Donna part 2

Looking back at a great event and weekend. I have had a chance to look at the pictures and I am going to post some of them. I have not sent them out to everyone so I am not going to put all of them out.

Saturday morning we decided to get up early and head out to the expo. We wanted to get there and see everything and still have time to get back to the beach and go out for dinner with our friends. The expo was nice and large. It was very crowded with all the normal stuff from drinks, gels, clothes and gadgets. While I was there, they had a booth that was giving away free messages and yep I got one. OMG it was wonderful. I asked the lady if she was married and she replied yes and my husband does not get them either.

I was walking around and meet Donna, who the marathon is actually named after. She was signing her books that were for sale. I did not know until after the race that I actually ran a portion of the race with her.
Also Jeff Galloway was there signing everything for people and answering questions while posing for some pictures.

I got a chance to pose with Jeff Galloway after his autographed my bib number for the race. I then found out that I was running the race with Jeff. He is notarise for running the races in 5 hours. He was running with his wife, Barbara.

After a great expo and walking on the beach, it was time for a good dinner with friends. We went to Outback for steak, chicken and potatoes. YUMMY it was so good. It gave me a chance to give some last minute suggestions to the runners while Mandie is trying to tell me to hush. She said that I should not be saying anything and I told her that I was trying to help them not go through the bad things that I had gone through before.

Well, it is now or never. It is race day and my nerves are kicking in high gear. I am trying to hide my emotions but it was hard. I was nervous about thinking about trying to break my PR and also about my friend Kevin and his wife Shannyn running their first race. I was hoping and praying everyone would run an accident free race.

We went out to get on the bus and good Lord it was freezing, 37 degrees. I wanted to find some coffee to warm up. This is Florida, it is not suppose to be this cold. I had an old pair of socks that I cut the ends off to make arm warmers. It actually worked.

Here is a picture of Kevin and Shannyn before the race. Note that they are smiling now. Will they later????????

Here is the Macon Galloway running group. Note that they are smiling before the race. Will this continue until the end???????

Mandie was able to catch the shuttles over to the beach and grab some pictures for us. Here is one of the ones that I actually liked from the race. I was still feeling good and had visions of a PR dancing through my mind.

But at last, the best pictures at the finish line. Me right after the race before I had my beers, after I had time to rest, me and Kevin, and the group with victory beers.

After the race we got to ride the buses back to the motel. Well, I think we had the coolest bus driver ever. I was joking around with him about if he could go through a drive thru on the way back and he laughed with his boss standing outside the door. Well when he closed the door, he said if you get me a McFlurry I will take you there. I told him I would buy him a Happy Meal also. So on the way back we parked on the road and Mandie ran inside and got 7 Happy Meals and a McFlurry for our driver. Man we were all happy on the bus. We were all craving salty fries. Then we decided that after we showered and changed that we would go to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner. My friend Melissa Cowart was in town visiting her parents and she stopped by to have dinner with us. It was so cool to see more friends to be able to celebrate with. Here she is with us and Mandie eating their seafood dinner.

But by far the main reason why we ran the 26.2 with Donna Marathon is to help find a cure for breast cancer. It was very moving to hear and see stories about survivors and the ones that have gone on to be with the Lord. There was alot of emotions through out the entire race. I am very glad to have had a chance to run this event. I strongly would say to anyone looking forward to running a wonderful marathon, I would say run this one.

Have a great day and help save the Ta-tas.

Recap for 26.2 with Donna

I will start out by saying if you have never run a marathon, I would highly recommend this one to be your first. The crowd support of this race is awesome. I think there were more supporters than runners. The town of Jacksonville really came out in great support. If you were on the beach, on the bridge or on the surface streets, there was support in large numbers.

