Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon

The Red Felts descended upon Fredericksburg, VA, this weekend for the Marine Corps Historic Half.  As I've learned, the Marines put on the best races. Well organized and awesome course support!!  And when you need a push, there's something about a Marine yelling at you to "keep going" "you've got this"!!  

Pre-Race:  About 40 Felters met up for dinner the night before the race!!  A bit overwhelming at first, but completely awesome to meet up with friends who I usually only get to chat with online! 

Race Day:  A 5am wake up call is never fun.  I always question my sanity about racing on race mornings :)  We unfortunately didn't make the large RFRC meetup due to the road closures, but we had a small mini-meet up at the hotel.  The hotel location was perfection!  Walking distance to the Start/Finish/Expo!  It was nice staying inside until it was go time!

Course:  Holy Hills Batman!!   I was warned about "Hospital Hill", but I had no idea about the others that were thrown in for fun.  Gotta love the Marines sense of humor !!   I found a really great pace for the first 3 miles, then hit the 1st hill and completely lost steam (and started feeling the affects of the humidity).  After mile 5, I just couldn't get my groove back and then luckily met up with a couple friends along course!  Always a pick me up!  Running is such a mental game for me.  At mile 10, I can usually "suck it up" and say "only a 5K to go"!  Mile 10 for the Historic Half is where Hospital Hill started, so the last 5K was primarily all uphill!  OUCH!   Luckily Will.I.Am came blasting through my headphones with #thatPOWER right then.  Miles 11-12 were really, really hard.  I wanted to stop, I wanted to quit.  Then I found Ed on course again - gotta love the RFRC shirts!  I finished strong for the last mile in and my time was 2:18:07 for the Half.  Not my best, not my worst, but definitely my most challenging race to date, both physically and mentally.  And being presented your medal (which are HUGE) by a Marine is humbling! 

Running has shown me that you CAN do it, not to ever give up, and running with friends is the best gift ever!  This weekend was wonderful even though I sit here the following morning nursing sore muscles!  

If you've never run a Marine Corps race, put one on your to-do list!  They are the most organized and well supported races I've ever had the pleasure of doing!   Looking forward to October where I can see all these wonderful people again and to run with the Marines!

Frederick Running Festival - Team Relay

            This year I really wanted to run the Frederick Running Festival, but I didn't want to run the Half Marathon.  There were some Run, Mama, Run ladies doing their 1st Half that I wanted to support, so I asked Crystal if she would run the Team Relay with me instead.  This way it was just a fun run for both of us, and we could cheer on our running friends as well!!   And since the race was on Cinco De Mayo, Team Margarita Mama it is :)

 

When I run these days, I always have 2 precious angels on my mind!  This year I ran for Sophie and Madigan, and for Boston. 

Run, Mama, Run Ladies

I ran the first leg of the Team Relay, which is 7.9 (just call it 8 miles)!  Once I started running through downtown Frederick, I really felt light on my feet and energetic.  It was the fastest I've ever run 8 miles.  1 hour and 15 minutes was when I hit the relay point!.   From there, Crystal took on the last 5.2 miles!

RMR Ladies with the Gecko

Crystal flew for the last 5.2 miles and we ended up with a sub-2 hour Half Marathon!  Awesome!  Our official time was 1:57:19.   38th out of 104 Team Relay groups!  I would definitely run the relay again!  It was a no pressure, just for fun, race!!

Boston .... heartbroken!

For so many people, Boston is the Holy Grail of races.  You have to post some times that make my head spin thinking about ever being that fast, and for 26.2 miles.  Runners train for MONTHS to race in a marathon.

But this year, the Boston Marathon ended in tragedy and heartbreak on so many levels.

• Heartbreak....for those lives lost too soon, and their families left to grieve.
• Heartbreak....for those injured in the blast, and the recovery they face.
• Heartbreak....for our running friends that didn't get to cross the finish line.
• Heartbreak....for the entire running community and their families!!

The only heartbreak that should have been in Boston yesterday should have been "Heartbreak Hill".

I'm at such a loss, sad, and downright angry!!  So I took my anger and sadness to the pavement! 

I ran in silence.  Just the sound of my feet on the pavement.  I ran past our flag at half mast.  I ran for 2.62 miles for Boston.  I ran with the images of a little boy in a white suit that was taken from this world too soon. 

RunJunkees - Virtual Run - Runners United to Remember

RunJunkees quickly put together a virtual run to both honor the victims and display unity in the running community.  The Facebook event can be found here with more details. There is no cost for this virtual race - just print out the race bib (found here) and run or walk, any distance, any amount of time!

 All I can do is continue to pray for everyone affected by this tragedy!!  I love my running family!!

Cherry Blossom 10 Miler

Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Miler - April 7, 2013

Well, after being "off" for months, it's time to get back on the horse (aka road)!!  I signed up for the lottery to this race long before my stress fracture and nagging hip injury!!   So after being good and not running per doctors orders, and completing my physical therapy, I'm cleared to run again.   Most likely my doc and physical therapist are not thinking "Hey, go run a 10 miler right away", but it is what it is!   I've decided to tackle the 10 miles instead of switching to the 5K.  I just like distance running (well, maybe I do)!!  At least I was going with friends, so I wasn't going alone :)

Met up with some RFRC friends at the Expo!

