Marine Corps Marathon 2009

This past Sunday David and I ran the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC and Arlington, Virginia! This was David’s first full marathon and he did great! We trained together virtually on an 18-week training plan that was loosely based off of Hal-Higdon’s Intermediate Marathon Training Plan.

Running For A Reason

When we signed up for the race we decided that we would fundraise for a charity throughout our training. We wanted to pick a charity that either had a personal connection to us or our family, or that directly impacted a group in the area local to the race. The Marine Corps Marathon is a huge fundraising event and I was amazed to find out that there were EIGHT charity partners associated with the race.

We ended up choosing an organization called Back On My Feet, and raised a total of $625 over the course of 10 weeks. Thank you so much to everyone who contributed to our fundraising! We really appreciate it!

Marathon Expo

On the Saturday before the race David and I headed over to the expo to pick up our race packets. The expo was being held at the convention center which was conveniently located right next to a Metro station. It was pouring that day and we were lucky to be able to walk directly from the Metro station into the convention center without ever having to go outside. On the way to the expo I was reading updates from the Marine Corps Marathon twitter account which was announcing various booths that Miles the marathon mascot was visiting and handing out prizes if you whispered the secret phrase to him from the tweets. Unfortunately we didn’t see him at a booth during one of these prize activities, but we did catch him for a quick photo opp!

Miles the Marathon Mascot

Cute Fitting Rooms

Quick RV Visit

David’s parents live near Charlotte, NC and recently bought a RV. They decided to take their first trip in the RV last weekend when they came up for the race. Compared to some of the other RV monsters in the park theirs looked pretty small, but once you got inside it was really nice and actually a perfect size for two people! The driver and passenger chairs looked like lazy boys, the dining table and kitchen were well sized, and the bedroom in the back just fit a full bed. We made a quick visit to the RV to say high to David’s parents, and then we packed our overnight bags and headed back to Arlington to meet David’s brother for dinner.

The Allen RV

Carbo Loading Time

Since David’s brother lives in Arlington (only a few Metro stops away from the start line), David and I were lucky enough to get to stay over at his place the night before the race. We also went out to dinner to get our carbo loading on with Ken and his girlfriend Devon at a really cute place down the street from his apartment. We stuffed ourselves with pasta and bread, and then headed back to Ken’s place to lay out our stuff for the next morning and develop a game plan for the morning, the race, and the post-race celebration. David and I both laid out outfits out for the next morning, put our race numbers on, set aside our clothes for after the race in the gear bag that we'd check, and gave Ken maps of the course and the spectator guide so he would know where to find us along the course and after the race.

Race Day Outfit

Race Morning

On Sunday the big day had finally arrived! Marathon morning! We got up around 5:15am and I started making coffee and my pre-race breakfast of oatmeal, toast, and egg whites. I ate the first in the apartment, the second on the Metro, and I also ate a banana and a Cliff bar when we got to the race. Oink, I know. In total I had an 800 calorie breakfast. Huge I know, but I try to have a 600-800 calorie breakfast before any run that is further than 16 miles. I don’t really like having to eat while running (even though it’s a necessity after a certain distance) so I try to get in as many calories as possible before I run, to limit those that I need to replenish while I run.

Beautiful Morning in Arlington, VA

Metro Riding Runners

David and I took the Metro over to the race and were amused to see that just about everybody that was up and out and about at 6am on the Metro was heading out to run the race. The platforms and cars were absolutely PACKED with runners, which seemed to increase the excitement in the air as we headed towards the start location.

David With His Arm Warmers

Start Line Photo Opp

When we finally got to the start area we went to drop off our bags with our post-race clothes at gear check and then headed over to the portapotty lines to empty the tanks before the race. TMI right? The only reason I mention this is that at every race I’ve done I’ve had to wait 10-40 minutes in line. It’s the main reason I arrive early before the race! The lines usually take FOREVER! This race however was incredibly well planed and equipped. There were portapotties everywhere and we probably didn’t wait longer than 5 minutes! Yay!

First Half of the Race

We headed over to the starting corrals and jumped in to the 4 hour finish area. This put us about 10 minutes back from the start of the group which made the start somewhat of a slow shuffle, but the crowd wasn’t so thick around us that it held us back too much. We had agreed to run between a 8:30 and 9:00 pace for this race knowing that we’d lose some time slowing down at each water station along the way.

There were two hills on the course, one at mile 3 and one at mile 8. Aside from that the course was pretty flat. In the past I’ve really struggled on hills and in all of the races David and I have done together I’ve been a whining dead weight on even the slightest of hills. For this race I did at least one or two hilly trail workouts each week, all ending with a run half-way up the steep hill that I live on back to my apartment. This training definitely helped! We cruised up the first hill without a problem, coasted back down, and then cruised up the next! I felt great! It was such an amazing feeling to feel my training paying off. I’m sure David saw each hill and was anticipating my normal whine of “slow dooowwwwn”, but it never came! Yay me!

