DC Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon

So I'm finally writing this recap! You can thank the dishes in the sink that I don't want to do.

I came into this race with very little mileage under my belt and with my longest run being seven miles. I struggled with IT band issues starting in January. At the start of this race, my head was all over the place. I went from dreaming of a PR to thinking I might have to drop out and everywhere in between. I'm a planner and HATED not being able to really plan. I was assigned to corral 19 but started in a corral farther back with my dadoo.



Thrilled, obviously.

It took us somewhere around 40 minutes from the time the race started to actually cross the start line. I'm pretty sure I started out too quick because I got caught up passing a lot of people. A little after the first mile I was hit with that stinking side cramp that got me during the Patrick Henry Half. I attribute these cramps solely to nerves. I get nervous and it throws my breathing off and the result is a cramp that almost impossible to run through. I walked for half a mile before I was able to run again. I seriously considered hanging out and waiting for my dad (read: throwing my race) but luckily I didn't see him.

At this point, I still had no plan. Once the cramp went away I was making great time and dare I say, enjoying myself? I walked at every water station just because I could. I completely forgot about the fact that there was a good chance of my knee acting up around mile 8. I even walked a lot of uphills just because. I'm not entirely proud of all the walking but it was a nice feeling to have no pressure and just do whatever I felt like doing.


"I'm just a bill, on Capitol Hill." -School House Rock

 Just before I hit eight miles, I felt my knee and slightly panicked. It wasn't bad enough to stop running, but once I feel the beginnings of it, it's not long before I go from running to strangely galloping and relying on my left side. I was able to keep my pace up to mile 9, where I was still on track for a slight PR. I knew that if I didn't start walking a lot more, I was going to be in big trouble. So, that's what I did. I thought it would hurt more to let my good time slip away but I guess in the back of my mind I never really expected to PR so it wasn't as big of a deal.



So pretty.

 I was nearing the end, walking, and a girl asked me how much farther until mile 12. I looked at my Garmin and told her .2. She started running and I couldn't let her pass me so I started running too. I ran most of the last mile. Once I could see the finish line, I kind of blanked out and just ran. I had so much energy (I would hope so, after walking so much). I finished with an official time of 1:22:01, which is about 1 minute and 30 seconds better than my worst time to date. I felt FANTASTIC afterwards. Almost no pain at all.

Overall, I was fairly pleased with how I did. Great weather, scenery, and I got to run with my padre and John!

NOT running

Sometimes, I think I like running more than I like soccer. Then soccer season starts and I realize I would choose soccer over running 9.8 times out of 10.

Today proved that fact. After two weeks "off," broken up by the half, I have started training and working out again this week. As expected, I am sore. And tired. Especially today. I woke up almost two hours before my alarm went off and couldn't go back to sleep. I had the worst day at work that I've had since I started (don't worry, that's not saying too much since basically everyday has been good. It did throw me off though). I got to soccer practice and all I wanted to do was go home to the pets and eat food. Did I mention I was also hungry?

Anyway, practice started and I just found all this energy. Even later in practice when I knew I was worn out, I just wanted to run everywhere and get the ball. ITSSOFUN!!! I missed the skinned knees and the bruises and I would definitely choose that over ITBS and stress fractures.*

Don't worry, I still love running. And spin. And yoga. And Bodyrock. Except not Bodyrock that much because it is really hard but I love that it turns me into a ripped badass person with at least some muscle. I won't stop any of these things. Just if it was a life or death situation and I had to choose only one for the rest of my life, it's a no brainer.

*I realize that both of these can happen in soccer but this is just my experiences here. Because this blog is about me, duh.

Spring, Melody, and more running

So I kinda sorta ran a half marathon over a week ago and have yet to do a recap of it. Mostly because all I can think about is my spring break that starts in three days. And the main reason I'm so excited for spring break is not because I don't have to go to work. It's because I am cleaning out my closet!!! I am CRAZY excited about it. I am having to use what little will power I have to not start now because I know I don't have enough time to do it (since I am doing other important things like blogging and fake online shopping at Zara) and then I'll just get overwhelmed and sad. I could seriously make this entire post about how excited I am to clean out the closet but that would probably entertain you too much and I really want you to get off the computer and be productive today.

Other news, Melody is starting doggie college in April! She is so excited, I am sure.



A coworker recommended a dog trainer and we met with him on Saturday. Andrew is awesome and would give Cesar Millan a run for his money. He has the coolest house. He does all training at his house, including boarding and training. It was a pretty neat set up. We snagged the last spot in the Level 1 class that starts on April 7th. Andrew's evaluation of Melody consisted of talking to us while he pretended not to pay attention to Mel to see what she did. He pointed out that she kept running around to explore but continued to come back to us to kind of "check in." After she was done exploring she came over to us and just laid down waiting for whatever was next. Apparently all of this is good. Like I was surprised, Mel is the best dog ever.

Also, I have begun training for half marathon number 4 on April 29th. Barring any knee issues I am hoping to PR. For all other halves I've used Hal Higdon's novice training plan but this go around I'm using the FIRST plan which I think will work well for me. It's also the plan I am going to use for full marathon training starting in May. The plan has your running 3 days a week-a speed workout, tempo, and long run-and cross training 3 days a week which will fit easily with soccer, spin, bodyrock, and yoga. I had to start in the middle since there's only about four weeks to go. Today was my first speed workout. So far, so good!

That's about all for now. I will eventually get around to doing a recap of the DC half!