Rock 'n' Roll Portland Half Marathon

This past weekend, I had a couple firsts happen for me...1) I took part in an inaugural race; 2) I ran in a race with an Olympian; and 3) I broke 2 hours in a half marathon!

The Inaugural Rock 'n' Roll Portland Half Marathon consisted of a field of over 11,000 strong and included one very important runner indeed, the incredibly talented Kara Goucher!

Now, while I never actually got to see Kara Goucher in person, and I was absolutely nowhere near her during the race (she finished only slightly ahead of me...lol, yeah right, in my dreams...she kicked my butt!), I did run the exact same course that she did, and there was a stretch where we were both running at the same time (although definitely not in the same places along the course haha), and it's just cool to know that I ran in the same race as someone who is going to be representing the United States in the 2012 Olympic Games in London in just a few short months...GO KARA (we're totally kindred spirits now)!!!

I had been looking forward to this race for a long time, as I signed up to run it almost half a year ago...so I was up bright and early at 5 am Sunday morning, ready and raring to go.  I had even gotten my racing belt ready the night before I was so anxious to run!

I made my way downtown and got to the start line a good hour before the race started, but with so many people around, I was never lonely.  Plus it gave me a chance to take in the sights and get my jitters out before the gun went off.  I was feeling great that morning, and I was bound and determined to get a PR.

I am always so amazed at how wonderfully friendly people are at races, willing to take your picture and chat with you simply because you are a fellow runner...such a fantastic community of people to belong to. 

As the race drew closer to starting, I got into my assigned running corral, #5, which was farther away from the start line than I had anticipated...

...thank goodness for timing chips eh?!?!

One of the nice things about the race was that groups of runners were released in waves, a couple minutes apart, so there wasn't one huge crush of 11,000 racers all trying to push across the start line at once.  After approximately 8 minutes of (impatient) waiting, it was finally corral #5's turn to start the race.  As soon as we started going, my adrenaline was pumping and I was excited to be moving...but soon realized that this course would not be the easiest one I had ever run.

For one thing, the first half of the course was almost entirely uphill.  For another, there were several rolling hills in the second half of the course that really took it out of me.  Yet still was the total elevation gain of almost 600 feet and the fact that the entirety of mile 5 was one long uphill battle.

All of these factors served to thoroughly exhaust me throughout the race, but I was, as I mentioned before, determined to PR this race.  So I pushed myself hard, pacing with runners I thought would help me reach my goal, and as I got to the last straight away stretch on Naito Parkway, I picked up my pace even more, so that by the time I had the finish line in sight, I was at a full out sprint to the end.  When I crossed the finish line, I was almost positive I had PRed, but as the clock displayed the time from when the first runners started the race, I was unsure by exactly how much I had lowered my time.  Coming into the R'n'R Portland Half, I had just PRed two weekends earlier at the Tacoma City Half Marathon with a time of 2:05:35.  As I had my medal placed around my neck and my foil blanket wrapped around my shoulders...

...I was sincerely hoping for something right around 2 hours.  Little did I know, as I stepped up to the engraving station to have my name and finishing time inscribed on the back of my medal (very cool extra at the R'n'R Marathons) that I was in for the surprise of my life.  I took my medal back from the engraver...

...turned it over...

...and discovered that not only had I PRed, but I broke 2 hours with a time of 1:58:57!!! (I know it's hard to see, but the medal does say my name under Finisher...it's my medal, I promise!)  I was so happy that I almost started crying and was extremely tempted to hug the engraver, but stopped myself when I realized just in time that most strangers do not appreciate being bear hugged by weird, crying, sweaty females.

My stats for the race...

Bib #: 11224

Finished In: 01:58:57

Pace: 09:02

Overall Place: 2501/11033

Division Place (25-29): 177/897

Gender Place: 1141/7744

...some of the best stats I've ever had after a race! I was extremely proud of myself.

Some of the other cool swag I got at the end of the race (though I have to say the medal was the best part)...

...the official shirt we got at the expo before the race (the front)

...though I couldn't bring myself to wear it until after I had finished (the back).  And then I got myself an official "finisher's" shirt at the booth afterward...

...I liked it specifically because it said finisher on it (the front)

...which, as much as I liked the other shirt, it did not say (the back).

And this was the cool mug I got for buying the shirt, which made me doubly happy that I bought it!

Overall, the race was a huge success for me, and it allowed me to add one more notch to my running belt...a place in the Half Fanatics!

That's right, I'm now officially Half Fanatic #2440!  Can't wait to take my new singlet out on it's inaugural race!

What do you consider your most successful race and why?

TCHM Conquered..

...aka I kicked the Tacoma City Half Marathon's ASS!!!

I have to admit, when my alarm woke me up at 5am this morning, I was a little nervous.  I was sort of afraid that my body wouldn't be able to take the rigor that completing 13.1 miles requires just 3 short weeks after my surgery.  But once I showed up at the Fleet Feet tent and started seeing all my running friends, nervousness slowly but surely started transitioning to excitement.

Me with my super awesome running buddy Katie, who kicked some major butt on the marathon and raised over $1500 for Running for Tyler! GO KATIE!!!!

Cora (rocking some awesome arm sleeves), Theresa and I before the race.  Theresa was amazing...she ran the entire half marathon with me to make sure I was okay and she motivated me up a couple pretty steep hills toward the end of the race when my stitches were hurting and my motivation was draining!

All of us HFMT (Half/Full Marathon Training) runners at the start line before the race with Fleet Feet Pete (the shoe). I'm the one in the orange shirt...haha, just kidding, I'm the one standing third over from the left, just to the right of Kiel, who is kneeling near Pete.