I felt pretty good in the first half of the race and felt okay staying on pace with David up until about mile 16. At this point I started to tire a bit and could tell that I was having to push harder to stay next to him. A couple times I asked him to slow down a bit for me which he immediately did, but after the second time I asked I really started to feel bad for holding him back. By mile 18 I was more tired and decided that at mile 20 I’d tell him to go on without me so he could finish the marathon with a better time alone than he could with me by his side. By mile 19 I couldn’t keep this idea in my head anymore and blurted out “just go ahead without me, I want to walk for a minute”. David refused to leave me and we walked for a minute and then started running again, then a bit later we repeated this with me continuing to plead for him to go on. He was running so strong and just as fast at mile 19 as he was at mile 1! I on the other hand needed to change to a lower gear by then and run a little slower. He said again that he wasn’t going to leave me and that actually he wasn’t feeling all that great either. Upon realizing that he was absolutely going to stay with me, I sucked it up and started running again so I didn't ruin his time any further.

Approaching Mile 20

As we approached mile 20 I was still struggling a bit but pushed on. We crossed the 14th Street Bridge and broke through “the Wall” … and plowed on to mile 21. At this point I started to realize that we had 21 miles behind us, and only 5 to go! Coincidentally a few of my favorite power songs came up on my iPod. Metallica’s Master of Puppets, and A-Ha’s Take On Me! As I kicked into cruise control and rocked out to my favorite tunes in my head a shocking thing happened. David started cramping up! He called for me to stop and he walked over to the side of the road and started stretching his legs out. I was absolutely shocked! I suffered from severe leg cramps in my last race and knew exactly what he was going through. He stretched a bit and was feeling better so we started running again, but for the next 5 miles we’d run for a bit and he’d be okay, then the cramps would kick in again and we’d stop while he walked or stretched, and then we’d keep going again. I offered him what Gatorade and water I had left, and at each water station we passed through I’d fill up on fluids to carry for the both of us.

As we got to mile 25 we were in one of our walking stretches when to my surprise who did I see on the sidelines? David’s dad holding a big neon sign for me! From my dogs! As soon as I saw David’s dad Rich I called out to him and also got David’s attention so he’d see him as well. On the other side of the road was his mom holding one of the signs that I had made for David. As we started to come around the curve and run down the hill Rich started running along side us with his neon sign proudly waving above his head. I don’t think I’ve ever smiled so big in my life! And speaking of on the course support – David’s family ROCKS! They showed up at miles 10 and 16 (back-to-back viewing locations on the course) as well as mile 25 and the finish line! We saw them with the signs at miles 10, 16, and 25.

Signs I Made For David

Not too long after we passed David’s parents we then came upon Ken and Devon who were also proudly waving signs! This was really a great little pick-me-up during the hardest part of the race, mile 25 to 26.2. Okay, so that’s more than a mile, you know what I mean!

Signs For Me From David's Parents

As we got closer and closer to the finish line the crowd really started to fill out. My favorite part of any marathon is when you’re running in that last quarter mile to the finish with hundreds and hundreds of people around you and you feel like everyone is there cheering for you. The energy from the crowd and the experience of running through an area so thick with excited, screaming people is really something else. David and I blew through the crowds and charged towards the finish line, and finished side by side. (Technically per the race reseults I came in a second faster. Whooh hoo!)

Official finish time? 4:17:24

Receiving Our Finisher's Medals

Awesome Finisher's Photo

Our original goal was 3:55 so we were both a bit disappointed to not have met that goal, but we still had a great race and considering all of the cramping and walking towards the end, I still think we did pretty well. AND … David finished his first marathon! And better yet, I got to be by his side the whole way! I don’t mean to be totally cheesy when I say that its been my dream since my first race to have someone to race side by side with. Everytime I’ve seen racing couples I’ve always felt a bit jealous. I wish that I had someone who shared my same passion for running and who’d want to train with me for a race, discuss the minute details of running and training on a regular basis, and run with me side by side for hours. Well you know what? That dream has now come true! I’m a simple girl with simple dreams. But honestly, thank you David! It was a great experience.

Aching After The Race

BEST Race Support Ever!

The Carbo Loading Kids

Post-Race Chow Down

After the race we met up with David’s family in the finisher’s area and headed back to Ken’s place to shower and change to get ready for a group lunch at my favorite Mexican restaurant …. CHEVY’S!!!

My cousin Sandy and her husband Justin and their son Wyatt were joining us, and so were my Aunt Elsa and Uncle Stanton, and my Aunt Judy who I haven’t seen in about 10 years! Lunch was great and it was so nice to catch up with family.

Mini-Family Reunion

Allen Family Reunion

After lunch I was hoping for a nice nap to recharge a bit. That didn’t exactly happen though since David was arranging a little family reunion over at his brother Chad’s house. David, Ken, and Devon and I headed over there and met up with David’s parents and sister as well. We hung out and played with the kids for a bit before going out to dinner nearby. Didn’t we just eat a couple hours before? Yep. Did we sit down and eat again? But of course!

The Allen "Kids"

Future Marathon Runner

The whole race weekend really turned out to be a great time. Not just the race but the events before and after, and all of the family time we got around the activities. As usual I’m in that crazy period the week after a race where I’m just about recovered and starting to get antsy to start my next training plan. I’m not sure which race I’m going to do next, but I’m so anxious to pick it now so I can get started on training! I hate to admit that marathon training is a true obsession of mine. I’ve acknowledged after this race though that I need to change up my training method. Adding hill workouts really did help me, but in order to decrease my overall finish time I think I need to focus on more speed/temp workouts. Whatever, I’ll figure that out in the next week or so.

