Rhythmic Walkers

If you read Heathers post yesterday you would know that for a little less than half of the marathon we had to walk.  Unfortunately Heather's knee had no interest in running this race.  Although she was more than prepared sometimes our bodies just won't allow us to achieve what we would like.

When we first signed up for this race Heather told me that she would sign up if I promised to run it with her.  She wanted to run it in the first place but this was her way of making me sign up too.  So I signed up and agreed to make her training plan as well as coach her through the race.  I decided that Heather and I could just use the same training plan.  This was partly due to my laziness of making two plans.  Anyways, I realize now that for a beginner marathoner she did not need to log so many miles.  I feel like this may have attributed to her knee problems. 

Moving on, I am not going to re-cap entirely the whole marathon because you heard most of it from Heather yesterday.  What I would like to add is that this was my first walk/run marathon and I will say that it is just as hard and painful as running one.  When you are walking, you will log much more time on your legs.  Mentally it is exhausting if you actually think about the time it will take you to finish.  In the beginning of the race both Heather and I were feeling great.  My legs were rested and I was ready to fly.  When Heather's knee pain set in I could see her discouragement.  She kept going and I kept trying to keep things positive.

It was when the pain was to hard to bare that I began to feel helpless.  In my head I prayed and prayed that her pain would be taken away so she could run this marathon.  Her knee pain was only getting worse.  I will be honest, when the realization set in about what was happening I thought for a moment that I could just go.  I was feeling good my legs wanted to run but I knew that I could not leave her side.  Emotionally it would have been to hard for her to finish alone and she would quit.

At that moment I put all of my ideas/excitement of what this marathon could be aside and put all of my hopes and positive energy into helping her get through this.  She is my sister and I love her dearly, and I know she would have done the same for me.  No marathon PR is stronger than a bond with your family.  I love her so much and am so proud of what she has accomplished.  She is the strongest woman I know and hands down this was my best marathon yet! I will never forget this race and I wouldn't have ran it any other way.

Let me just say that I have never received so many compliments on a race before.  People loved us!  One because we were totally matching, Two we had the best Rhythmic walk ever and Three because people could see how much fun we were having.  We even were complimented on our great bums :)

Can't you just tell we were powering through it....?  Below you can see our faces like "What??  This is it?" Ha!

Heather needed to make a quick call to her husband who just finished his FIRST marathon in 3:24!  He was smokin!

Really the walk we were going for was the walk from the old TV show Kath and Kim.  Did you ever watch it?  It was only on air for two seasons but I totally loved that show.  So funny!

Heather, Jen and Bryan it was a blast!!  Thanks for the great memories!

Now I have 4 weeks off before I start my training for ING NYC Marathon! Woohoo!

XX
Sarah

PS Yes I may have taken screen shots of these pix ;)  Pls don't think I am a bad person.

My Race

Me and Sarah walking together .  We were side by side the whole time.

This is how my race went down.  It started raining.  Which I was totally fine with.  Heck.... I trained in the rain all the time.  I could deal with windy, rainy conditions.  A knee pain I could not handle.  My knee started to act up right around the time I ran the Stillwater Half Marathon.  It was sort of hurting about a week before Stillwater, but I never gave it a rest.  I consider myself a pretty tough person and thought I would just be able to run through the pain.  I did rest it for the entire week before Grandma's.  And as many of you know got some fancy tape put on it.  I really was feeling good, and thought I was going to run this marathon strong and have a great time. I did have a great time but wish that I could have run it stronger.  Here is the breakdown...

Results

5:32:27

12:42 pace

Miles 1-5  Felt GREAT.  Loved all the great energy.  No knee pain.  Was happy to be running with one of my best friends.

Mile 5-15  My knee was starting to ache a little.  Right when I started to feel it I told Sarah lets run 9mins walk 1min.  I would stay on top of the pain.  Give it a little break and kept telling myself it would be fine.  Well as the miles went on it started to hurt a little more and a little more.  Around mile 9 or 10 my friend Diane ran by me.  She talked to me a little and that was the first moment that I could feel the tears building up.  This lady really helped me a ton during my training season and I was sad that I couldn't keep up with her.  She then ran on.  I pushed the sad feelings aside and just tried to keep the positive energy coming.