With the amazing Kendra, aka Mamasita, before her marathon start.

While the main goal of the race was simply to finish, I'm pretty competitive and tend to push myself pretty hard (even when I probably shouldn't).  So at the start line, Theresa and I lined ourselves up behind the 2:10:00 pacer, which would put us at right around 10:00 mile pace.  The gun went off, we slowly started to move toward the start line, and as soon as we crossed the start line, I started my Garmin, pushed play on my iPod, and we were off (keeping the 2:10 sign in our sights).

Theresa and I synchronizing our Garmins as we crossed the start line...okay, so we didn't actually synchronize watches, but how cool would that have been?!

The race wound through downtown Tacoma, around Wright Park, past Tacoma General Hospital (where I had been only 2 weeks prior, battling my second bout of pancreatitis), down along Ruston Way, and then back into downtown Tacoma for the finish.  There were a couple hills at miles 11 and 12 that got the best of me and I had to walk for a little bit because at that point my stitches/side were starting to bother me a little, but other than that I ran the entire race.  And as soon as I saw that mile 12 marker, something sparked within me, and the mantra "I can do anything for 1 mile" spurred me into a faster pace, and as I rounded the corner with 0.2 miles to go and the finish line in sight, I found that final ounce of energy and was able to sprint to the end.  I crossed the finish line in 2:05:35 (that's an average of a 9:35 mile pace, and incidentally, we finished IN FRONT of the the 2:10 pacers!), which is a PR (personal record) for me, and apparently I helped Theresa get a PR too (although she motivated and pushed me through the entire race, so I'm not sure who did more for who!)!  Not too shabby for 3 weeks after gallbladder removal surgery.

Me with my finisher's medal...technically it's only half a medal, apparently I can get the other half if I run the Tacoma Narrows Half Marathon in August.  I think just owning half of the full medal will bother me, so it looks like I'll be signing up for yet another half this year (counting today's, I'm already signed up for 5 half marathons, 1 full marathon, and the H2C Relay)!

All of my race day goodies...I can't wait to wear my finisher's shirt with pride.  I DID IT!!!

Less Than a Week to Go...

It seems like I've been training FOR-E-VER (said in the voice of the kid from "The Sandlot") for the Tacoma City Marathon...well, maybe not forever, but at least since January...

...but seeing as how I have some of the worst luck ever, it would figure that after working so hard for so long, and training my little heart out, I would need to have emergency gallbladder surgery less than 4 weeks before the race!  And it would also figure that my doctor would tell me last week that, while I am cleared for physical activity, I am NOT cleared to run a full marathon less than 4 weeks after surgery.  I'm not ashamed to tell you that I almost cried in the doctor's office right then and there.  Seeing my frustration at being told that I couldn't do something that I'd been working toward for so long, the doctor did tell me that I WAS allowed to still participate in the half marathon...so long as I promised to walk when I got tired and didn't pressure myself to run the entire 13.1 miles if I wasn't up to it.  So back to training I went...and realized that it only took 2.5 weeks to feel like I'd lost all my fitness and aged about 40 years.  Not even during my 18 miler 4 weeks ago did I huff and puff and sweat so much as I did on my first run back after surgery...which, I might add, was only 2 miles!

I was feeling extremely discouraged, until multiple people took the time to remind me that I did just have major surgery (which hadn't been easy on my body) and the fact that I was out running less than 3 weeks afterwards was a true credit to just how good of shape I was actually in. I realize that we are all our own worst critics, so I often need others to remind me that it IS okay to not be perfect.  Sometimes life throws a curve ball your way, things don't go according to plan, and what you thought was going to happen has to change.  We need to let ourselves know that this isn't always a bad thing, and sometimes rolling with the punches can bring just as good of an outcome as we were expecting in the first place.  The doctor could have easily said that I wasn't allowed to do physical activity at all, but she didn't.  Instead, she recognized in me the physical ability to be able to go out and complete a half marathon less than one month after a surgery that I wasn't expecting to have.  And so I have slowly, but surely, gotten back into my training plan, and will hopefully have a couple more runs under my belt before the race on Sunday.

HMTP (Half Marathon Training Program) Resumes...

Tuesday: Doctor's Appointment...cleared for physical activity and told I could start out with 2 miles and slowly build from there, so long as I listened to my body and didn't push myself to the point of exhaustion.

Wednesday: 2.1 miles in 19:05...okay, so I was so excited to get back out and run that I probably pushed myself a little too hard, but other than wanting to collapse at the end (just kidding, it wasn't THAT bad, though I was pretty exhausted afterward) it felt AMAZING to get back out and run!

Thursday: Stretch/Rest...First day back to work and first track meet back to coach...super long day and very tired at the end of it, so no run for me.

Friday: Stretch/Rest...It's amazing how two full days of work will take it out of you! After track practice that afternoon, I was unfortunately just too tired to run, so I decided to rest up so that I was ready for my first training run back with the group the next morning.

Saturday: 5.5 miles in 55:20...I was able to run the entire time, which felt great, but I was definitely tired at the end since my body wasn't used to that much physical activity, so I kind of, sort of took a 4 HOUR NAP later that day! Oops!!!

Sunday: Stretch/Rest...No run scheduled for the day, so I rested and relaxed after my activity from the previous day.

Monday: 3.0 miles in 28:27...yesterday's run was nice.  I keep feeling better with each day, which is definitely encouraging.

I have two more training runs this week, a tempo run tomorrow and our last group run on Saturday morning, the day before the race.  With any luck, I'll feel great on Sunday morning and go out there and kick some half marathon butt!  Because, after all...

Anyone else running a half or full marathon this weekend?