For now, hats off to you David for completing your first full marathon!

And thank you so so much Allen Family for your incredible support along the race course and during this whole weekend. It really made the day special.

Me & My Favorite Racing Partner

Ready To Race

I was planning on yesterday being my last running day before the marathon this Sunday, but I'm at a total of 398 training miles and I just want to get past the 400 mile mark, so I'm going to hit the gym for one more quick run.

I've been logging my training on the Daily Mile website (www.dailymile.com) which has been a fun way to log my training and to keep tabs on the activities of my friends. I just looked at the chart of my overall training for this race and was excited and proud to see the total miles I've logged over the past 18 weeks. I haven't been able to stay on schedule as much as I'd would have liked due to work, travel, and life, but I think I've logged enough quality miles to have a good race.

My training summary:

• 18 weeks of training
• 398 miles covered
• 154:32 spent running
• 124,503 calories burned

One more quick run right now and then I'm off tomorrow ... and then the big day is Sunday!

Updates will follow the race of course. :o)

Back On My Feet

You should know by now from half of my recent blog posts that: “David and I will be running the Marine Corps Marathon this coming Sunday October 25, 2009 in Washington, DC. This will be my 11^th and David’s 1^st full marathon!” I’m a broken record, I know.

We have been running 4-5 days a week for the past 18 weeks and together have run a total of 744 miles. How far have YOU run since June huh? Just kidding!

Obstacles With Training

As with many plans and goals, there are things that go wrong along the way that set you back. Bad weather, personal commitments, work commitments, long travel days, sick/sore days, and days when we've just been plain too tired to get up and run are some of many reasons that we've skipped a day or two of our training over the weeks. But dealing with setbacks in marathon training is fairly similar to dealing wtih setbacks in life. When things go wrong you can stop, acknowledge what went wrong, decide how you can get back on track, and try not to let it happen again. We've been doing this for the past 4 ½ months and have both stuck pretty close to our original training plan!

Running For A Reason

About 6 weeks into our training we decided that we wanted to make our training miles more meaningful by fundraising for a charity. We looked at the numerous charities formally associated with the Marine Corps Marathon and decided that we wanted to pick a charity that we either had a personal or family connection to, or one that would directly affect the local community that we’d be running in. After researching the various charities for a couple weeks we landed back on one charity that originally caught my eye: Back On My Feet.

Why we chose BOMF

We first learned about Back On My Feet from an article in Runner’s World. The story was really compelling and really showed how something as simple as running and bringing people together in a group to run could drastically improve people’s lives.

About BOMF

Back on My Feet is a non-profit organization that promotes the self-sufficiency of the homeless population by engaging them in running as a means to build confidence, strength and self-esteem.

Back on My Feet does not provide food nor does it provide shelter, but instead provides a community that embraces equality, respect, discipline, teamwork and leadership. There are no labels, no stigmas and no stereotypes. At Back on My Feet, all members - regardless of race, education or socioeconomic status - join together to move their own lives forward as well as the lives of their teammates.

Why I Want To Help

I've spent the majority of my life in major metropolitan cities which have all had large homeless populations. I've struggled over the years with wanting to help but not wanting to give money in the form of handing over cash. I really like knowing that the money that we are raising for this program is directly helping someone in need who actually wants the help, and the help is provided in a structured program with proven results. I feel that the greater Washington DC area and communities in Maryland and Virginia are giving me a great place to race and are providing a setting for a world-class event, and in turn I’d like to give back to people whose life and world the race is in.

How You Can Help

If you would like to contribute to our fundraising efforts, you can do so by going to our fundraising page (click here). If you aren't able to at this time, that’s okay too. Instead please think of us this coming Sunday from 7am to 11am EST. Think positive thoughts for us and send good vibes for a great race and great experience! We’re really happy with the amount that we've been able to raise so far, but of course are hoping to contribute a bit more before the week is over.

Thank you in advance, we really appreciate your support!

The Lone Runner

David and I will be running the Marine Corps Marathon this coming Sunday October 25, 2009 in Washington, DC. This will be my 11^th and David’s 1^st full marathon! We have previously run two halfs together and are looking forward to our first full together!

For me, running marathons has been many things good (increased self-confidence and improved physical ability to name a couple) and some things bad (my feet are hideous and my quads are freakishly huge), but one thing that comes to mind as we approach this race is that in these past 5 years that I have been training, running marathons has really been lonely. Aww, come here and give me a hug. You know you want to!

I started out training for my first full marathon with a local running group in Phoenix called Racelab. I’m pretty sure that without them I never would have made it through the months or training or even made it through the race. I’m immensely grateful to that group and everything that they taught me. While running with this group I also gained a group of running friends who I felt a sense of community with. I did speed workouts at a track with the group on Tuesdays, and sometimes did my long runs with a partner or group on Saturdays. Meeting up with the group was a bit inconvenient because of the location and as my job became more demanding it was easier for me to just train alone. So from marathon two through ten, I have trained alone.

Speed Workouts At The Track

I don’t mind running alone and many of my long runs have allowed me to take time to reflect on my life, myself, my friends and family, and my goals. I enjoy the time with myself most of the time and running has been an outlet for me to think, vent, plan, and regroup.