Mile 16-26.2  By mile 16 my knee would not bend when I would stop to do my minute walk.  It was harder to change back and forth between running and walking.  I talked to my amazing coach...aka.. Sarah and we decided that it would be best just to walk the rest.  Let me tell you friends that walking is MUCH harder then running.  You think 10 miles sounds long running.  Well walking it seems even farther.  But I needed to listen to my body and it was telling me to stop running.

We walked as fast as we could.  Talked about everything.  Laughed about tons.  Saw some crazy people.  Some hurt people.  And had lots of people comment on the speed we were walking.  I was going to walk the fastest I could if I couldn't run it.  

We finished like ROCK STARS!!!!  I had a really really great time.  It wasn't until that night that the emotions and frustration set in.  I was so upset with myself.  Why couldn't I just run through the pain.  All the training that I had done and then couldn't even run all of it.  Why did my knee have to hurt??  Why couldn't it have been the crazy lady dressed like a bird that had knee problems?  Tears came and it felt good.  Always feels good to get a good cry in right??  

I couldn't have asked for a better coach that day.  Sarah continued to tell me that I was doing GREAT and that it didn't matter one bit if we had to walk it.  She told me over and over again that the miles were going to fly by.  And they did cause I was with her.  Thanks Sarah.  I love you.  And Jen I love you to and I know that if I needed you there you would be right by my side as well.

What do they say??  What doesnt kill you will make you stronger??  Well this challenge for sure has made me stronger.  I will run another marathon.  And I will be stronger next time because of this one.

This is the awesome video that Bryan took of us crossing the finish line!  They called us The Rhythmic Walkers.

-Heather

Grandmas Marathon Recap from Jen

I had a great personal race on Saturday.  Although I did run a new PR I also overcame some personal struggles that typically I would give into. Here is my time and breakdown.

Official Time: 3:51:41
Average Pace: 8:51

Splits according to my chip:
10k - 53:44
13.1 - 1:54:08
20 Miles - 2:55:02
25 Miles - 3:40:50

My Garmin info.
Total Time: 3:51:36
Average Pace: 8:46
Miles:
1 8:50      14 8:41
2 8:37      15 8:43
3 8:37      16 8:47
4 8:32      17 8:55
5 8:33      18 8:50
6 8:38      19 8:38
7 8:42      20 9:04
8 8:55      21 9:03
9 8:42      22 9:41
10 8:21    23 9:14
11 8:47    24 8:50
12 8:39    25 8:30
13 8:35    26 8:47 (the last mile had a major headwind.... my effort felt faster this this split is indicating)  
                .4 3:16 (8:04 minute/mile pace. Also, I tried to run the tangents as much as possible but of course ran more. But ran less the my last marathon.  Long beach I clocked in at 26.58 miles....!)


GU Stops: Miles 3,7,11,15. Sprees Candy at Mile 22
Water Stops: I walked through parts of every water station and drank some. Not a lot, but just a drink or so. They were every other mile starting at Mile marker 3 and then every mile from 20-25.  They weren't necessarily at the mile markers either. They were just kind of in that mile somewhere.

The rest is just blah blah about my marathon, so please keep reading but consider yourself warned =)

I technically was shooting for a 3:50 marathon or faster. I knew it was going to be tough with the cold weather, rain and wind but oh well, a race is a race right. Doesn't matter what the weather or whatever it is the best you can do that day on that race. So, my plan was to follow the 3:50 group for as long as possible and then hopefully have enough energy to move forward around mile 23 and go in ahead.

It didn't totally go that way. I couldn't find the 3:50 pace group before the race started. Because of the lots of people and my 2 trips to the bathrooms prior to the start I was wandering my way through the crowds too late and ended up starting just somewhere in the middle of tons of people.... Anywhoo, I saw some balloons up a head and just assumed that was probably the right group and thought I'd just keep my eye on them.  Sure enough after the race started I moved a little quicker then I had anticipated.  I ended up catching that group (it was the 3:50 pace group) around mile 7. Once I was with them I stayed right on there heels until about mile 17.  Also, as for how miles 1-17 felt, they were mostly good.  I'd have a few miles where I'd start to wonder if I felt ok, but then I'd start to feel better for a few miles. I'd think about all the AMAZING people who have helped me realize I can push myself and I am not gonna die =) My Husband, my running club, my parents, brothers, sisters, etc. etc.  There are lots of you out there and I did think of them all.  I get inspired by these people and really do feel a difference in my running because of them.

