Time to ask for help?

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No I'm not asking for help because I'm addicted running...

Seriously though, after letting go of the idea of running a 2nd full marathon this year, I've been struggling with what's next for me. I'm working on a race plan for 2014 but it's still 2013, so why not have some goals before the end of the year? Back in April I ran my PR half race Run for Water. I had been working hard but I certainly wasn't expecting a 6 minute personal record, I'm still quite baffled by the whole thing.

So moving forward to today, I've been thinking about the 3 half marathons I have left for the year:

1. Boundary Bay Half Marathon - November 3, 2013

2. Wine & Dine Half Marathon - November 9, 2013

3. Vancouver Historic Half Marathon - November 24, 2013

There's still an opportunity to try for a PR or at least a chance to try to get close to that 2:08 half marathon again. How am I going to go about doing that? I've never done speed work, my goal has always been to just cross that finish line and if I did it faster than last time, so be it.

It was time to ask for help. I didn't have to think long and hard about who I would ask. Solana is a friend of a friend whom I met through running.

Solana and I at the First Half earlier this year.

She's quite possibly the fastest runner I know personally and she's helped many others to reach their speed/distance goals.

Solana kindly obliged and has sent me some great speed workouts that I can do at home on my treadmill. I'm also glad that I will be doing something a little different on the treadmill because sometimes it sure does feel like this:

My best opportunity for a PR will be my last half of the year, the Vancouver Historic Half, so stay tuned and we will see what happens!

Race Review: Run for Water Half Marathon

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2:08:50

On my 10th half marathon for 2013 I went sub 2:10! That's a 5 and a half minute PR! 

How did I do it? After 16 half marathons you'd think I'd have the answer to that but I honestly don't know what happened.

I didn't have high hopes for this race after a week with the stomach flu and hardly any running I was sure I'd fall apart on this run. I got up not feeling sure about whether I should even run the race after such a bad week but hesitantly decided what's the worst that could happen?

Because it was a local race and I wasn't feeling super motivated I didn't have any crazy costume picked out so I just picked out some basic gear that I thought would fare well in the pouring rain. I headed out the door about 1 hour and 15 minutes prior to race start. It took me a little longer to get there than I had anticipated because I hadn't accounted for the road closures for the marathon which had started an hour earlier. When I got to the designated parking it was still pouring and I had about a 3km walk to the start line -- you might say I was less than thrilled. 

After a dreary and very wet walk I arrived with about 10 minutes to spare. I probably should have brought a change of clothes for after and checked a bag but I hadn't thought of that the night before, so I stood there at the start line worrying about how cold I was going to be after the race. 

Since I had arrived much later than expected I didn't have to wait very long, it was a good thing too because I would have gotten pretty cold... Even with the poncho I was drenched before I even started.

So as the rain poured down in sheets, the race began and we were off headed towards some nice flat farm roads. To get to those roads we had to go downhill all the well knowing we had to come right back up those hills at the finish. Around kilometer 2 I ran into a friend who was running her first half marathon! It's always funny when you're running a race and all of the sudden you glance to the side and there's someone you know. It happens to me a lot at local races especially now that I've run so many and made friends within the running community. 

I sort of lost track of the person I had run into around kilometer 4 and tried to settle into a comfortable pace that I could maintain for the rest of the race. Once I did that it was the weirdest thing -- the race totally flew by. I've never felt like that before during a whole half marathon, I wasn't struggling in the least, I felt great, even in the pouring rain. I've always joked about how I actually enjoy running in the rain so maybe it helped me in some way, I certainly enjoy it more than running in the heat.

As I came up on kilometer 16 I texted my friend, Nikki, who had run the ultra marathon yesterday and was volunteering handing out medals for the half today! I wanted to let her know that I was going to hit the finish line earlier than I thought, I was hoping she could hand me my medal!

Nikki and I at her Ultra Marathon (55km) Finish Line

I wasn't too sure what would happen when I hit that hill to the finish especially after the race going so well up until this point, I think I was waiting to hit the wall... But it just never happened. I powered up that same hill that I had found so horrible in the 10k the year prior like it was nothing. And in a way I suppose that hill was nothing compared to some of the elevations in my runs this year (Nevada, Sunshine Coast, Fort Langley, even Portland last week).

As I came up on the last kilometer it was more difficult to push past the comfortable pace I had found and sprint to the finish but I did it anyway knowing that I was going to come in under 2:10, I had nothing to lose.

Unfortunately in my post-race haze I managed to completely miss Nikki, but of course I got my medal anyway. I was so cold that I didn't hang around long very aware that I still had to walk all the way back to the car before I could put on a sweater.

So there you have it, a new PR after a week with the stomach flu... I guess sometimes the stars align for a perfect run, today was that day for me.

2 days until BMO...

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So yesterday I started Cross-Fit, yea I did that 3 days before a race...