I decided to get a hotel room since this was an early morning DC race!  As an added bonus, Rose came up from NC to run with me, and we were able to go to the RFRC Pre-race dinner meet up!  So much fun meeting up with others that I had only met through the online group, and great seeing those I had met at MCM back in October!
 

RFRC Dinner Meet Up

Race morning was cold, really, really COLD!!  And the wind just made it even worse!  This is a Spring race, right?  The Cherry Blossoms were barely out for the race this year.  Even they were too cold!!  So we hunkered down and waited until it was time to head to the Start Line!

Crystal and Rose shivering!

My goal for this race - just FINISH !   And I did just that!  I actually ran the whole 10 miles after being off for months, and only getting a couple short runs in beforehand.  Crystal stayed with me the whole race, which is probably the only reason I didn't stop.  I finished in 1:43:11 (10:19 pace).  Definitely helped me regain some confidence that I could handle long distance running again!

 

Some of the RFRC Group after the race!

This was a nice race around the DC monuments!  I definitely enjoyed the scenery!  Just hope that if I do this race again, it's a little warmer :)

Love for the Lillards 5K & Half Marathon

The Love for the Lillards 5K and Half Marathon Virtual Race came about when a friend from my former Mom's group suffered an unimaginable tragedy on January 31st, 2013.  Two of their four daughters were killed in a house fire, Sophie (6), and Madigan (3).   I was like everyone else hearing the news.  Shock, denial, tears, and the desire to help in any way possible!   My local running group, Run Mama Run, wanted to do the same, and one member asked the question of "can we do a virtual race to raise money?".  This threw into motion many phone calls and emails to friends who have done this before, and we were able to kick off the virutal event that lasted from February 8th - March 24th, 2013.  

We had 70 runners, 52 for the 5K, and 18 for the Half Marathon.  We raised over $1,500 for the Lillards!

Joan, from Bitsy Creations, donated her time and designed the Virtual Race Bib for us.  Beautiful!!

After word was out about the Virtual Run, I was contacted by the Frederick News Post.  They ran an awesome story about the Love for the Lillards Virtual event and really helped increase our participants!!

Below are a few pictures that were posted on the Facebook Event page by the runners.  Thanks to EVERYONE that ran the Love for the Lillards 5K or Half Marathon!  

 If you didn't get to run in this event and would still like to help, please go to the Sophie and Madigan Lillard Memorial Park Facebook page.  The family will be running the Disney Princess Half Marathon in February 2014, and plans to bring another virtual or sister run to the Frederick County area are being considered!!

Click HERE for the Facebook event page for the Disney Princess Half details.

Much love and continued prayers to the Lillards for peace, strength and healing !!

JellyBean Virtual 5K

This is an annual virtual race that is put together by RunWithJess.com. She is a blogger I started following some time ago, and as a busy mom and runner, I related to her and love reading her posts. The JellyBean Virtual race gives participants the option to run various distances or even bike from March 20-31, 2013, to be given prize entries. This year, Run Mama Run decided to enter as a Team. Unfortunately, this years horribly cold and miserable Winter/start to Spring has made for less than optimal conditions for group runs. Half of the team was able to come out at least for the photo opp, then participated in the run when they could :)

5K in 32:14. And first race bling of the year.

Words Runners Don't Want to Hear

"No running"

Ugh, really?? I never ever thought I'd have a stress fracture. I ran between 50-90 miles every month last year. I practically ran a Half Marathon a weekend and then some training for the Marine Corps Marathon, I ran the marathon in my goal time with only a nagging hip to complain of!!! And in the last 3 months, I've barely ran 60 miles total. And NOW I have a stress fracture. Hysterical!! Well, not really!

I can't say I took the news well. When I first went to the Ortho to have it checked, the x-ray didn't show a fracture, but he wanted to completely rule it out given my explanation of the pain. I was hoping for tendonitis, or for nothing. The MRI results show fatiguing and the start of a stress fracture in my foot. I think I just stared at the doc. It was that or burst into tears as he told me "no running", "no impact sports or activities"!! I saved the tears for when I got to the car.

Some people just don't understand why it's such a big deal. Why am I so upset! Well, running saved me! It gave me back "me"! I finally had an identity other than "Michael's mom, Daniel's mom"! I made awesome friends because of running! Friends that are helping me deal with my "funk" over this. It's my free time, my friend time, my alone time!! Now, instead of "going out for a quick run", it's "can I work in getting to the gym for this class or that one?" Pain in the a$$!!

So now that I've whined, cried, griped, and have been angry over it, it's time to move on and come up with a training plan that keeps me going strong without running until I am allowed to get back out there. The good news - not a full fracture only means 3-4 weeks off (I've already been off for 2 weeks *sigh*) So time to put my YMCA membership to full use and get swimming and spinning more!! Plus I get the physical therapy for my hip in that timeframe too. Hope to be put back together in time to at least run/walk the Rock N Roll Half Marathon in March that I'm signed up for :/