Going through training for a marathon alone though is what is lonely. Being the only one you know who is getting up early to run five days a week for 3-4 months is a bit isolating. Being the only one of your friends who can’t go have fun on a Friday night because she has to get up at the crack of the dawn is just downright sad at times. Aside from a few other runners that I know, there weren't people in my immediate circle who knew what I was going through and who I could discuss the ins and outs of my training with without making their eyes roll back into their heads. I think that training for a marathon is like having a second job, and if you had no one to talk to about the daily ups and downs of you job, wouldn't you be a bit sad?

Enter David Allen into my running life!

David had never run a road race before I talked him into the Run and Stride With Pride 5K in my neighborhood last June. He talked a big game before the race and was completely convinced that he’d beat me because A – he’s a guy (guys just run faster than girls), and B – he’s always been an athlete. (And probably C – I’m pretty clumsy and uncoordinated and the word athlete doesn't exactly come to mind when you look at me.) Sure, he knew that I had been racing for years and had run short and long races with decent times, but still, he was convinced he’d beat me. Guess what? I kicked his butt!

David After The 5K (Not Happy!)

He ran off and on casually after that but it was several months later that he said that he’d like to train for a half-marathon. I was so excited and quickly made him a schedule, we picked a race, and started and crossed the finish line together! (Technically my foot hit the mat first, but with my non-chip shoe, so he came in before me in the official race results. Darn!)

Austin Half Marathon Finish

After running his first half he had the bug for a full, but it wasn't until after he came to watch my last marathon (Rock N Roll San Diego – June 2009) that he was ready to go for it. We looked around for a while to pick a race and finally decided on the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC in October. At the time that we had decided to run, registration for the race wasn't open yet. We put the date on our calendars and on the second day that registration was open we registered for the race. Good thing we did, it sold out all 30,000 spots by the fourth day! Wow, talk about a popular race. The Marine Corps Marathon is totally the new pink!

The Marine Corps Marathon

Vermont Teddy Bear

I put together an 18-week training schedule for us and off we went on our training! It has been a lot of fun over the past few months to train together and talk endlessly about running. We discuss our morning runs, our strategy for our long runs, what we ate before and after, what we wore, what the weather was like, what interesting running news we saw that week online, what cool new running shoes are coming out, what the difference is between the various colors, flavors, and mixtures of sports drinks, etc. Bet you’re sure glad now that I’m not boring you to tears with these topics! (In case you want to read my thoughts on various running fuels, check out this entry: Fueling For The Long Run)

We are now on our last week of training and I’m really looking forward to putting all of our training to the test. One of the things I love and hate about the marathon is that no matter how much you prepare for the race, race day can throw something at you’re that you’re totally not prepared for and make your race wonderful or miserable. I’m really hoping for “wonderful” for this race and I’m pretty confident that it will be since we will be running together. I finally have a marathon partner after all these years and this lone runner will no longer be racing the 26.2 miles alone.

Thanks David! I can’t wait for our race on Sunday.

Sharing My Obsession

I am very excited to announce that David's brother Ken is now the fourth person to complete my world famous half-marathon training program! Okay, so its not really world famous or even famous at all ... but Ken did just successfully complete his first distance race this past weekend in Baltimore, MD - the Baltimore Half Marathon!

Ken - Half-Marathon Conqueror!

I put together a 12-week training plan for Ken that he actually started two weeks early. What an overachiever! The schedule was loosely based on Hal Higdon's Half Marathon training program which I also used for my first half marathon in Phoenix in January 2005. Variations of this schedule are also what I gave my three other running protegees David, Kris, and Jenna!

Ken's Half - Baltimore Half-Marathon - Oct '09

Several months ago David and I were talking about distance running and I told him that I had a feeling that his brother Ken would want to do a half-marathon at some point. Ken had never expressed an interest in racing to David so he dismissed the idea immediately as crazy talk! Much like many of my other predictions to David though, this one came true! Only a week or two after we had this conversation Ken told David that he'd signed up for the Baltimore Half-Marathon along with a few friends. Ken immediately turned to the mother of marathon training for a schedule ... me! ;o)

There are many half-marathon training plans out there but I think its hard for a newbie to choose one that will fit their fitness level, training availability, and life scheduling without some help. I found out how many days a week Ken wanted to run, what days he wanted to run, and made a simple schedule. His schedule had him running 4 days a week with a long run on Saturday starting at 4 miles and progressing to to 10 miles. I also looked up a few local 5Ks and 10Ks to try to work into his schedule to get him experienced at "racing". In the end those races didn't work out so he just stuck to his regular training run.

About six weeks ago when I was in Maryland David and I took Ken to a local running store to get him fitted for running shoes. He'd been complaining about knee pain and my first thought was that the culprit was his shoes. When we got to the store a shoe expert had him walk about 15 feet out and back and immediately noticed that from the overpronation of his left foot, his right knee probably hurt. Bingo! She was right! She fitted him with a pair of stability shoes which he thought felt better almost immediately, and which then helped him continue on with his training.

Ken logged his miles on dailymile.com (which I'm also a member of) so I got to see his training progression along with commentary throughout his training plan. He did really great with staying on schedule and steadily logged his miles. By the time he did his 9 and then 10 mile run I knew he'd do great.