I went out in the 5 hour pace group to try and beat my PR. I really thought this was going to be the day. Here is the time chip stations with the splits:

5M: 00:56:43

10M: 1:55:41

Half: 2:30:36 ON TRACK FOR PR AND SUB 5

15M 2:52:06 GETTING HOT AND HUNGRY

20M 3:57:28 THINKING I GOT A NEW PR AND THEN IT HIT ME LIKE A BOMB

Chip: 5:36:41


I was so close to getting my PR and breaking the 5 hour demon. I thought I had finally beaten it and it came back to bite me in the butt. HARD. When I came into the 20's, I was spent. I had lost my gel holder and the last 10 miles was run on nothing but water. They were passing out GU's but nothing in plain flavor. I was starting to get sick to my stomach and I was eating salt packets. I wanted a plain gu and no one had any. I started to cry. I was so upset that I had come so far in my training to miss it by such a little distance. I was upset knowing that all the training I had put out is now gone down the drain. I started thinking that Mandie is waiting patiently for me at the finish line to watch me break 5 hours. Then it hit me again and I got upset even more. As I ran past a police officer, I asked if I could borrow his phone to call Mandie to let her know that I was going to be late. She was so supportive to tell me that it was going to be ok and just finish.

I hobbled my way to the finish line to receive my beautiful medal that is partially see through. I will post some pics soon of the medal and race.

I have to give huge props to the Macon Galloway Runners who ran their first marathon. They were awesome to have given up so much time into training and run 26.2 miles. As we ran through the miles, I was able to run with Jeff Galloway and his wife as he runs the events in a 5 hour pace. He was running past us and talking the whole time. It was great to see my partner from work Kevin to run his 1st marathon. I told him that he would be able to finish it.

There is so much to tell about this race so I will post more later as it comes back to me. The pre race food with friends after the race with friends and the whole event. More to come later. For now it is time to get ready for Snickers Marathon next Saturday.

I'm back and ......

I am not happy. I am back from my Jacksonville trip from the 26.2 with Donna marathon. As you know I was wanting to break my 5 hour demon. Well, the idiot is still on the loose. I was not able to break this lingering mark that is hoovering above my head. I was on track until mile 20 and then I feel off the band wagon. My finish time was 5:36 and some change. I will try and post a recap of the race in the next couple of days while I am in the recovering stage right now.

Snicker Marathon in Albany Ga in 2 weeks. I need to hurry up and rest so that I can get back out there again. Until then, have a wonderful day.

And were off......

Well it is here. It is time to pack up and hit the road when I get off from work today. All the long runs, the daily short runs and watching my weight is all together. No turning back now. It is time to go run 26.2 with Donna. I just read that the ratio of women to men is 5:1 so if nothing else, it will be fun running with a bunch of women.

I found the tracking site where you can watch and keep up with runners. www.raceit.com/liveresults/bcm2010/search.aspx?event=1084

I hope this link works if not you can go to the 26.2 page on Facebook and it will show you how to track. Well for now, it is time to go and see yall next week with a recap.

Funeral arrangements coming soon...

As I sit and think about what I need to take to the 26.2 with Donna this weekend, I am pondering that I have not broken the 5 hour mark YET. I have this demon that has pondered me for nearly 3 years now. Well no more. I am going for it this weekend and hopefully be able to lay the demon to rest.

Looking back on the last couple of months, I have logged in more miles and long runs than I have had in any of my past marathons. I think both physically and mentally I am ready for this task. I have had this hanging over my head long enough. It is time to move on and work on new goals. I want to get this behind me so that I can go out and finish my bucket list with a smile on my face.

I am taking time off this week from my normal mileage and it is giving me more time to think about the race. What to take, when to gu, when to take electrolytes. And I thought running a marathon was just going out there and running. Man what was I thinking. HaHa.

Well, if you get a chance and have some free time this week, please sit down and say a prayer for me for trying to reach my goals. I hope and pray to be able to have a race recap that will have nothing but great and exciting news.

Giveaway

I am posting a link about a giveaway from another TRI who has given us details about a new GU. If you go to www.danglethecarrot.blogspot.com you can read his review and see more about the giveaway.

Is running for fun or is it WORK........

It was not long ago when I felt like I had hit a wall. I was on a runner's high and thought everything was going great. Boy, was I wrong. I then had gotten to a point when I just did not want to put my shoes on and to hear about running made me want to throw up. So what did I do to get out of my slump..........
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GET ON THE BIKE AND SWIM


Yes, I found out when I was running so much and pushing myself to try and get faster and lose more weight, I found myself burning myself out. I was to a point where I did not know if running was for fun or was it work.. I had schedules put out for me and I did not have to think about what to run. It was laid out for me everyday. Where to run, what pace to run, how far should I run, Tempo or Easy long run?????? That is when it hit me that I got into running to help myself physically and not to go crazy.