At mile 17 the pace group started to pull away and I noticed my legs starting to burn slightly...... I let the group keep going knowing I was already ahead of my goal time as is and figured I had time to spare.  But while keeping the idea of staying near the pace group in my mind I was feeling like I really needed to use the restroom....but I ignored it for a while.  I think because I drank so much water during the days leading to this race I ran into this issue. I don't think it had anything to do with my drinking during the water stops.  I had the feeling of wanting to go to the bathroom around mile 4 as well but was like, um hell no I just went! Next time I will be more aware of how much I drink to be sure I drink enough but not an entire lake =)!

Around mile 20 I was really starting to feel my heavy legs. I started to take this race 1 mile at a time. I wouldn't let myself stop until I got to the following mile marker.  Then I'd walk through and drink and I told myself I'd re-evaluate the situation.  But this worked for only 1 more mile and then the urge to find a tree(bathroom) was too overwhelming and a random bush is exactly what I found.... I could have cared less who saw me.  I saw people left and right the entire race doing the exact same thing so really I just convinced myself I was doing my part.... So that mile was a little discouraging.... 9:41. I knew by this point I had lost a lot of time and was realizing the goal of finishing in under a 3:55 was soon going to be gone if I didn't get my butt in gear.

This is where I had some new mental toughness that I didn't know existed.  Typically in my previous races if something like this were to happen I'd give in a just let myself slow down knowing that I had given a good try and just finish. I literally told myself, "well if I finish the last 3 miles at a 10 minute mile I'll still finish under 4 hours and I can live with that...  But then something else happened that made this race different.  During mile 23 I felt myself just start running and speeding up. I kept thinking, this doesn't hurt and I can go faster. I all of a sudden just started running and didn't pay attention to my watch one more time.  I was passing people left and right and my adrenaline just started pumping.  I remember just looking at the sidelines and asking what mile I was at and how much longer I had.  I knew I had passed 23 but that was it. I could feel my watch buzz but I just didn't care, I kept thinking to myself, "I am just going to RUN and just see what the hell happens.  Then, I came around a corner and saw the finish and just thought well it is all or nothin and I am not looking at my time until I am finished! When I saw 3:51 on my watch I was SOOO happy.  I had overcome some issues and although I was 1 minute off I could have cared less. I did it! I was in cold, wetish, semi-windy weather, I felt on and off the entire time but managed to get through it and come out closer to ON pace then off =) Sheesh! The things that can go through your mind during 3 hrs and 51 minutes of running can really make or break you and Saturday I used some self discipline and did it!

but anywhoo, onto the next one =) Time to try how to get faster and push myself further!

These pics below were taken by my Brother -in-law Bryan who ended up finishing his race with a 3:24! Not to shabby for a first marathon..... jerk. j/k Bry, you rocked it. Anywhoo, he was nice enough to come back and found me with about 1/2 mile left in my race.  I look kind of crazy but thats just me I suppose =)

I went on by and just kept passing all these suckers!!  I was soo happy to finally be the one passing all these peeps and not the one getting passed =)  WAHOO for passing people, it feels great. Not gonna lie.

Happy Running - Jen

And We Are Back and some Recap.....

The drive up to Duluth went pretty quick.  When we first were pulling into Duluth the fog was intense but begin to let up after 30 mins or so.  We checked in and by the time we put our bags in the room the sun came out.  We went to target to get some basic necessities and then Jen insisted that we all down a V8 for our veggies and sodium. Cheers!
 

After we finished our errands we hit up the expo to pick up our race packets and do a little browsing.  We all walked away with some compression socks. We weren't looking to purchase some of these puppies but since it was supposed to be raining and 48 degrees in the morning anything that covered us up sounded like a good purchase.  Plus he was a pretty good salesman and increasing our blood flow longer sounded like a good thing so we were sold.  We also picked up some matching headbands for the race.

Oh yeah and the fast Kenyans and Ethiopians were hanging out in front of the expo so Heather strategically placed us so we could get a picture of them in the background.  As you can see Jen is still star struck because she couldn't even turn around for the picture.

