Pre-Race Pics

You might notice from my side bar that I have not run yet. I really tried to wake up this morning, but it just didn't happen. So for now I will revel in my post marathon bliss and share some photos. This is just the beginning (and my FIRST slide show).

Hopefully the race course photos will post soon - because you KNOW my horrbile history with those. There are bound to be a few laughs.
ENJOY!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Portland In Review

Over the past few days there have been so many things that make me think "oh, I need to remember to blog about that." In typical POM fashion, I sit in front of my computer not knowing where to start. As Frauline Maria would say, "Start at the very beginning. It's a very good place to start."


Thursday - My Denver Gal Pal and I met up, checked into our weird hotel and had lunch (1 bottle of wine down, for those counting). Then we shopped it up as only we know how. On our way back to hotel, we picked up mas vino to "get ready" (2 down). It was her bday so we went to a fun restaurant called "OBA" in the Pearl District (3rd bottle down). Then it was time for the blogger meet up. I was a bit nervous, but knew we would have fun. Plus with 1.5 bottles of wine in my system, nerves were not an issue. I am waiting for my gal pal to send the pics, but the meet up was Gazelle, Junk Miles, Alisa, Jen, HTC, and Carrie. I think I had 2 martinis. What happens at a blogger meet up, stays at a blogger meet up. That is all. (Queue barf-o-rama here.)



Friday-Saturday - Rest, eat, sleep, rest, sight see, rest. We went to the Expo on Saturday. I love expos. Running + Shopping = My dream day. But I have to say I was a bit disappointed in the expo. Not enough snacky food samples, small, crowded and kinda boring. The Long Beach expo was at the Convention Center and was just huge. I guess I was expecting the same thing. The only memorable part was a creepy experience. As we were walking out of the hotel this guy comes running after me. Apparently my girls noticed that he had been following us since we arrived. He asked if I was running the marathon. (Uhm, that seems quite obvious with the big green "Portland Marathon" bag I was holding as I was walking out of the marathon expo... just saying). I said, "yes, I am." Then he said that I was the most beautiful girl he has ever seen, but I probably have a boyfriend. Then he ran off. Literally. Something you might expect from a 11 yr old, but a 40+ makes it funny. Poor guy, obviously he doesn't get out much.


Sunday - Marathon DAY!!!


We woke up bright and early, ate some toast, peanut butter, banana, cereal and an apple. We got down to the race with about 45 mins to use the awesome porto-potties (my least favorite thing in the universe), drop off our stuff and get to the starting line. All my girls run at different paces, so we decided to line up somewhere in the middle. They knew my 4 hour goal and we talked about not running together once the gun goes off. We squeezed our way to the 4:45 pace group. But right at the last minute, I told him I was going to try to get closer. I managed to get to the 4:30 pace group, but luckly I was at the front of it.


And we're off. The weather (at this point) was nice and I think I block out my surroundings when I run. I remember staring at my Garmin thinking I was on pace. I also remember trying to remind myself to ENJOY THE MOMENT and LOOK AROUND. There were some nice views - lots of sexy runner man legs and some hotties (that I passed!) I think around mile 4 or so, it started raining. I was really cold. I mean REALLY cold. Once I post some pics, I'm sure you will be able to tell how cold I was... if you know what I mean. The muscles in my legs started to cramp. The race had a lot more hills then I was expecting. The rain got worse and didn't let up until the end.

I quickly caught up with the 4 hour pace group. It was a big group and annoying to run with. I don't like running with lots of people, plus I felt like they were slowing me down, so I kept my earlier pace and passed them. REPEAT: I passed the 4 hour group! I knew if I could just keep them BEHIND me, I was good to go. Mile 17 kicked my ass (huge hill). But then I saw Gazelle and Alisa around 18! I yelled "I'm sub 4!" I felt strong again. Alisa took a pic ~ In typical POM fashion, I have my hands up and a weird face. Let's all say a little prayer that the rest of my pictures are "normal." To be honest, a couple times I did have to throw up the JAZZ hands, for pure blogger entertainment purposes.

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Then it gets weird up in herre. Somewhere in the middle of the race, I started doing some math in my head. You know the math - if I run at X pace for Y minutes, then I can finish in XY time. Mid-race, I got it my silly little head that maybe I could qualify for Boston. Now, let me tell ya - BOSTON has never been a dream of mine. I don't really care about it to be honest. I would rather run NY or some other country. But the ability to say "I QUALIFIED for Boston" seems really, really cool. Now this is in my head and I'm trying to haul ass.

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Mile 20 hits me. Literally. Mile 2o sucked. My legs were so tight and sore and cold. I tried to think Bikram thoughts, but that didn't work. I remember some guy in red telling me to relax my shoulders and push my hips forward. I remember thinking "F*&% off Red Shirt Guy." I tried to get back to my happy place and stay focused and positive. It was hard. My thoughts were slipping to how much this hurt. My training runs never hurt like this, then again, I train on super-flat ground and in warmer weather. At mile 22, I realized that Boston was a SHORT LIVED PIPE DREAM(like 45 minutes short lived).