Congrats again K-dog! Looking forward to running a full marathon with you in the future! :o)

My Other Three Protegees

David - Austin Half-Marathon - Feb '09

The next most recent person I've trained to a half-marathon was David. We ran our first half back in February of this year in Austin, TX. Not long after finishing that race David had the running bug and had his sights set on a full marathon!

Before the Austin Half-Marathon

We looked at races on both the east and west coast and decided upon the Marine Corps Marathon which we are training for now. 13 days to go! Along the way with our training we also ran a second half-marathon together in Plymouth, MA. On this weekend we were actually scheduled for 20 miles, so we ran the half-marathon (in the rain) and then chugged on for 7 more miles. Now THAT is dedication! (More details here in my last blog post.)

After the Plymouth Half-Marathon
(before the last 7 miles to get to 20)

Kris - America's Finest City Half-Marathon - Aug' 06

My dear friend Kris was the second person I talked into racing with me. Kris had always been a workout buff and a casual runner (2-3 miles regularly), but had never raced further than a 5k or 10k turkey trot. I can't remember how it was that I got Kris to agree to run a half-marathon, but I'm glad I did! I think I enticed him with the idea of a weekend in sunny San Diego! (Don't be confused, this was years before I even lived here, and a bunch of us from CA/AZ were planning on meeting in San Diego for a weekend getaway.)

I sent a copy of my half-marathon training schedule to Kris and he started doing his training in Michigan while I ran in Arizona. It was ironic when we'd get together and compare training notes. I was running through the miserable desert heat of a Phoenix summer while Kris went through fluctuating Mid-West temperature swings from nice, to hot and humid, to rainy.

I was a little worried about running with Kris since the few times in the past we've tried to run together it didn't go well. I run about a minute pace slower than him and it was taxing for both of us to slow down or speed up. For the race though we decided that we'd try to stick together and for some cheesy reason we even decided to high-five at every mile.

High Five Kris!

The high-fiving for all its silliness and simplicity actually made the race a lot of run. We managed to high-five at every mile marker up until mile 12 (the big hill up to Balboa Park). After mile 12 Kris charged on up the hill and I slowed down to a walk. Ironically by the time I got to the top of the hill I was recharged and plowed towards the finish line. Kris on the other hand was fairly taxed and slowed down a bit.. and we ended up finishing only 10 seconds apart! Unfortunately we didn't get to high-five across the finish line, but the race was still a lot of fun.

Jenna - PF Chang's Rock N Roll Half-Marathon - Jan '06

Jenna and I ran our first race together not too long after we started working together. Our first race was the Susan G. Komen 5K in Phoenix. We ended up arriving late to the start, not being able to find parking, and having to run through the second wave of walkers to break through to the running pack. We were so late for the race that our finish time wasn't even recorded because we started so late! Oh well, it was still a lot of fun and the start of our tardy racing career!

We next ran the Lost Dutchman 10K in Apache Junction, AZ and we both placed in our divisions! And there were hundreds in each division! Ha ha, okay, there weren't, but we still beat out a number of slower chicks in each of our age groups. We then ran the Cave Creek Luminaria run which is a cool night race through hills where the path is lit up by Luminarias. By this race Jenna was hooked and she wanted to go for a half-marathon! I gave her a copy of my previous year's training schedule and she started training for the half while I trained for the full. We unfortunately didn't get to see each other the day of the race but it was still fun to do the run together in spirit.

Cave Creek Luminaria Run

Gnomer Simpson & Gnomeo Watching the Race

We ran the Lost Dutchman and the Cave Creek runs the following year, along with the New Times 10K, Iron Girl 10 Miler, and the Pat Tillman run a couple times. Throughout my my years in AZ Jenna was my constant racing buddy! I kept hoping that she'd get the marathon bug and want to train for a full with me, but I guess insanity doesn't bite all of us. :o)

New Times 10K - Phoenix

Over the years it has been so much fun for me to see my friends start to get into distance running the way I have. Running (and racing specifically) is one of the things that I enjoy most in life, and I'm so happy to share that joy with other people.

Next Up - Christina - Nike Women's Half-Marathon - Oct'09

Another good friend of mine is actually about to run her first half-marathon this coming weekend. Christina started training with a group in San Francisco (she missed out on my world famous plan!) and is preparing to run the Nike Women's Half-Marathon on October 18th!

Good luck Christina!

For anyone else who has ever thought about training for a half-marathon, I totally encourage it! Before I started training for my first race I had never run more than a few miles. Running even 10 miles seemed crazy to me. Running 13 seemed even crazier, and running a full marathon was beyond my comprehension. With the right training plan and support though, I think its possible for anyone who dedicates themselves to be able to complete a full or half marathon. The training is long and takes a lot of dedication, but when you cross the finish line the first time (or second, or third), its really an amazing feeling and I truly think it changes your life.

26 Girls On The Run!

This week is my third week coaching Girls On The Run! It has been so much fun and I'm really glad I got involved in the program. I originally signed up to be a coach in Balboa Park near my apartment (and 45 minutes from work), but the week before we started the coaching director asked if I'd consider coaching at a location closer to my work since they had two of us who wanted to be head coach in Balboa Park, but no one who could do it in Carmel Valley. I figured it would probably be safer to have a location closer to work since my drive home varies in duration (thanks to the unpredictable traffic) so I agreed to become the head coach for Carmel Valley!