It was raining when we woke up and we took your guys advice and covered our feet with bags. GREAT IDEA!! Thank you! No one else had this great idea and you could tell they were envious of our dry shoes :)

While waiting in line to use the port-a potty we ran into a fellow blogger!  Running Sane was also running Grandma's.  It was fun to chit chat with her and share a little bit of our own marathon experiences. Jenn is one fast lady and we hope you had a great marathon!

This picture was taken after the race when we got back to the hotel.  We each have great stories to share.  Jen ran a PR.  Heather and her knee which caused SEVERE pain.  She still crossed that finish line with flying colors! And me being a totally awesome coach if I do say so myself! (Oh yeah, we ended up not even wearing our shorts because of the weather it was just to cold, wet and windy).

We will each be blogging about our experiences in the next couple of days.  Jen will be on for tomorrow.  We will let you know about our times, our Gu's, our pain, the good moments and the bad moments.



Hope you all had a great weekend!
Jen, Heather, Sarah

Duluth or BUST

Heather's knee is taped... Check
Van is packed... Check
Kids think they are coming.....but there not ;)
Hand stand contest.....Check
Running together Happy......Check

Stay tuned...
XX
Jen, Heath, Sarah

Friday Night Out

Last night we went out for a dinner with our parents before we began our journey up north to Duluth.  If you know anything about our family you would know that we love to eat at the Mall of America.  Right now we are into Crave.  So every time anyone comes up to MN to visit Crave is where we head.  The meal was good but the sushi was better. Afterwards we walked around a little to get any last minute items for the race....Nike, Lululemon

For the race tomorrow there will be a 50% chance of rain, super lame. So we were looking for a good rain jacket so we first headed to Nike town.  Found nada.  The sales persons were slightly confused about their products.  Which resulted in no purchase necessary. Any ideas for rain gear? We are thinking the expo may have some good suggestions.

Hey Hungry Runner Girl check out the "fo-yo" we found!  We thought you might like this place.  Chilly Billy's!  It was de-lish as is all frozen yogurt.

Last but not least packing last night... Yep Jen is trying to figure out how to fit that all into her spi belt, and what you don't see is the water belt she will also be wearing :)
j/k (kinda)

SO any ideas for rain gear??

TA TA for now!
Jen, HEATHER, Sarah

Grandmas Marathon or bust =)

Hey all,

We are off.  Sarah and I are both heading to MN today. We leave tomorrow morning to Duluth. We plan on blogging about our entire experience starting today, so stay tuned =)  Below are some random pics from our most recent tropical vacation together. Happy Running -Jen

Pasta with Italian Sausage and Toasted Ciabatta... dependably delicious.

Pasta with Italian Sausage and Toasted Ciabatta.

(A family favorite)

Olive oil over medium high heat with some freshly minced garlic, reduce heat and give a little stir when garlic starts to smell delicious.

2 cans of diced tomatoes with dried oregano and basil. Simmer for 20 mins or so.

Ciabatta bread with a little olive oil topped with Parmesan Reggiano and Pecorino Romano cheeses. toast in upper rack of oven at 390 until golden.

Italian sausages on the grill on medium high heat until done.

Mix with pasta of your choice and Eat up. 

Happy Cooking -Jen

Check it out! I WON something awesome =)

Saturday night I went to the Redline Running Club's bi-annual potluck and WON the ROTHY =) 

Redline Runner

Of

The 

Half

Year Award!!

I can't believe it.  I am not quite sure why they picked me.... but they did and it made my whole day! I won something and I have the totally awesome shorts to prove it.  I plan on putting these puppies on and debuting them shortly.... stay tuned.

Thanks Redliners. Our club is amazing.  The peeps I train with are super motivating, inspirational and very fun to be around.  We all share a total obsession with running and have been able to build a support system through this club.  We really are a team and I just couldn't be happier.  YAY to our coaches Josh,  Doug, and Kim for putting up with all my crap and making me realize that I can be better.

Below is a lot of my fellow Redliners right after our Predict a 5k workout.