Not sure why I was so emotional, but I burst into tears on the course at mile 22. Yes, I cried. Then I couldn't breath. But I kept running. I was doing some weird maternity breath thing trying to get my head back to a normal place and stop crying.
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Luckily, I saw 3 studly guys in front of me. This is when I decided to start picking people off. I had 4 more miles and those guys were NOT going to beat me. For some reason I take great satisfaction beating men, especially fit ones. Then I saw a big booty skirt girl - no way was she going to beat me. Then I saw something really gross that I can't bare to blog about it. I definately couldn't let this girl beat me. My little head game got me through to mile 25.
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I knew I was be sub 4 and was relived. I was honestly worried about not making my goal and having to tell you all that I failed. I crossed the finish line and realized I didn't have anyone waiting for me. I knew this before I started, obviously. But it hit me hard when I was finished. Here I am - done with the marathon, completely alone, emotional and freezing. I burst into tears again. But these tears wouldn't stop. I was hyperventilating and totally out of it. I grabbed a chocolate milk and banana. There was nowhere to just lounge around - a big lawn - nothing. So I sat on the curb, caught my breath, tried to stretch, took a pic, then went to the sidelines to wait for my girls. I wished the Captain was there.
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Overall, the race had goods and bads. The adorable Chiarunner has a better detailed report about the race... the homeless, the hills, etc. I love the city of Portland, but not sure I could deal with the gloomy skies and so much rain.
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I'm proud of my time.
I'm sore as hell.
I'm happy to be done training (for a while at least).

Pics to follow.

Well, She Did It!

Heading out of town again today for business, but thought I might share this little tidbit with ya'll.....

I DID IT!!!! SUB FOUR HOURS!

Full race report later this week. Thank you all for all your support ~ especially those sassy ladies that waited out in the rain to watch me run by.

Portland Marathon Blogger Meet Up

I am so MIA these days. I did not go AWOL on ya'll. Just busy at work. Real busy.

Thank God I'm tapering and not having to run much. I have cut out all YOGA. Although I'm sad as hell about this, the rib problem I mentioned a few blogs back has not gone away. I did Yoga last Fri and paid for it all weekend.

So, one or two more little runs and then it is marathon time.
I guess I need to think about packing and all that. Argh!

ALLS I know for sure (I hate when people say "alls') is that Thursday night is ...
MARTINI MEET UP
7:30 pm
The Vault
Be there or be square. Girls.... you in?
Please no psychos or crazies.

We're going to the Expo on Friday afternoon.

Thank you so much for all your support. Not sure when I'll be able to blog again, as my life is spiraling out of control and my internet is down at home.

Peace out skillets.

Regroup

Sorry about the negative nelly post yesterday.
See, I am human sometimes. But I'm pushing past those thoughts and moving onward and upward!

Right after I hit the "publish post" button, I clicked on over to MizFitOnline. Let's just say I felt a proverbial bitchslap! (In a good way, Miz!, In a good way). Her post yesterday was about Attitude and Gratitude, which obviously I need a BIG, fat reminder. So thank you Miz!

There are only 10 more days until the Portland Marathon. Boy, do I have a lot to be thankful for. Because I love lists, I will outline a few:

• Awesome training season - I stuck to Ze Plan and I think I found a plan that works for me.
• I started with 3 basic goals and I am pretty sure that I will reach all of them! Hopefully even surpass my time goal. I put 4:20 out there originally, but I am really aiming for a 4 hour marathon. (Remember my time last year was 4:45, but I have worked really hard on this).
• I'm so grateful that I have a strong and healthy body that allows me to be this crazy runner girl that I have become.
• I grateful for fun, amazing, fantastic friends that are going to run with me. And grateful for new friends that I'm going to meet because of it. How incredible is it to have POSITIVE people in your life!
• A life in balance is a good thing. I feel more ready than I ever have!

A few people have asked what my running looks like up until the marathon. I am going to stick with what I've been doing. Drinking TONS of water. I'm thinking about 100+ oz per day, especially if I'm doing Bikram. Of course, this is subject to change because I'm flexible like that:
Thur - 4 miles
Fri - yoga
Sat - 8 miles & yoga
Sun - yoga (maybe)
Mon - 4 miles
Tue - yoga
Wed - 4 miles
Thur - Bikram, then traveling to PDX
Fri - Maybe a couple miles or just a lot of walking in Portland
Sat - Chill with my girls, eat, rest up
Sun - 26.2 in 4 hours!!!!!

A Mild Case of The Crazies

Sorry about the lack of posts and comments lately. My work schedule is OOC (Out Of Control).

What is also OOC - my brain. I know it's probably just taper-city but here's what's going on in my head.