Registration The First Day

Prior to starting our season, the director had mentioned that Carmel Valley ended up with a significantly higher number of participants than the other locations. They usually get 10-15 girls per location, but this year 24 girls had signed up! By the our fourth session that number actually crept up to 26 girls! Wow, that's a lot of girls. (A lot of energy too in a group ages 8-12!) Luckily there are also eight of us coaching so we seem to have things under control. Some coaches come on Tuesdays, some come on Thursdays, and a couple others come both days as their schedule permits. This leaves us with 4 or 5 coaches per session. As head coach I'm there for every session. (Well minus two sessions that I have to miss due to travel for work.)

Lesson 1 - Getting To Know Each Other

Our first lesson was all about getting to know each other! The great thing about the Girls On The Run (GOTR) program is that it incorporates running into a number of fun learning exercises. During the "Getting To Know Each Other" lesson, one of the games that we played was a name tag tag game! Each girl had a sheet of labels with every other girl's name on it. We then started running laps and each time a girl passed another girl, they'd stick the correct name tag on her back. (Each girl was wearing a name tag on the front to prevent the name from being totally impossible.) The girls ran several laps playing this game and by the end everyone was giggling, covered in stickers, and trying to help each other peel stickers off their backs and the ends of their ponytails for the longer haired girls.

Getting The Girls Ready For An Exercise

Lesson 2 - Being A Girl Of Your Word

In the second lesson we learned about making important, positive promises and expectations such as being healthy, completing homework assignments, and listening to our parents. This time as we started running laps and playing games we started handing out small plastic beads to each girl as she came around the field and finished a lap. The girls carried a little plastic bag with them as they ran, would get their bead, put it in the bag, and go on for the next lap. Not only is this a great way to keep them motivated, but its also a great way for Coach Monika to keep track of their laps each week!

Lesson 3 - Making Important Changes

With two lessons a week we started our second week with Lesson 3 which focused on "Making Important Changes". We had the girls identify negative behaviors, and then positive behaviors in contrast to them. Each girl wrote down four negative behaviors on index cards, and when they started running their laps they'd come up to us and slam their negative behavior card into the scary SENOR HIDEOUS BOX, collect a bead, and then keep going for the next lap.

Senor Hideous

During our discussion of negative behaviors a number of funny things were revealed:

1. Apparently all kids fight with/are mean to/bite their siblings (how would I know, I'm an only child)
2. Tipping your chair back in class is a popular, rebellious activity for 8-12 year old girls
3. Almost all kids have eaten cat or dog food, play-doh, or sand (seriously??)

We were encouraging the discussion of negative behaviors when one girl raised her hand and said "I've eaten dog food!" (OMG!) I laughed and said "Okay, but let's focus more on behaviors that you know are bad in the way that they make someone else feel bad." Another hand shoots up.

"I've eaten cat food!" Another hand - "ME too!" "So have I!"

HAHA! Okay, so while trying not to laugh too much, I tried to direct the conversation back to our topic, but made a joke that in my day kids used to eat play-doh and not pet food. A hand goes up. "I've eaten play-doh!" "Me too!" Omg.. okay... so we pretty much derailed on that exercise after a while, but were able to move on to the next game. Too funny!

Lesson 4 - Taking Care Of Our Physical Health

In lesson 4 we talked about healthy habits (brushing your teeth, eating fruits and vegetables, getting enough sleep, etc) and also discussed the food pyramid, the food groups, and examples of foods that went into each food group.

Food Type Artwork From The Girls

The trick question of the day? What food group does peanut butter fit into? Meats and proteins or fats and oils?? I'm leaning mostly towards meats and proteins.... but still, hmm..

So far the group of girls has completed 258 laps (that's a lot of beads) and 65 miles! On average each girl is running about a mile each session. By the end of the program (12 weeks, 24 lessons) the girls will be prepared to run a 5k! (3.1 miles)

Getting through all of the games and exercises in the 1 hour 15 minute time slot is pretty challenging. Organizing and preparing for the sessions for the coaches and sending out updates after each session to the parents is becoming a bit time consuming. I'm starting to feel like I have a second job! Make that third job actually, marathon training is my second job right now! Its all worth it though and its been a lot of fun.

We have 18 more sessions to go! I'm sure you'll hear more from me about it throughout the season.

20 Miles In The Rain

Last week I headed to Boston for a six day trip for work. This trip coincided with a 20 mile run in my marathon training schedule. Luckily, I only had to work Thursday - Friday and Sunday - Tuesday, but had Saturday off. Perfect! That's my regular long run day!

David flew in for the weekend and we planned on doing our long run together. This would be his first 20 mile run! (As some of you might know, 20 miles is the longest you usually run when training for a marathon. Its usually scheduled 3 weeks before the race. In our training schedule we are going to run 20 miles twice. Once 6 weeks out and another time 3 weeks out. )

I googled around looking for a good place to do our 20 mile run. Local running clubs usually post popular long run routes, and I was hoping to come across a site with this information. I found one website that recommended an area called the "Emerald Necklace" which was made up by a chain of lakes. There was a 20 mile route posted which looped around certain parts of the "necklace" a few times. This seemed somewhat complicated and I was hoping to find a simpler out and back or two times around course.

