2nd Half Marathon - The race part!

As I drove into the city towards Miller Park it was dark, raining and lightening. Ideal race day conditions, no? I saw Noah (from my Team Challenge Napa team) as soon as I got out of the car, which eased my nerves a bit. Once I got into the stadium I heard from Marty and went to find where he was sitting. I got to see a bunch of familiar faces (Hi Krista, Ro, & Rica!). Met some more people in real life that I've known via the Twitter for a while. And got to chat away the nerves while they announced the 30 minute delay to the start. I left my head phones in one place and my spi belt buckle in another. Fortunately while I scattered my race needs all over the stadium people picked up after me and kept me in one piece.

I was nervous as we headed to the starting line. Marty stayed with me right up until I took place in the corral, thankfully. (Also maybe because I had a look like, "I'll run the hell away from that race if I'm left out of anyone's sight. Maybe.) They counted down, the rain let up and we were off. It literally only rained for the first few steps of the race and then it was over. The clouds and wind stayed, but at least the rain was gone. (I was SUPER nervous about running in the rain.) I spent pretty much all of the first mile telling myself to slow down. (My second biggest fear was running too fast at the start and running out of gas.) I saw Marty at mile one and he asked for a pace, I reluctantly told him it was faster than planed and as I expected he told me to slow down. Before I knew it I was 3 miles into the race. I felt a little pinching in my toe for that first 5k and thought maybe I had cut myself, but just kept running. (Turns out I had a hang nail, it was cutting my toe next to it. Only discovered when I took off my shoes hours later and saw blood. Now I'm a real runner complete with bloody shoes.) Aside from the occasional wind - mostly when crossing bridges, the weather actually ended up cooperating quite well. I'd rather be on the cooler side rather than sweating and hardly breathing!

Around mile 6 I started to get a little tired. Had a little pep talk with myself - it was my mind getting tired, not my body and kept trucking along. I think I saw Marty around this part of the race and he shook his head and said, "What the fuck?!" obviously he had done some Marty Math and figured out I was ahead of our projected pace. Next question was "How do you feel?" I said I felt great (post-self-pep-talk) so I didn't even get scolded for running faster than planned. I cried just a little bit here. I was feeling good, made my coach proud and was able to feel good about the second half. Our pacing plan said I could slow back down at mile 10 so I kept with that pace for a few more miles. At mile 7 I told myself, just six more miles! (And then had a little giggle to myself about how this clearly means I've gone full blown runner crazy. ONLY six more miles.)

As I came around the corner, closing in on the Miller Valley I saw Amy on the street corner waving her sign full of smiles! I can't tell you how invigorating that was at that time. Aside from the police (who were absolutely wonderful about cheering for us) and Marty I hadn't seen a familiar face and was THRILLED to see her. And her sign reminding me there was beer to be had at the end! I stopped to give her a quick hug and was back on my way. Only 4 miles left!! I also cried a little bit here. There's something so damn awesome about the people you love coming to see you do something you love. (See Krista's post.)

There was a BIG HILL shortly after seeing Amy that was windy, on a bridge and straight up, around a corner then MORE straight up. I walked that one. (DUH) But was still quite happy I had only walked one other hill in the whole rest of the race! The last few miles had a nice little neighborhood to run through. There was a little old man (in old man slacks) outside the front of his house, encouraging and clapping all the while. As I passed he said, "look at how far you've already come!" (cue many more tears). Another guy had the music cranked up and the windows open outside cheering with his family. I LOVED running through this stretch of neighborhood and can't stress this enough. If you live on a race route - get outside and cheer for a while, it makes the runners feel like their famous and re-energizes like you wouldn't believe.

As we came down the hill for the last stretch of a couple miles I finally felt like it was a safe time to pick up the pace a little bit. I had 2 miles and I knew I could hold a solid pace for those last two miles if for no other reason than I'd be done after them! Marty had told me back at mile 7 I'd see him at mile 12. I checked out my average pace and got down right giddy. I was going to finish this half not just within my goal, but UNDER 3 hours. BIG DEAL FOR ME. As I came around the bend I could see him a while before I could talk to him. By the time I got close enough he looked at me, shook his head and said, "what did you DO!?" And then I almost DIED OF PROUD. I was so pleased I had done so well that both him and I were ecstatic about the results. Seriously, I almost burst into a billion pieces of confetti at that point. But I wasn't done yet! I had 1.1 miles to go! He quickly rushed trying to tell me I had 13:00 minutes to finish the race to sub three. Little did he know I had already done that kind of math. As I ran past I heard him yell, "Last Mile Fastest!" (and while I told him to fuck off, I actually did run my last mile the fastest!)

