Erie Marathon Race Weekend - Lucky #7

It's finally race weekend for the Erie Marathon...lucky #7 for me! Or at least I hope it will be lucky! There are so many ways to shave a few minutes off a marathon. I'm hoping to do that this Sunday and finally realize my goal of a BQ time!

Marathons #4, 5 & 6 happened for me this year in April, May and June consecutively. While that was never my plan it just evolved into the year of the "Marathon Maniac".

• Glass City Marathon in Toledo (#4) was a nice PR for me at 3:46 and change. Looking back I had lost a little too much weight and don't think I was properly fueled to BQ. I also ran too fast the first 10 miles or so. I still managed to take off 5 minutes of time from my previous PR in Cleveland in 2014. 
• Cleveland Marathon (#5) was three weeks later. I ran with the 3:35 pace group for the first 1/2. It just got too hot for me. I pushed as hard as I could that day to the point of throwing up but with a 3:52 a BQ was not in reach that day. No problem will just try again in late June then! 
• Charlevoix Marathon (#6) in Northwest Michigan was a fun road trip and little long weekend vacation. I loved this area! I was ready here I think to get it done but I had two things working against me: first, I ran the first 1/2 a little too fast and had some uneven splits. Plus the last hour of the race was hotter than I hoped in the mid 70s. I don't do as well in the heat as I would like. I tried my best but came up a little short with a 3:42:45. Two minutes & change away from the 3:40 qualifying time. 

I have prepared more intently for Erie by including more speedwork, faster long runs and a cleaner diet. I have also obviously been cross training with the bike and swim as I prepare to take on some long course tris in the weeks to come.

This last week and a half has been pretty easy physically for me as I taper. I know my body needs to be rested to push as hard as I can. I feel more rested than when I went into Charlevoix. I have been carb loading all week and sleeping well. The weather forecast looks to be cool (high 50s - mid 60s), which is ideal for me. It may rain but rain is not a reason to ruin my day. I have worked long and hard for this BQ this year! The plan is to shoot for a 3:35. If it ends up being a 3:37 or 3:38 I will take it! I will slow myself down the first half and try to run consistent splits. I will push harder the last miles. I will give everything I have. I am ready! No matter what happens I will know that I gave it my best.

Special thanks to Powerbar for keeping me fueled for all these races and countless workouts and to Steve for letting me drag him all over to run marathons this season. He has sacrificed as much as I have for my goal. Nothing to it now but to go chase that unicorn! Stay tuned for the race report next week.

The Cleveland Marathon is Rapidly Approaching

Marathon Recovery Week One:

It feels like just yesterday that I raced the Toledo Glass City Marathon and here we are only 10 days out from the Cleveland Marathon! Where does the time go?! I am happy to say that my recovery from Toledo is going very well. I took a couple of days off after just doing some light walking and stretching followed up by a swim day. My first recovery run was Thursday and it went decent. Friday I took it easy and did some more walking and a hike at North Chagrin with Steve that evening. Saturday Steve and I did a 25 mile bike ride followed by a 5 mile brick run (run was pretty hot). Sunday we rode 50 miles in the glorious sunshine.

Marathon Recovery Week Two:

Monday night we did a 10 mile run in the wicked humidity (that was a tough one). Yesterday I did a 2200m swim and a walk last night with the dog followed by some stretching. This morning I did a 6 mile run with 2 easy, 3 @ marathon pace and a cooldown mile followed by some stretching. I will be doing a second easy run of about 4 miles at lunch today. Tomorrow I will run 8 miles in the am before my morning meeting and then if my legs feel good I will do an hour easy on the bike in the evening. Friday I will swim 2000 meters in the am and do Bikram Yoga (Hot Yoga) in the evening. Saturday I will run 8 with some miles at marathon pace. Sunday I will ride 90 minutes.

Marathon Recovery Week Three Plan:

Monday I will run an easy 4 miles. Tuesday will be an easy 1200m swim, Wednesday and Thursday I will run 4 with .5 easy, 3 at marathon pace and .5 easy. Friday will be an off day with some stretching. Saturday will be an easy 3 mile shakeout run. Sunday will be go time!

My Cleveland Race Day Plan:

My plan as of now is to go out with the 3:35 pace group. My qualifying time is 3:40 but going with the 3:35 group gives me a little cushion as I really need about a 3:38 to be within the cutoff for Boston registration. At this point I am hoping for nice weather that is not too hot! I am eating and sleeping well and stretching often and staying focused and positive. Hopefully I will have a good day! Stay tuned for the race report!