Emerald Necklace

I then realized I knew two distance runners in the area: Meredith and Martin! I emailed them both asking for route suggestions. I was hoping that they would actually be interested in running the first 10 miles with us, and then we would do the second 10 miles alone once we were familiar with the course. As it turned out Meredith wasn't up to that mileage yet due to an injury, and Martin told us he was scheduled for a half-marathon that morning. He immediately invited us to join him for the race, but we both initially dismissed that as an option since it seemed crazy to race a half-marathon, and to then continue on to run 7 miles. But as you know, we're both crazy! We signed up for the race and planned to double back on the course to get the miles in. With that plan set, I left sunny San Diego to head towards the Northeast!

Run to the Rock Half Marathon

A few days before leaving for Boston I checked the weather and was horrified to see that it was going to be sunny all week, but raining on the weekend! No! Rain?? I hate rain! I hate running in rain! Wait.. I DON'T run in rain! I have a membership to 24 Hour Fitness that I keep just for days that its raining and I need some place to run. Obviously in San Diego I almost never need to go there.

I arrived in Boston on Thursday with just enough time to drive down to Rhode Island to attend an evening program for work. The next day I worked from home in my hotel room for most of the day but went out at lunch time to meet Meredith for lunch. This was the first time we'd seen each other in about 15 years! Crazy! We met at a cute place in Cambridge called Algiers Cafe.

Lunch With Meredith in Cambridge

The food was great! After having lunch there we walked around to a few places in Harvard Square. We went to the Harvard bookstore where I got a nice technical running shirt, we checked out a cute little children's bookstore with a Curious George theme, and then we hunted down a little poetry bookstore tucked down a side street where I found a nice gift for my dad. (Haven't gotten around to mailing it yet, so if you're reading this Dad, guess I just ruined the surprise! Oops!)

Curious George Bookstore

Grolier Poetry Bookstore

At some point during the visit to Harvard Square it started to sprinkle, and by dinner time that night it was pouring. POURING!! The chances of the rain passing by race time the next morning were looking slimmer and slimmer. :o( I crossed my fingers that night that the rain would pass by the morning, but didn't have high hopes. The next morning I woke up and was pleasantly surprised to see that it wasn't pouring anymore! It was only raining. HA! As if that was much better. The drive from Boston to the race in Plymouth was about 25 miles, so there was one last glimmer of hope that the rain in Boston wasn't an issue in Plymouth. About a half hour drive later that hope was dashed as well.

Excited & Apprehensive Before the Race

So we arrive in Plymouth and parked at the finish line and got on the shuttle to the start line where registration was. Upon getting to the start line we jumped into the registration line ... and as we stood there, the rain really started to get heavy. Luckily there was a guy standing behind us with an umbrella ... whose friend quickly jumped under to stay dry too ... and then he immediately asked us if we wanted to join as well. SURE! Hey, it was a big golf umbrella, why not? (Actually, he made quite a funny joke that we had to join them under the umbrella since two guys sharing one just by themselves was a bit weird. Haha, so true.)

Registration at the Start Line

As soon as we got into the building where we were to pick up our race numbers I saw Martin. It was great to meet him in person after months of sharing racing and training stories online. (Martin is a friend of Meredith's and Meredith used to work with my dad when I was in high school. And now we're all running friends! Are you keeping up with all of this?) Anyways, we chatted for a bit and then got on the shuttle to the start line. By the time we got there we only had about 10 minutes before start time. We checked our gear and got in line for the bathroom. Somewhere along these lines we lost Martin. :o( I was hoping to get a picture of all of us before the race started, but figured since it was a small race we'd find him afterwards. Unfortunately this did not happen.

The race got off to a rushed start and we joined the group of runners plodding through the rain. David and I were immediately startled to find that we were running down a narrow, windy road ... with no lane blocked off for the runners! We were running down the right side of a two lane road with one lane of traffic going each way. And there were cars going in both directions! Scary! We dodged puddles and tried to stay as far as possible to one side of the road and plodded through mile after soggy mile. Somewhere around mile 5 my iPod accidentally turned off a couple times (weird) and then at mile 6 it turned off completely and I couldn't turn it back on. OMG... it died!!

At this point I started to freak out. I was already worried about racing for 13 miles and then running 7 more. Add in the rain which I hate and things looked a bit more iffy. Take away my music?!?! Now we're talking about 14 more miles of torture! I kept hoping that my iPod would come back to life at some point in my run, but nope! No such luck. I got to listen to shoes hitting the wet pavement and cars splashing through puddles for the next 3 hours. Fun right? Okay, enough of that pity party. Back to the race.

So David and I kept up a pretty good pace considering the face that it was raining, the course was really really hilly, and I had NO MUSIC! AHH! (I know sorry, last mention of my dead iPod.) Our goal was to run between a 8:30 and 9:00 pace and we stuck to that mile after mile. We ended up finishing the race in 1:56! That was the same time that we took to run our first half marathon together in February. This course in Plymouth was much hillier and it was raining, so I was pleased to have completed the race with the same finish time. Playing the "what if" game, I kept thinking about how we'd do on a flat, dry course. I think we could have run in 1:50! Okay, we'll table that goal until next time.