I booked it. Picked up the pace, passed the remaining water station and ran my ass off. I saw my dad and brother for the first time on the bridge as I headed into the stadium. (Cried a little bit.) I saw my twitter running friends again inside the stadium and heard Krista yell, "There's Angie!" I saw Amy and Joe back in the stadium (still waving her sign!) (Cried a little more.) I saw myself running through Miller Park on the jumbotron as I was finishing my second half marathon. (MUCH MORE CRYING.) As witnessed in the picture below I was elated to be finishing this race up and hearing the voices of my friends and family. GIDDY.

That last .1 miles was obnoxious. It was kind of uphill, then a little down, then around the stadium. The sun came out just as I was coming up to the finish line. No surprise here, Marty was there (how many miles did HE cover that day not racing?!) as soon as I crossed. And I crossed at an official time of 2:59:30. SUB THREE. (And that's not accounting for the quick bathroom stop around mile 10!) Now it was time for beer and food. And friends and family. And lots of wearing my medal around.

2nd Half Marathon - Part One

(FYI: This is long. I know it is. You don't have to read it all. It's more so for myself so I can remember all these little details. In case you do want to read it all, I broke it out into sections.) 

Leading up to race day I had all sorts of concerns and mini-panics happening. It was supposed to be colder than planned, then there was a 50% chance of rain. I had an outfit panic. Last race I had an upset/nervous stomach for the first half, there was "what do I eat" panics. I worried about what to wear, what to eat, how much sleep to get, how much water to drink. It wasn't until Marty pointed it out to me that the last thing I was worried about was running. Which is surprising given that my final long training run went to hell fast and I only ended up actually running about 4 miles that day (and walking another 3). Marty had told me two weeks before that long run, "If you needed to, you could run this race today. But let's use the two weeks we have, okay?" I didn't believe him then. (Not believing what he was telling me happened more than once during the 9 weeks we trained for this race.) 

But as race week, and then race day approached I just accepted what he had told me. The thing about his coaching is that while he tells me what he thinks I'm capable of and encourages me, it's not just being nice and blowing smoke up my ass. He uses science and math and running magic to figure out what I'm capable of, then tests it out on me over the course of 9 weeks of training, recalibrates some stuff and then boom - formula solved, here's what you CAN do. And by the time he tells me the result of the formula I acknowledge there's too much logic behind it to fight him. He's probably right. So when, the week before the race he told me he thought I'd manage a 3:05 half marathon. I was a little overwhelmed. I had finished my first half in 3:22 and that seemed like A LOT of time to shave off. But when he broke down our pacing plan, it didn't seem all that ridiculous. He reminded me of our long pacing run we planned and I accomplished and I worried less.

I'm quite certain when he said he'd be "available" during our training he was not fully prepared for the onslaught of questions I'd have leading up to race day. But, in true Marty form, he answered every question, answered most before I had even asked them, accepted my ridiculous need for every single detail to be planned out for me, and we had set up a pretty solid pre-race plan. I knew what I was going to eat and when. I knew what I was going to wear, what I needed to get to wear that I didn't already have. I felt pretty damn good. I talked to my mom on Friday night and told her at that point the only thing making me nervous was that I wasn't nervous about running. There were a couple times leading up to race day where I considered the fact that the first race could have been a fluke. I wasn't setting goals, I just needed to finish. What if the pressure would get to me? What if the idea of keeping a pace for the plan got to be too overwhelming and I couldn't finish? What if it ended up taking me longer than the first race and I had to get picked up by the bus at the end because I couldn't finish in time?! They were all ridiculous questions to be asking myself, I had trained well and responsibly, but they did creep in on a rare occasion.

I learned over the course of Friday afternoon that pre-race happy tears are apparently part of my race routine. I cried a few times over nice things Marty said, cried when I talked to my mom, and bawled when Amy said she had gotten off work to cheer me on. There were many tears but there were all happy - and not out of the ordinary for me any time there's anything where emotions are even slightly higher than usual. I went to bed on Friday night after spaghetti, a bag of skittles and a bunch of water. I woke up once at 2:00 a.m. and realized I hadn't memorized my paces planned for the three chunks of the race. I got my phone, re-read the plan and memorized it for an hour or so before I could fall back asleep. The next time I woke up was with my alarm at 4:50 to rain and lightening. Not the ideal conditions for race day. My clothes were laid out from the night before, my gear all packed up and ready. One of the animals had puked in the hall way, but I figured that was probably just sympathy nerves in support of me on race day. Cute.