Then last night we had date night and I decided to have a glass of wine for the first time in over a month, I also decided that popcorn was a GREAT idea... Do you remember this video? This is how it felt to get popcorn after 3+ weeks of no treats... and NO I didn't share my popcorn.



I'm not proud of it, I was looking forward to that treat way too much.
When we got home last night after the movies even though I was exhausted I decided I HAD to watch Grey's Anatomy so I stayed up till almost midnight...

Let me tell you 6:00am did not look pretty this morning especially while running 5km, I felt every single second of that run. I'm so glad I have two days to recover and get back on track.

What am I hoping for at Half Marathon #14 (#8 for 2013)?
A shiny new PR. I know I just PR'd a little less than a month ago at the Fool's Run but I know I can do even better. 

What am I going to do to get there?
Well ideally I'd like to go sub 2:10 (that's 4 minutes off my last PR) so there are some things that I'll have to work on.

#1 Use a pace band, I've never done this before but I think it will help give me an idea of where I need to be

#2 Get a new playlist, it may not seem like a big deal but I've been rocking the same one since before NYC and that needs to change...

#3 Eat clean and hydrate, I did it for the last three weeks and other than last night's slip up, I think I can (and want) to continue.

#4 Run like I've never run before... Literally, I've never gone that fast for that long.

Coming up tomorrow, a look at the BMO Vancouver International Marathon Expo as well as a new product review/giveaway! Hint: If you've been following me on Twitter/Instagram, it really helped get me through my back-to-back run weekend a couple weeks ago. 

BMO Fools Run Race Review

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Wow I am tired! This morning I got up at 5:00AM and we were out the door headed to the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal by about 5:45AM. I was so glad my husband, Cody, decided to come along at the last minute so I didn't have to drive so early in the morning plus it was great to have some company for the journey! I made sure to download "Running the Sahara" to the iPad last night so that we'd have something to watch on the Ferry. We both didn't sleep great last night so I brought a pillow too and even though Cody had been at my soon to be brother-in-law's bachelor party till 12:30AM the night before, we were both too into the documentary to go to sleep. I highly recommend watching this, especially the night before a race, great inspiration! I can't even fathom running 2 Marathons a day for 111 days through the Sahara Desert...

As a side note, my friend Nikki from Slow is the New Fast will actually get the chance to run with Ray Zahab (featured in the documentary) in May at the Run for Water Ultra Marathon, so cool!

Once we arrived in Gibson's it didn't take long to get to the community center where the race start line was, in fact we ended up being over an hour early. I felt really ready for this race despite all the hills I was seeing on the way there.

I headed into the community center to use the washroom, it wasn't too crowded which was nice. The race was very well organized for being so small. Because it was such a small race there was no starting mat, so the time was based on gun time. We started the race up an incline but it was short lived (thank goodness). Immediately after starting I realized something wasn't quite right with my right ankle/lower calf, everything was feeling very tight and became quite a bit more painful as the race continued.

I was starting to worry how I would even finish the race. I struggled through the first 8km of steep hills, it was pretty rough and then we finally leveled out and my ankle pain eased off slightly, enough that I knew I could fight through the pain.

We were now down by the water and I knew at some point we'd have to go back up again so I buckled down and decided I was getting a PR one way or another. Just at that moment I noticed this sign and actually laughed out loud:

NO! I will not slow down! Eventually we had to make our way back up the hills, and I did but I had to slow down quite a bit and by the time I got to the top we had caught up with the walkers that had an earlier start than we did. I have to say this was the most frustrating part of the race, I knew I was only a few km from the finish but I couldn't go anywhere. We were on a highway and they couldn't close the road so we were confined to the narrow shoulder, I tried to pass several walkers but some of them just wouldn't get out of the way. I found this disappointing, I imagine at that point they were probably quite frustrated with people trying to pass them but still... Needless to say I think I could have made up some more time there. In the end, I got a PR anyway, the results show 02:14:14, but remember there was no starting mat and I started at least 30 secs after the gun went off.

It was quite the race to the ferry after the run, we made it there two minutes before they closed the gate. Because of this I have no idea what the post race festivities and food were like, I pretty much went from the finish line to the car because if we had missed the ferry we would have had to wait two hours.

I made sure to put on my compression socks on the ferry, wow did it ever feel good to put on clean clothes!

I also made sure to grab some chocolate milk, mmm!

And of course pose for a few photos:

This is a short race report because I don't have much to say other than I'm thankful it didn't rain, there were a lot of hills, and I'm happy with my shiny new PR! My goal for the BMO Vancouver Half Marathon is now 2:10 or under.

13 Half Marathons Complete (overall)
7/17 Complete (for 2013)

Race Review: The Tinkerbell Half Marathon

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It's done. I feel like I've been talking about Tinkerbell for forever, but really it was only June that we originally formulated the plan. The Tiggerific Twosome (our mother/daughter team that consisted of myself and my mother-in-law, Cindy) have completed our first Disney race! It was quite the experience. I awoke on schedule at 3:30am after less than 4 hours of sleep I apprehensively dressed up in my tutu and tigger ears and quietly snuck out of our hotel room as to not wake Griffin and Cody. I stopped in the lobby to eat my oatmeal raisin cliff bar and admire my tutu:

I met Cindy at our pre designated spot and we headed into corral "A" which gave us a great view of the start line and a couple pictures.

