me fairly hard.  Enough to call in sick to work and then sleep A LOT.  Enough to want to sleep all day, every day.  And enough to feel it necessary to skip a few workouts.  And I mean 3 workouts.  1 run and 2 yoga sessions. But who's counting? 

I hate missing workouts and I hate being sick.  I was on a nice little routine last week... eating healthy, running in the mornings, getting it ALL done.  Being a champ.  A champ in complete control.  That sure felt good.  And now here I am in this week....eating crap, sick, missing workouts and not getting it done.  Life sure is frustrating sometimes.  Although I know it is unrealistic, I'd like to just blame the world for the injustice that is me getting sick and missing my workouts.  Fortunately for the World, I wasn't raised to blame my issues on anyone other than myself. And there are voices in my head that keep asking 'Isn't this your own fault somehow?'.

So, maybe it is my fault.  Maybe I should take more vitamins, maybe I should drink more water, maybe I should force a recovery day after a long run, maybe I shouldn't take so much on in general, maybe I shouldn't have been around my husband when he was sick, maybe maybe maybe...

But maybe life just throws us curve balls.  Almost everyday we receive a curve ball to the face with our name on it.  Some days we dodge it, some days it smacks us pretty cleanly.   I consider myself to have been smacked in the face the past few days.  While I'd like to go home tonight and take (yet another) nap, I'm going to go for a run instead.  It will most likely suck.  I'm not sure if my body is ready for it, but my mind is.  I'd like to salvage this week if possible before the next curve ball comes hurtling my way.