I got all set, ate a small but reasonable breakfast for fuel, drank a little water and laced up my shoes. Checked 3,000 to make sure I had my race bib packed. Commiserated with friends on twitter about it being stupid early. Grabbed my bag and headed out the door. No turning back now.

Grown-up Social Media

I love social media - this comes as very little shock to most people. So naturally, I talk about it and am asked about it at work. In my interview with the partner at the agency I'm currently working with, he straight out asked for my twitter handle and blog address. After a minor panic (and DESPERATELY trying to recall my last few posts in hopes they were tolerable and he wouldn't go too deep back into the archives) I handed over the information. I have no idea if he ever came here or checked into my twitter account. But I knew then it could get a little sticky.

It's not like I'm tweeting hateful, offensive tweets about co-workers or blogging disgusting topics. I'm not at risk of being fired for either of them. However, when tied to the job, I'm certain I've said things they wouldn't proudly slap on company letterhead. Which is fine, I'm comfortable with that. I have a personality and it's reflected on my personal accounts. Conversely, I have a work personality that is driven by the issues I deal with in my job. As much as the company wouldn't be interested in picking up my 3,000 tweets about cats, dogs, running and drinking wine in bed I'm also sure my personal twitter followers and friends aren't all extremely interested in food security, crop science, and the pros and cons of gestation stalls. They're very different audiences. And while I'm certainly not a celebrity or anything on Twitter, I have followers who have come to know "at-home Angie".

The last thing I wanted to do was become that person on Twitter. The one who only tweets SUPER safe, work-friendly, company promoting tweets that don't engage anyone in conversation beyond the potential co-worker retweet. I've followed some of those people (and soon after unfollowed them). That's not the purpose of my personal account. I've made real live friends (who I see and talk to in person now) from Twitter and it certainly wasn't because I posted links to articles and blog posts written by my company. It's because they got to know me, and I them, and we engaged like humans (crazy, I know).

However, there is absolutely a place for social media in the workplace. My current workplace prides themselves on it. I want to be one of the forward thinking users in the office. I used to have a protected account, and briefly considered going back to that. However, it seems so contradictory to the purpose of Twitter. So, last week I created a work account. I still stand firm in the belief that the purpose of social media is to connect and engage with other users, so that account will also not just be one way spitting things out into the Twitterverse. In fact I've already connected through that account. I reconnected with an old college friend. I'm in the midst of setting up a visit to a local dairy farm in an effort to get a better understanding of how farms work (this is my life now people).

Sidenote: if you are one of the few followers of "at-home Angie" who wants to know what I'm saying as "work Angie" you're welcome to follow me as I navigate this crazy introduction to the food space and world of agriculture @arnikolas.

My second half marathon.

I never meant for this to turn into a blog about running (TRUST me), but given how much of that I've been doing, inevitably it ends up here. This weekend I will run my second half marathon in the city I love dearly, Milwaukee. I have a few thoughts about that I'd like to share with you.

First and foremost, I'd like to lodge a formal complaint with the race director for titling this inagural race a "mini-marathon". I get it, it's not a full marathon and that's a cute and clever way to call it something other than a half. But let me assure you, on behalf of all runners participating, I don't like anything about what I'm doing on Saturday to be referred to as "mini". The same sentiment applies to tiny, little, and quick. It's 13.1 damn miles, let's not pretend it's small.

Secondly, while it doesn't register all that often any more (hardly ever, really) the date of this particular half marathon has some relevance. Saturday September 22nd was the date I had planned to marry the wrong man. I'm thankful things didn't work out and that instead of divorce I just lost a $500 deposit. And over the course of two years and the biggest changes I've had take over my life, instead of marrying him I'm set out to run my second half marathon. 

Third, when I signed up for this half I wondered what I would feel like in comparison to my first. There are many differences between Napa and this one. I was traveling for that one. I had so many travel related distractions to think about. I was with a group and had someone telling me where to be and when. This time I have to figure that all out. Aside from a few friends from Team Challenge no one there knew me. I have friends running this race and cheering from the sidelines. My family will be there when I finish. My coach is going to be there. This is SO utterly exciting and just a smidge more pressure to perform well. There's witnesses this time. I'm running around a city I love with landmarks I know. It'll be difference scenery but I think equally exciting (minus the hills. Who would have thought I'd face more hills here than on a route through the Napa VALLEY?) I was worried about the weather but it looks like, thanks to Fall making an appearance, I'll have similar weather for this race as I did Napa.