• Ouch my ankle. Is it swollen? Why is it hurting? I think it's swollen.
• Oh no, my back. What is THAT? Could I have a displaced/sprained/jacked up rib? How the hell would that happen?
• I can't breath. What's wrong with my lungs? I feel like I spent the day in the swimming pool. (Remember that, when you were a kid?)
• Is that a twinge in my knee? I think it is. It's probably this stupid 5 lbs I can't shake.

See, I'm going a little "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest" right now. I hope Nurse Ratched doesn't knock me off my rocker.

In accordance with ZE PLAN, I ran my own personal half marathon today. I wasn't happy with my pace because, well, I'm psycho. But when I got home and realized that it was faster than any real half marathon race I've done. I decided to just be happy with it, damn it.

Distance: 13.1 (DUH)

Time: 1:52 (Holla, my PR for races is 2:03)

My last little tidbit to share with yous all (my mom had this creepy boyfriend who said "yous" all the time. So annoying).

Check out this little diddy:

1. First of, my flip flops are HELLA cute. I adore them, although I would NEVER pay that much for flip flops. They were a gift.

2. You might notice a big ass blister on my big toe. It is seriously the size of a dime. It's been there for so long that it doesn't hurt anymore. I just leave it, no matter how much I want to rip it off. I will save that for post-marathon celebration.

3. There is another very tiny blister lower down. Now this little baby blister hurts like a MO FO. What the hell is that about???

So my home skillets, off to Vegas I go. I hope Kid Rock doesn't try to make out with me.

Next weekend I run a 8 miler, then the follwoing weekend - it PORTLAND MARATHON!

Hey - you other runners out there - let's start thinking of a meet up. Thursday night, downtown somewhere????? Drinky-Poos!

Song of the Day: All Summer Long by The Rock Heros

Oh Yeah That Marathon Thing

Remember that little race I signed up for? Well, I guess I need to let go of my "no-plan" running plan (as much as I have loved it) and start thinking about fall Marathon training.

I like to create my own plans because I know my body better than Mr. Galloway or Mr. Higdon. But I will take bits and pieces from a few plans and mesh them together for my very own POM plan.

This is what I'm workin' with:

1. Fashionably Flexible: Long runs on Fri, Sat OR Sun - whatever day works best for me.
2. Weak Weekdays: Only 3 times per week MAX and not over 5/6 miles.
3. Cerebral Caloric Intake: There will be NO 12 lb. marathon weight gain like last year.
4. Luscious Longies: 3 runs of 20+ plus miles, maxing out at 22 miles.
5. Yoga Yahoo: Continue to do Bikram at least 2 days a week - aiming for 3.
6. Healthapotamus: Get refocused on hydration/nutrition/vitamins/supplements.
7. Shoe-tacular: Need to get new shoes to put into the training mix.

I will come up with the flexi-schedule this afternoon instead of working.

Does anyone else make up their own marathon plans?
What are your priorities/thoughts/concerns/struggles about your plan?

Song of the day: Inspiration by Ian Van Dahl

Runners Lounge

I just started a new Forum on Runners Lounge for the Portland Marathon.

So anyone wanting to chat about it - check it out. Even if you are not running the marathon, but still want to chat about it :) ha ha.

Peace. Out.

Bigger and Better

I know you are all holding your breath for the big announcement.

Wait no more!

Here it is....

Right here...

I've signed up for my next marathon - marathon el numero dos.

The lucky city to host this monumental event is...


PORTLAND!


Reasons I/we selected Portland:
1. My two girlfriends (Kris and Mel) who ran with me last time are meeting there. It's kinda of a central city location for us all.
2. It's being held on Kristin's BirFday and therefore the entire race will be dedicated to her because she is the best friend a girl could want.
3. iPod Friendly
4. Brisk weather
5. Hot Single Men. (ok, I made this one up, but if I'm using the "secret" then maybe... just maybe...)


Things that stress me out:
1. I've never travelled to a race.
2. We don't have a hotel booked and they are really pricey - even for dumpy ones.
3. I will be training by myself. UNLESS I join some type of group - more on that later.
4. I don't have the support system (aka boyfriend) that I had during my last marathon.
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I'm not even going to think about marathon training until June. Well, I probably think about it, but not really plan out my training. But I'm thinking of taking a more relaxed approach compared to last year. I think I over-trained and that was the cause of my hip problems. So, we'll see what I come up with.
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Now, I know there are some very hip and cool blogger chicks from Oregon. So ladies... I'm open to some suggestions on fun places to go and see. I think we will go out drinking Thur night to celebrate my girl's bday and then somewhere to drink/recover on Sunday. Ideas??? If you're open to a meet up, let me know too.
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ANYONE ELSE RUNNING PORTLAND????
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Morning Digits:
4 miles = 38:43 = 444 calories
Mile 1: 9:35
Mile 2: 9:48
Mile 3: 9:58
Mile 4: 9:22
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Song of the Day: Misery Business by Paramore