2015 Glass City Marathon Race Report

Yesterday I ran the Glass City Marathon in Toledo. This was my fourth full marathon and once again I am humbled by this distance. To push yourself as hard as you can for 26.2 miles is no easy feat - in fact it's one of the hardest things you can do in my opinion. It challenges you and it changes you. It is the ultimate test of physical fitness for runners and it is equally demanding mentally. It is easy to run well when you are feeling good. It's later in the race when you ache and feel sick to your stomach or extremely tired that you have to try like hell to keep it together! That is when the real race starts. When that little obnoxious voice in your head says "hey you, why don't you just walk a little?" Someday I will be strong enough to quiet that voice entirely...but for now I am working my hardest to ignore it as much as possible!

Prerace Smiles!

All in all I am happy with the whole experience in Toledo. We stayed in a Holiday Inn Express close to downtown in nearby Oregon. We met up with my friend Jillian (who also ran the full) the night before for dinner along with her husband and friend at Maumee Bay Brewing. The food, beer and atmosphere were outstanding.

Race morning I did a little warm up with my husband Steve then tried to stay warm in the convention center for as long as possible. I met up with Jillian at the start as we were both in the same Corral. There was a great crowd and a lot of excitement and it was nice to have Steve on the sidelines cheering! I was fortunate later in the race to have him pace me for some miles before the finish also.

Enjoying mile 3!

The course was flat, fast and scenic. The weather was ideal. The crowd support and volunteers were terrific. The post race food and beer were well above average. And I am happy with my performance. I pushed myself as hard as I could and came up a little short of my "A" goal, which was to BQ but I fought like hell on a tough second half to walk away with a personal best, which was my "B" goal. I am happy to walk away with a shiny new PR of 3:46:24, a five minute PR over my third marathon in Cleveland last spring. How can I whine or complain about forward momentum? I am truly fortunate and appreciative of my ability to love running and push myself to my own personal limits. At times I am smiling from ear to ear because I am excited and feel amazing and at other times I am fighting back tears of frustration and pain because that voice inside my head is telling me to back off the pace or to take a little break. I am getting better at telling that voice to let me be.

I love the marathon because it is you against yourself. I don't get caught up on where I land on the podium. Sure, I hope one day to place in my AG in a marathon, but for now I am excited to have cracked the top 25% of the women's field. It is a race that demands so much of you and a race where you must give everything you have to see results. I look forward to seeing how I will progress in this distance in the years to come.

post race celebrating with Jillian!

The race finish is pretty fast as there is some downhill heading to the stadium and then the actual finish is in the stadium so it's pretty cool. I managed to sprint some of the finish and I think it was just the excitement and energy of the moment. After the finish I quickly downed a water and then found Steve. I was excited to see how Jillian had done and she had PR'd as well as qualifying for Boston so she had a great race! We met up for a beer at the beer tent and I was happy that they had some craft beer at the finish so we celebrated with a Mission Pale Ale! I also ate some pizza, garlic bread and pasta as well as some cookies.

After changing into dry clothes, Steve and I made the short trek back to Mentor (about 2-1/2 hours) and stopped for snacks along the way. We went to dinner later at Winking Lizard to celebrate my new PR.

Since I'll be running the Cleveland Marathon in a few short weeks, I hope to celebrate again with another PR and maybe even that elusive BQ! For now I will be focused on recovery and cross training for tri season, which is just around the corner after Cleveland!

Special thanks to my husband Steve for the support all weekend and especially on race day! I also want to thank my family, friends and teammates for the encouragement and cheers leading up to the race. Finally thank you to my coach Chris and sponsors Challenge Family and Powerbar for everything they do to keep me going!

Prerace at the expo with my sweet husband Steve!

It's Marathon Week - From Boston to Toledo We Take On 26.2 Miles!

This is one of the most exciting weeks of the year for me! I spent the weekend and first couple of days this week in Boston supporting my husband as he ran his first Boston Marathon! Later this week we will travel to Toledo so that I can run the Glass City Marathon! It's a busy, hectic week that is full of preparations, nervous energy and of course lots of running!

Boston - Day One

View from our room!

We arrived in Boston last Saturday morning. From landing to checking into our spectacular room at the Hyatt in Cambridge to attending the race expo to running along the Charles River to watching the marathon live, it was an awesome experience! The weather was spectacular on Saturday and my husband and I were delighted to have a warm, sunny view of the city from our balcony. We spent some time watching the collegiate rowers race and people walking, running and cycling along the waterfront.