Fourth and finally,  I apologize to him right off the bat - Coach Marty doesn't take compliments well but that's tough luck because this is my damn blog and I'll say whatever I want, thankyouverymuch. I feel really excited for this race. I trained harder and more responsibly this time. I was more aggressive with pacing throughout my training and worked hard to get towards a consistent and achievable plan on race day. Again, exciting but more pressure. The goal is no longer just to finish and not die. I have a time in mind. And it's quite a bit less than last time. And regardless of how many times he tells me I did all the work and he didn't do anything, I would not be where I am with this race if it wasn't for his coaching. I did train well and I worked hard. I physically did all the work to get to this point. But he has done so much for my confidence and found tricky little ways (Fartlek!) to get me to realize my abilities throughout the past 9 weeks that I know I would never feel this strongly about what I'm going to be able to accomplish on Saturday without his help. I have said on a number of occasions I don't know how people do this without a coach, but I'm amending that. I don't know how they do it without a Marty (and I'm not alone on this, see: any of my #Banangcakes time in which we sing his praises about all things Marty. We want to go to the School of Marty). He took all the worry away (worry = math & science to me). He figured out exactly what I wanted to be able to do, exactly what I needed to do in the mean time to get there and then totally talked me off the ledge far more times than necessary in between. If I did the physical work to get here, he did the emotional work.

I have said it before and will surely say it again - when it comes to physical ability I don't push myself as much as I'd like to. I like to play it safe and underestimate what I'm capable of. I needed more than someone who understands running and pacing plans, I needed someone to see ability when I couldn't. And, realistically, I needed someone comfortable with putting up with just a wee bit of runner crazies (wee might be a relative term depending on who you're asking). That and about a billion questions on a daily basis via text, e-mail and Twitter.

So because of me, and my Coach, and support of my family and friends I have just a short 3 mile run between me and my second half marathon. Yes, that just blew my mind again.

Things I don't need but really "need"

I know the difference between needs and wants. And I know "thou shall not covet" but even with that knowledge despite my bank account not growing at all, the list of things I "need" seems to be doing so at a rapid pace. And the fact that my car needs new brakes before any of these can become a reality makes them seem so very far away from me.

I am hoping that by documenting all those "needs" might help me decide to skip the Starbucks in the morning or make a few more meals at home in hopes of having some funds to turn these "needs" into "haves".

So without further ado (fully aware most of you don't care about my whining list of things I want) here's my recent list.

I know all the iphone5 is all the rage right now and all you tech nerds are sucking up every little detail you can about the new release. I'm back here still wishing for an ipad. I know this is by no means a necessity. I have a laptop at home and one at work I can bring home if necessary. My home laptop is an old gal, but she still works for basic functions (with a little extra patience upon starting her up). It's really the convenience of the ipad. I could quickly check e-mail for work. I could watch shows on a larger screen while running on the treadmill. I could read tweets on something slightly larger than my phone. All things I can do, in a less convenient manner now.

Garmin Forerunner 10

 Oh, new Garmin Forerunner 10. Sometimes when I'm sporting the big watch/small computer that is the old Forerunner 305 I think about how sleek you'd look on my wrist. One (well, me being the "one") could argue that this one actually is a need. I've been using my coach's old model (that's actually his wife's) for this round of training and I have to give it back to him eventually (eventually being relatively soon). It's big and clunky but that thing has been a little miracle training buddy for me and I love him. Soon I hope to get one of my very own but in a smaller more upgraded fashion. The only problem? Which color to choose! 

Chi Hair Straightener

 I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned it on here before, but if you've ever been around when I'm straightening my naturally curly and extremely thick hair, you've likely heard me sing the praises of the Chi straightening iron. I love this thing. It does magical things to my hair and makes it seem like it just naturally happened (the 20 minutes I spend doing my hair will tell you otherwise). Unfortunately, (knock on wood) I think it might be on it's last leg. It just doesn't seem to be doing as nice of a job as it used to and for a while I thought maybe it was just the excessive heat and humidity but the cooler temps have arrived and it's just not like it used to be. They're expensive but I've had this one for years and didn't expect it to live forever. Hoping she'll make it til Christmas or birthday season and Santa could help out with that one. 

