Space Coast Half 2013

Matt's 1st Half!  CCs...10th?
2:26:30

I had picked up our packet at Running Zone earlier in the week.  We made the trip up to Kennedy Space Center on Saturday for the expo, just to check it out.  I think it was a great idea to have the space coast marathon expo at the space center, However -- that was the most crowded and smallest expo ever!  I liked it WAY better at the BCC auditorium.  I have to say, other than the WOW factor of the space center itself, the expo kind of sucked. Melbourne Beaches has a MUCH better expo. The best part of our trip was stopping in Cocoa Villiage on the way back, finding a sparking spot for race morning and having a late lunch. If you are ever there, Ossorio is a great restaurant for a light meal or coffee and snack.

Last night we went to bed at 8pm to get up at 3!  I have been getting tired with the time change at 6:30pm each night (lol) so I didnt think it would be a problem.  Well... I laid there, and laid there, ANDDDD laid there.  At 11pm I got up and took a benedryl. the last time I looked at the clock (still awake, counting sheep!)  it was 1:13am.  We were up and at'em at 3am!  Did everything the same as our 3 early morning runs, no coffee, luna bar, etc... we did add fuel shot this morning, I didn't find that it made a difference - more on that later.

We got to Cocoa early - around 4:30 - no issue parking at all in our little parking space.  We walked back and forth from the car into the park to get jackets because it was just a little too cool for comfort, and then to put them back.   After putting the jackets back in the car we went straight to the start line and waited about 10-15 minutes for the anthem and lift-off!  The mic/speakers weren't working well, the crowd helped out with the anthem, that was super sweet.

I didn't think the beginning of the race was so bad!  Everyone seemed to take right off at a good pace!  There was a Galloway pace group (2:15) beside of us for the first couple of miles. Let me just say, that was the most annoying thing EVER.  It was a pretty huge group and the course was still pretty packed, so they ran through us all, then walked so we ran through them, then they ran through us again, and walked, so we had to run through them.... this continued on until I couldn't keep that pace anymore, I think we were on mile 4 but I have to tell ya, I was just happy to not have to run through them again.  It was super distracting.

After slowing down a bit and having a GU the run went pretty well again.  We ran on, I started looking for Jeanine was we neared the halfway mark, in the crowd passing us with a faster pace. I spotted her right behind the 2:00 pace group.  I knew she was going to make great time!  2:07!!  I definitely can't hang with her anymore. LOL.   Anyway, back to us.  Matt had a really strong run; he didn't seem to be struggling much at all until I had to stop for the bathroom :(  Yes, stupid IBS hitting again, between mile 7-8, and I had to wait on a portalet.   We ran the rest of the race with no real issues, only slowing a couple times to grab a water/gatorade.   I saw Matt high stepping it around mile 11-12 so I knew his knees were starting to have issues and my hip flexors were threatening to stop pulling my legs forward. I was seriously counting down the last 4...3.1... 3.... 2.1... 1.2, 1.1, 1.0, 0.8....0.5.... I told Matt to take his headphones out to absorb the finish line and hear our names called out!  I still didn't hear them (for the second time!) but I heard everyone else's!
I grabbed his hand to come across the finish line! I hope we have a decent picture :)

Make It By Midnight - July 2012

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Very late blog, but I just wanted to make sure I remember this one when I am counting up my halfs :)   Jeanine and I drove to Macon, GA and stayed in a room about 30 minutes (?) from the race start. It was the wrong hotel branch! LOL...but we liked it!   It was surrounded by dunkin donuts, ihop, starbucks, etc so we had everything we needed. ;)  

Went to a bbq hosted by Becki, and just hung out in the pool and chilled with Wendy, Darcy, Suezette, and I dont remember who else was there -- Sueann came with her boys for the race, but left shortly after.  We met a bunch of awesome GA runners and had a lot of fun.  Darcy won first place in the women's division!!

The race itself was ...scary!   it was in a huge wooded gated neighborhood, in the middle of the night. It was dark as hell, and hot as hell.  that's about all I remember.