A bit later we walked from our hotel into town to the Hynes Convention Center where they Boston Marathon expo takes place. The expo was enormous. I have never seen anything like it. It was wall to wall people - probably close to 100K. We stood in line for probably 15-20 minutes just for Steve to buy the "Official Boston Marathon" jacket. We then peruzed row after row after row of booths from every big and small running related brand you can imagine.

Cheers with Sam Adams!

Probably my favorite booth was the Sam Adams booth where they gave away samples of their 26.2 Brew! Following the expo we stopped in across the street a little pub called The Pour House where we enjoyed a couple of tall Harpoon IPAS and brunch. The food was great and we met an elite runner guy from Australia who ended running a 2:30 Monday.

Boston Day Two

Sunday was a great day as well. Steve had a little shakeout run to do so he ran the first 30 minutes with me easy and then I did another few miles at tempo with a cool down mile to wrap up. Running along the Charles River is spectacular! There is a paved trail as well as some trails through dirt and grass, which I really enjoyed. There were hundreds if not a thousand runners out this day as most of the marathoners had to get in their prerace shakeout runs. The energy during this run was electric! I really had to hold back as my first tempo mile was 7:30 and I was aiming for 8-8:15ish!

out front of John Harvard's

We spent a good part of Sunday afternoon in Harvard Square around campus visiting little shops including the Harvard Bookstore, enjoying coffee and of course beer! We had a snack and some brews at the John Harvard's Brewhouse as we caught some of the Cavs/Celtics playoff game. We picked up a couple of salads and a bomber of Oatmeal Stout before heading back to our room for the night.

We had debated going out but ended up ordering some pizza in and watching the game, which was nice and relaxing. With Steve needing to be up around 5:15 am to get ready for the race we turned in pretty early around 9:30 pm.

Boston Day Three - Marathon Day

Look at this prerace smile!

The wake up call came promptly at 5:15 am and from there it was a long, hectic, exciting day! Steve got up to eat and dress and he had to catch the shuttle from the hotel to catch the Boston Marathon shuttles. I walked down with him to get some coffee and see him off - wishing of course that I was running the race as well! After he left I finished my coffee, had a small snack and headed outside for a run along the Charles River again. It was a chilly morning as I had to run in gloves, a long sleeve and a headband. After about 6 miles I was back at the hotel to shower and get dressed. The temperature was dropping and rain and high winds were anticipated so I dressed in as many layers as I could. After eating brunch and catching some of the race live on TV at the hotel, I made my way on foot towards the race finish.

Elite women at Kenmore Square

Walking over to the race finish area it was very windy and cold. I ended up finding a place to watch in Kenmore Square where I could actually see the elites coming in. That was pretty exciting - although I had to stream the finish line to see that part of it. Logistically it was tough to get over by the finish. I was freezing after watching for an hour or so and had went to Starbucks to warm up with a coffee and snack. After purchasing an umbrella that instantly broke from the wind, I made my way toward the finish to watch for Steve and some of my teammates and friends running also.

It was difficult to get to the finish as most of the roads are closed so I was instructed by race volunteers and security to walk down Commonwealth and eventually make my way to Arlington. Once I made it over where the runners were it was complete mayhem and I could not find Steve. It probably took an hour for us to find each other and he was shivering cold. We picked up his gear bag so he could dress in some warmer, dry clothes and caught a taxi back to the hotel. His race had started out great for the first half and then around mile 18 he started to have some cramping with his quads and hips and felt freezing cold. Some of the volunteers tried to get him to go to the medical tent but he refused and kept on. Although his time was not what he wanted I am proud of him for finishing. My husband is a Boston Marathon finisher! How cool is that?! Hopefully I will be soon too!

We had planned to meet our friends Jessica & Ryan that night for post race drinks and food but Steve was not feeling too well that evening nor was I so we ended up staying in and turning in early after a beer and some food.


Boston Day Four - Headed Home

After some coffee and breakfast and getting packed up, Steve and I went for one final walk along the Charles River to say goodbye to the city of runners' dreams. We took a taxi to the airport and were back in Cleveland around 2:30pm. We did some shopping on the way home and unpacked and got our stuff ready for work the next day.

Glass City in T-3 Days

In a few short days it will be my turn to toe the line in Toledo. While the race won't be anywhere near as large as the Boston Marathon, its meaning to me is just as large. Months and months of training will come to fruition in what I hope will amount to my first Boston Qualifying (BQ) marathon performance. Maybe #4 will be the one. If not, I will most definitely persist until I earn my place at the start line of all start lines in Boston. Let's do this!