Saucony Women's Guide 5

I still have a hundred or so miles left on the ol' running shoes, but much like my brakes needing to be replaced things will start to squeal and scream if I wait too long past that mileage before replacing. It's a ways out but knowing the price tag of a quality pair of running shoes, it'll be a purchase I need to plan for and stash away a little extra cash for. One could also argue these are more need than want if I plan to continue running - but we'll leave it on the need list for now. I don't know that it'll be this exact pair. I plan on having a gait analysis before purchasing the next set but I love my Saucony's I have now and these are a pretty pair (which I know is no how to choose shoes but for these purposes it is.)

So, while it's a little early for Christmas lists (that depends on who you ask, I'll be compiling mine soon),  at at least $100 a pop for each of these items (some more), it's likely there will still be a few of these items hanging around for that time of year. Until then I'll be stocking away change and extra cash like it's my job in hopes of narrowing down these wonderful wonderful items and making some purchases of my own.

In the mean time, I will be over here celebrating my most recent addition to the household. I have been wanting a Dyson vacuum for years. The only way most of my friend's who own one acquired it was as a wedding gift. I had started to think I had to wait until I got married to get one of my very own. Until my extremely talented-at-bidding mother stepped in, worked her eBay magic and helped make my long standing dream a reality. I came home on Tuesday to find my new love waiting for me and with the easiest assembly in the world I was vacuuming all over the house in no time. I love it every bit as much as I thought I would and my carpets will be so clean you can eat off them with the frequency in which I've been using it.

Dyson DC25 Ball

About damn time.

Oh hey! Look, I still exist and remember that I have a blog I used to post on quite frequently and then just left a bunch of radio silence for weeks at a time.

Honestly I've thought about posting but every time it was out of obligation and then I felt pressure to come up with something REALLY good because it had been so long and then it wasn't fun so I just didn't. And so that's how we get to where we're at now. I've had an extremely busy summer but the last few weeks have really wound it down nicely and I've spent a bunch of time relaxing, spending time with my family, running and enjoying what's left of summer. I have one more weekend with VERY limited plans and then, well, shit kind of hits the fan.

Next weekend I run my SECOND half marathon. I can't believe it's here already, my coach tells me I'm ready for it and I've trained extremely well and responsibly. I can't believe it's here and that it is a second set of 13.1 miles to run. I am excited about running in my city which I love so dearly and that a good number of my friends are running the same race. And that my family and friends can come and see me at this one if they'd like to. You know, without having to purchase a plane ticket to do so. Obviously I'm not too scared about the fact that I'm running a second half marathon because yesterday I registered to run a third. It was peer pressure, I totally fell to a moment of weakness and made a snap decision. Though it could be far worse, the 3rd half I'll run ends with beer and lasagna. More cool kids I know are running it. And it doesn't start until 11:00 a.m. So those are all pretty great things.

Also coming up this fall I have a trip to NYC. You may recall (if you've spoken to me, read my blog/facebook/tweets over the last year at any point) my love for the book How to Love an American Man and the author-turned-friend Krissy Gasbarre. She is holding what is bound to be an incredible event in New York in October. I've spoken to her throughout the course of planning this conference and it just keeps getting more and more exciting and even bigger than I think she ever imagined it might be. I'm thrilled to be a part of it, ecstatic to meet her, and very excited that the trip will include some time with my NYC-dwelling friends (Hi Rebecca! Hi Kyle!). It's going to be a big weekend and I'm already anxious to soak up all the information and knowledge I'll gain from it.

In between all those events I have two friends getting married and another having a shower for her first baby! Just a few MAJOR life events to celebrate in there. I'm personal attending in one - which you KNOW is like one of my favorite possible roles to have in a wedding. A job that relies entirely on organization and planning skills?! SIGN ME UP. I'm standing up as a bridesmaid in the other - so another big deal production! Very excited for the brides. Finally, I get to team up with some of my favorite sisters to help plan and partake in Sae's baby shower - which blows my mind every time I think about it. And not just because it's crazy to me that she's having a baby but because I'm so excited for one of my favorite couples in the world to become a set of kick ass parents.

SO, after this last weekend of rest, my life goes something like this. Half marathon, wedding, rest, wedding shower, NYC trip, MPLS trip, baby shower, half marathon, wedding. Wowza.