Overal Time: 2:56:34

Mercedes Half Marathon 2012

I flew up to Birmingham early the day before the race in order to get my packet picked up, secure my hotel room, meet up with mah girl Steph, and have some food with my mom <3   Both of my connecting flights were great, no problemo. The shuttle picked me up at the airport and carried me to the most fabulous hotel.  I stayed at the Hampton Tutwiler Hotel. Beautiful building, old historic, right up my alley!  The attendants were super nice and helpful, but said my room wouldnt be ready until 3pm (almost 3 hours to wait!)  so I moseyed over to the Boutwell Auditorium for the expo.  It was a great expo, everything you would expect!  There was a GREAT sale on sports clothes (50% off!) Lots of food samples (but none to take... booh).  I found a new fuel belt that is PERFECT for me - it is big enough for my phone AND it holds water bottles. (love!!)  Picked up packets for me, Steph and Johnboy.

Steph showed up as I was about finished, so I walked around again with her. Then when we were finished we saw another girl that works with us come in while we were waiting for my mom to get there.  Everyone was navigating with a Garmin - and with the roads closed, it was taking a long time to find your way around. Mom finally shows up and we decided we must have PF Changs  for our carb loading!  So away we went..... and it was so good!   Then we went to cheesecake factory for dessert.... but it was an hour and a half wait - WHAT? No... we got our cakes to go, laughed the entire time (Steph was driving, nuff said...), dropped my mom off, went back to the hotel to figure out how to NOT freeze on race morning when the temps are low twenties but feels like teens.   This is when I discovered that I hadn't put either pair of my race pants in the suitcase!  Terror and horror struck immediately!  What to do?!?!  and finally I had to let Steph take control and guide me to the nearest Target at 8pm the night before the race. Crisis averted!  Thank you Target <3

Have I mentioned our room was nice? I was so super impressed with this hotel.  Comfy beds :)  I slept better than I can remember ever sleeping before a race.  Could be the 2 benedryls that I took before going to sleep since my face was pouring (thanks Bama, glad to be back in Alergy country!).  That's not to say I slept all night, but I got in a few good hours and was so happy about that!   Steph and I both was up before the 5:40 alarm. Keep in mind it was FREEZING, we had no intentions of getting down to the race course until it was time to go!  However, Johnboy was coming and I had to get him his bib so we went down around 6:40 -- and couldnt find him!  The music was pumping and the runners were lining up, you couldn't move! Drama when they are down to 3 minutes and I am still holding John's race bib in my double gloved hand!  Finally, he found us and yet another crisis averted!

We said our parting words and he took off, while me and Steph hung back.  I advised her to stick to her training even though she wanted to keep running after half a mile.  I think at the end, she was glad we did!  We peeled our first layer between mi 1 & 2.   I was glad she talked me out of wearing music because the course was so awesome!  there were a couple of really big hills, filled with smaller hills in between.  I did NOT expect the 'filled with smaller hills' part.  I was glad I was running a slower pace so I could enjoy the course instead of curse the course! haha! It led us though old downtown with huge brick and concrete buildings. One in particular had the windows broken out.  I get sad when I see this. I love old buildings. If I was a millionaire, I would spend my money restoring these beautiful pieces of architecture!

229 2757 1303 CC  37  227 1:07:23 10:53  2:31:25 11:34 

2013 Melbourne Beaches / Florida Today 8K

This morning started off trying to convince my teenage son out of bed!  It was a chilly morning and we all wanted to stay in the bed...but.... eventually we made it up and to the race start with enough time to easily park and make our way around before the national anthem was sang. The lady did a really great job singing it too, btw.   The picture of the guys to the left is while we were waiting at the start line... my boy was trying to look grouchy. I think he did a good job (:

The three of us ran together for the first couple of miles.  We say Gma C & Papa on the first and second mile.  that was an awesome surprise!  The got a couple good pics that I am adding below.

Just getting started!  