So we finished the half marathon, grabbed some water and bananas and headed back to the car to drop off our stuff. We stopped and ate/drank/chatted for about 10 minutes by the car before deciding to head back out to bust out the next 7 miles. Unfortunately, after racing and then stopping for a while, starting to run again really does not feel good. Each step hurt for a bit until we finally got back into the groove. I'm not going to lie, that 7 mile run was no fun. We ran 3 1/2 miles out and back. Well, more like ran/walked it. But we got through it! We made it through 20 miles that day! We were both beat after the run and looking forward to getting back to the hotel to shower, change into dry clothes, and to eat eat eat!

After the Half-Marathon!

But Before the Next Seven Miles...

After 13 Miles, David Has Conquered the Rain!

As timing would have it, we didn't end up eating for about 3 hours. The drive back to Boston was bout 1/2 hour, then we had to shower, pack, and check out of that hotel, drive over to the next hotel I was staying in for work, check-in, and then go back to the airport to return the rental car. The only thing we had with us were two tiny bags of potato chips. Oh well, better than nothing. So 3 hours later when we finally got to eat we both ordered big burgers .. and they were the best burgers ever! Well, I think anything we ate by that time could have tasted like the best food ever. I might even have been tempted by a chunk of cheese at that point. I was totally starving!

The next day the tradeshow that I was in town for started. Let me just tell you, there is nothing better than standing in heels all day at a tradeshow the day after running 20 miles in the rain. Yep! That sucked. I was sore and had a couple blisters on my feet. That first day was rough. The second was better though, and by the third I was back to normal. And guess what? As soon as the tradeshow started the weather cleared up and it became a beautiful sunny week in Boston. Yeah, the two days I was out and about and running it was raining. As soon as I was locked inside all day it was sunny. Funny how that happens.

So the trip to Boston was long, wet and dreary at times, but fun overall. It was great to catch up with Meredith, so nice to finally meet Martin in person, and it was a total "experience" to get to run 20 miles with David for the first time. Our next 20 miler is lined up for two weeks from now. Let's keep our fingers crossed for blue skies and sunny days!

Girls On The Run

Next week I will start as head coach for Girls On The Run Carmel Valley! I'm so excited!

I first heard about Girls On The Run a few years ago when I saw a group of girls wearing Girls On The Run shirts at a 5K race in Phoenix. I was curious about the organization but never really looked into it until last year when I was looking online for volunteer opportunities in San Diego. As life would have it, my schedule last year was way too crazy to commit to a regular volunteer position. I kind of forgot about the organization and my desires to volunteer until about a month ago. I was looking up local running events online on active.com when I came across an event for Girls On The Run. A few clicks later and I was on the local San Diego website.(http://www.gotrsd.org) As luck would have it this time ... on the front page of the website was a call for volunteer coaches!

About Girls On The Run:

Mission To educate and prepare girls for a lifetime of self-respect and healthy living. About Girls on the Run is a life-changing, experiential learning programs for girls age eight to thirteen years old. The programs combine training for a 3.1 mile running event with self-esteem enhancing, uplifting workouts. The goals of the programs are to encourage positive emotional, social, mental, spiritual and physical development. Objectives The Girls on the Run objective is to reduce the potential display of at-risk activities among its participants. The goal is fewer adolescent pregnancies and eating disorders, less depression and suicide attempts, as well as fewer substance/alcohol abuse problems and confrontations with the juvenile justice system.

I applied immediately and kept my fingers crossed that I would be chosen to coach. I'm not sure if they contact everyone who applies or not, but I got an email a couple weeks ago inviting me to a meet & greet happy hour event to meet other volunteers. I went and met with a number of the ladies involved and was even more interested in joining the group. Next up was coaches training which luckily occurred on a weekend I was in town! Last weekend I attended the 4-hour coaches training and learned more about what coaching entailed, what each session with the girls would be like, and what types of exercises and lessons we'd cover.

I was surprised to learn that the focus of the program was more about personal development for the girls than it was about running. Learning to run seemed to happen as a side effect of playing the various games and exercises that were planned for each session.

For example, one exercise we looked at was understanding what types of foods belonged in each food group. The girls are given a card with a food group on it. They have to take the card, run it across a certain distance to a coach and give her an example of a food that falls into that food group, and then run back to the start. How fun! I wish I could have learned things that way as a kid!

So next Tuesday is the first session! Luckily I'm getting back from my trip to Boston on Tuesday with just enough time to make it. There are 24 sessions (2/week) in the program leading up to a final 5K in December. Amazingly enough, I will only miss 2 of the 24 sessions due to work travel! (Luckily for me, or should I say UN-luckily for me, the majority of my travel for work spans a weekend and I'll be back in time for the Tuesday/Thursday sessions I've committed to. )

I'm excited and a bit nervous! I haven't worked with kids before and I'm nervous to be leading the group of girls and the 6 other assistant coaches. Hopefully things will come naturally and go smoothly and we will all have fun. Two of the assistant coaches have coached before and should make things a lot easier.

I'll report back after the first session. Keep your fingers crossed for me!