Before I knew it we were off and running, well sort of, we didn't get out of the mass of runners until after the 1st mile. We split up after the 2nd mile, we had decided beforehand that it was better to run at our own paces then we'd have the fastest combined time and perhaps a chance at making it into the top 3 mother/daughter teams. It was then that I realized I had forgotten to start my watch, darn! The first couple of miles were run in the outside of the park on the Anaheim streets, my excitement began to build as we headed into the back lot of the park, I knew the next few miles would be the most exciting part of the race besides the finish line. It was really neat running through the empty parks and seeing all the rides that were all running but of course with no riders on board. I stopped for a few photo ops and completely missed or ran past other ones:

I was disappointed there weren't more characters, I was really looking forward to seeing Tigger, but I never did. My 5k split was slower than the rest of my race because of the photo stops, 32:40.

By mile 5 we were back out of the park, through downtown disney, and onto the streets of Anaheim, this is when things got dicey. The excitement of the park was behind us and we still had the majority of the race to go. I ran along, wondering how those stops for photos was really going to affect my time. They had several cheer stations consisting of high school students and other various groups but I was missing the characters, I thought they'd have more disney related things even outside of the park because the park was such a small part of the actual race. But still, on I went in the dark through the unfamiliar streets, soon I realized we'd have to be turning in the other direction because we'd run straight away from the park in a straight line for quite awhile. We rounded a corner with a large cheerleading section and one of the many water stations (I barely used my fuel belt, there were so many) and then I knew we were finally on our way back and mentally that gave me a boost, the sun was beginning to rise and we'd be finished soon. At mile 11 I hit the last water station, the streets were beginning to look familiar, one was called "Disney Way" so I knew we had to be getting closer. The last two miles seemed much longer than the rest, no surprise there, and it wasn't the most scenic area, we were basically running behind the park and through a tunnel. I started to hear the cheering and caught my first glimpse of the finish and began to sprint. Then, I suddenly realized that we were going to take a sharp left and had another little loop before returning to the finish, I slowed down to my regular pace to save it for the end. When we reached the final stretch I once again began sprinting looking up into the stands for Griff and Cody, I never spotted them though because they were right beside the finish line and not in the stands. Apparently I could have grabbed Griffin and crossed with him, I would have loved that :(, maybe next time?

Because I started my watch late I wasn't really sure what my time was. About 10 or 15 minutes after receiving my medal and sitting down and stretching I asked Cody about my time, he couldn't exactly recall, said 2:19:00 or something like that. Or something like that?! That was pretty close to my last PR, he told me that I should check FaceBook because the results were being posted there live throughout the race (I had forgotten that I had set this up the week before). Frantically I grabbed my phone, 02:18:30! What if I hadn't stopped for those photos? No seriously I'm glad I did, I experienced a Disney race for what it was and it was definitely fun, no regrets. I'm debating whether or not to buy the photos taken by RunDisney photographers, $40 for one photo digital download... seriously?! If I do, I will post them here. Also, running in costume was pretty great, the tutu didn't bug me I think the last minute adjustments before I left (cutting it shorter and tightening the waistband) were a good plan because I never had to fix it or move it around much. If you want to know where to get an awesome tutu we found ours at Little Lily Belle. I bought a team sparkle skirt for a future race costume at the expo.

And in case you were wondering, our team didn't make it into the top 3, we were #10 so not bad, I'm proud of us. My #1 goal is always to finish the race and we definitely did that.

If you've been keeping up with the Disney posts, I added the photos from my camera tonight, so check the updates here:

Disneyland Day 1: Expo & What I forgot

Disneyland Day 2: 7 hours and counting...

After a quick shower we headed into the parks for a day of fun and celebration. I proudly wore my sparkle skirt and medal and the cast members in the park were all congratulating the runners and giving us high fives etc. Here is a photo we stood in line for 20 minutes to get:

Shortly after this I realized we had to get out of the park as it was getting to the point of ridiculous, I'm not sure I've ever seen so many people and such long lines in my life. Later we found out that people stood in line for 4.5hours+ for rides, no thank you! We headed back to the hotel for a rest and decided to hit downtown disney later, we didn't fare much better, a holiday weekend and a big event are not a good combination at Disneyland. I was just looking at the Run Disney race calendar and it seems that most of the races are on holiday weekends, something to consider for the future, at the very least maybe a reason not to buy park tickets in advance. Now it's time to pack up and go home. Two races for 13in2013 done and the realization that I am going to do a full marathon in my future maybe sooner rather than later... January has been a big month. 

(photo courtesy of the RunDisney FaceBook page)