Mile 2 - Still Smiling :) 

This was a really fun race, and we made great time....only to realize the great time was due to the course being almost a half a KM short!  7.6 km was my total distance.  We did great though and had a good time, so the only thing left to do is really work on our time so that next time, we can still beat our time!

When the hubby and i got to the finish line, our son, my inlaws and my awesome friend J was all waiting on us!   The temp was still too low for us to comfortably hang out in our wet clothes, we were all freezing!!!

Sorry this isnt a fabulous RR....my daughter brought a cold home to me this week, so I feel like crud. :(

Extreme Mud Warrior 5K

Saturday, October 20, 2012 - 

This was a really fun race.  The hubby and I have ran the trails a few times in preparation for this and I've been going strong at the gym so I felt like Im pretty strong and fit enough to take on this challenge.

Ah-hahahaha---- Well... we got up early, drove up around Daytona to the farm the course was on. It was a beautiful day. Check in took forever, it took so long, they were holding up the waves which caused major confusion.  Luckily, we were in the second wave so we were not affected that much.   The run itself was tough!   the hubby was looking very strong, but I knew right up front i was in trouble... crawling on the ground hurt my knees, climbing the dirt hill was fun, but plummeting into the mud at the bottom, not such much.  Then we had to run down a 'mud creek' which STUNK! no, really... it smelled like cow dung.  And there was a lot of that running in knee deep mud.  I enjoyed the obstacles - except the monkey bars I slipped right off of and busted my arse... The ropes were awesome and I loved going over walls, etc.   My hubby stuck by my side the whole time, it was awesome. We make a great team.  

There was an open swim across the pond which almost killed me!  I learned quickly that tennis shoes is not good swimwear and I sank almost immediately. Vibrams for this girl from now on for any trail run or warrior.  After the finish, we got a couple beers and celebrated our finish!  It was the hardest 5K i have ever ran.  Not sure on our finish as I havent been able to find it posted anywhere - or race pictures. :-/

Turtle Crawl 5K

Save.  Get pictures from Monica (:

  Rank 265/614  Number 1319 Age 38 Chip time 31:36 Pace 10:11 

This was a really fun race. I went with J and we met up with Moms Run This Town group.   The course was beachside, around the neighborhood; starting and ending at the boardwalk.  The party was pretty big too and weather was perfect. 

This was my first 5K in forever because of my spinal leak I havent been able to run at all. Happy with the results :)   

Emerald Mountain 7.4 Mile Warrior Challenge

This was the most awesome race.  Several reasons why.  The biggest reason is because we are in the middle of the hottest summer ever and I was worried we would all die, but I got in the car and it was a nice 70 degrees outside for the 6:30am start.

I followed traffic into the neighborhood - thank goodness! I thought I knew where I was going but found out quickly that I would have been very wrong! LOL, anyways, when I got there I saw a co-worker right off the bat, went to packet pickup, and got in the potty line. And waited. And waited. And waited...another co-worker found me and talked for a while...while they did the announcements...and while they said the prayer...and gave thanks to the military....and through the pledge of allegiance...and the national anthem...and I was still standing there when everyone lined up for the race... and just made it out when they started.   Thankfully it was a narrow path with a couple hundred runners so I was able to run down to the start line right at the back of the pack.

The first couple of miles were really difficult!  Heart Attack Hill was the worst. I had a hard time walking up it!  There was a couple more steep ones too...I only ran up one of them.  I ran downhills and flats. I spotted my co-worker around mile 3.5 and walked/jogged the rest of the way in with him since he was having a rough time (normally he is way faster than me).  The course was really shaded on the course.  It was beautiful.  and the company was nice too.  I liked not having to kill myself.  We finished the 7.4 in 1:21:25 unofficially.

The fruit and snacks at the end were great <3.  Everyone was super nice.  There was drinks about every  half a mile.  I got lucky and didnt have to go to the bathroom again, the only complaint I had was the shortage of restrooms at the beginning/end and during the race course (I only saw 1 portable potty on the course).

I was only a wee bit sore for the rest of the day :)   Pics to follow.