Since I have joined up with the Galloway group, it has given me a chance to run with different people who are among very different goals and outlooks. This has been great because it reminded me why I did my first marathon and how I felt. It has brought back so many memories that I forgot I had lost.

When I thought I had done everything I could possibly physically do, I did a Tri. I never thought I could do something like that. I always said that was for the totally fit atheletes and not for me. Well, I was wrong. I found out you can do anything you put your mind to it and get someone to help you where you might think you have some not so strong points.

What I am trying to get at is when you think that running is just for going out and training like WORK, try something different. I found that when I trained for the TRI, it was nice because my mind and body was always thinking about what I was going to do next. My body was always in check because it was getting changed everyday.

This kept me from going stir crazy. It helped me get out of my rut. If you think you cant do a TRI, well, try and find something else. Maybe you just need to volunteer and help someone else. You will find yourself coming back stronger and better.

I just hope this post will help at least 1 person out there. If so, this blog is totally worth it. Thank you and have a wonderful day in the snow.......

Getting nervous

I have about 10 days to go before the 26.2 Donna Marathon in Jacksonville Florida. This will be my 9th marathon on my lists of ones to do. You would think by now that races would not bother me but for some reason my nerves are starting to kick in somewhat. I have a 5 hour demon that has followed me since I started running marathons.

I want to be able to break this internal record and get rid of the PR and start on a new number, Sub 5. I am feeling good about going for this next week. I think I have alot of base miles for the last 6 months and have several 20 plus mile runs in.

I am trying to loose a couple of pounds before I go cause 1 pound = 2 seconds/mile. For some people that would not mean alot but for me if I could drop 5 - 10 pounds it could mean a PR for me. I am going down to Fl with the Jeff Galloway group and they are so fun to run with. I have had so much fun getting long run in and being able to share some of my knowledge of running. This Friday we are going to meet and talk about last minute preparations. Then we are going to watch the movie "Making of a marathon".

Well I felt like I needed to sit down and talk for a minute before going to work to help release some of my feelings and butterflies. I just want to go ahead right now and go to Florida. I am pumped about the race and everything it stands for.

Until later, have a blessed day and continue to get out there and run....

Bike ride

I have been a slacker this week with my runs. I have gone to the gym and gotten on the treadmill some but it just not the same as getting out on the road. Friday night our bike group from Warner Robins called me and asked if I was going on the bike ride. I told them sure if it was not raining.

Well, I got up Saturday and it was dry and windy. Oh did I mention it was cold. So I told them I was going so I loaded up the bike and headed out. It was a small group of about only 8 riders. Normally we would have about 20 or so.

I was able to maintain an average of 15 mph for 26 miles. The wind was horrible. It was in our face from the start. It was making us get out of the saddle and work the legs. After mile 5 I actually thought about going back and not taking a chance of getting sick. I glad I did not turn back. It was fun when I got through.

I felt good and stayed warm except for my feet. I should have worn 2 pair of socks but lesson learned. Now I need to clean the bike due to the little bit of drizzle we went through before we finished the ride. Now that was cold.

I have 2 weeks before the marathon and I will be on the treadmill this week in the mornings. I am working on shedding some more pounds. So what did I do, I went and got the P90X videos. More to come later with the videos.

Have a great week and keep up the great work....

YEAH.......

I finally got a chance to get back out and try my new shoes. I went to the Wellness Center and got on the treadmill so that I could change up the speed and incline to test them. The final answer is ...............



They passed!!!!!!!

I love my new Asics 3010's. They are great! I did not have the traditional pain across the top of my foot nor the pain around my big toe. They are super comfortable. I am so glad that I went back to Run Fit and got my feet checked again. I think I have been in the wrong shoes lately. I hope this fixes my problem. I will know after the 26.2 with Donna in 18 days.

Until later, have a great pain-free run......