For the predict a 5k workout each individual picks a time that they will complete the 5k in.  We are not allowed to wear watches, music, or anything else that might give us a sense of what pace we are running.  All we get is to listen to our breathing and hope that through all of this training our bodies can recognize what pace we have chosen.  We weren't allowed to pick our actual 5k pace either.  Seeing as how I have the marathon coming up in 1 week, I chose my marathon pace.  Some chose what they would consider there 10k pace and others just picked a pace they figured they could feel.  And so as results went, the person who was the closest to there designated pace won, and the furtherest away lost. It was way fun and I highly recommend doing one on your own every so often to see how in tune you are with what pace is what.  Great workout =)

Also, I'd like to give a HUGE shout out to my brother James.  I sucked him into coming coming to Lifetime with me for 1 week to show him how crazy hard the classes were. So because he loves me he agreed and although Barbell and Total Conditioning kicked both are A**'s (literally, these classes are tough) he ROCKED it.  I was proud to be his little sis. 

So James, you are joining right =) 

This Pic was taken right after Total Conditioning class.  We were wiped out. Apparently doing 150-200 pushups with variations that include loads of mountain climbers, bear crawls, jumps, lunges, leaps, turns, body bars, bands....and the list goes on and on will wear you out.

and P.S. my Friday Night BBQ chicken sandwiches were delish.  Sweet potato, watermelon and roasted green beans for sides.... I love food.

Anyone else out there in a running club?

If so, have you ever won anything as cool as these shorts!?!

Who else is running Grandmas? We'd love to meet up!

What is your favorite Carbo loading meal? and why?

Anyone have a gym class that is crazy hard?

I find they are few and far between but for some reason I am lucky enough to live right next to the Lifetime fitness that employs a lot of there regional peeps including instructors.  These people are the ones they send out to train all the others.  I feel lucky.

Happy Running - Jen

One Week To Go!

We are on the final countdown until Grandma's Marathon!  Woot! Woot!  And better yet I will see my sisters in less than one week.  We are all getting so pumped.  In fact the marathon sleep syndrome, which is what I like to call it has already begun.  It actually started this morning.  I woke up at 4 am, and my first thought was the race.  Then I woke up again at 6:30, first thought was the race.  I would say it is different then in the past because this will be my first race running with friends/sisters.  Plus I am not going for a PR.  I am strictly running to have a blast!  It is kind of a huge relief not having to worry about my time.  I decided that I will shoot for a PR this fall when I run NYC.

Isn't this picture rad!  This was in March when I went cruising with my sisters in the Caribbean.  Jen is on the far left, then Heather and then me.  That is actually the order of our age, in case anyone was wondering...Jen is the oldest then Heather, then me.

AND we received our very first ever ATTrio GIFT!!  I was so pumped when Scott's Aunt Karen sent us these.  (Well I am not technically sure if she is his Aunt, but somehow they are related and I married Scott which means I am adopted in :)) Anyways, Karen is a super awesome runner and has given us so much advice!  It has been super helpful.  Sad part is she lives in Southern California so I never get to run with her.  I like to call her my Long Distance Coach.  Scott and I hope to get out there soon for a visit.  So THANK YOU Karen!!!  We are so excited about these and can't wait to run and take pictures in them next week.  Oh and she also sent me Coach's Oats. (Just for me, I am not sharing) Have you guys tried them??  They are soo soo good.

Last but not least, when I was in Cape May over Memorial Day Weekend Scott and I went to a craft fair.  At the craft fair was the A+H Bracelet Girls.  They made a sold friendship bracelets.  They were way cool and I was super impressed by their business skills.  I mean these girls were about 10-12 years old and they already had business cards?!  These ladies are going places that is for sure.  Anyways, Scott and I loved them so we each bought one for ourselves.  Later that day I was thinking these are so cool and Jen and I had discussed earlier how it would be nice to get something for all three of us Trio to wear.  I thought these bracelets would be perfect.  So as so as I got home I looked up their website and contacted the girls.  I had them make us matching braclets for the race.  I sent them our ATTrio colors and they were ecstatic to make them.

I just received them in the mail yesterday!  Are they not the coolest things ever?!  I can't wait to wear them.  PS I love friendship bracelets so much that I am pretty sure these will stay on my wrist till the end of the summer :)  Thanks Girls!!

After my 8 miles today Scott and I are heading to the UWS to visit his family and then to buy a new goldfish.  I am also hoping to stop into 16handles for some fro yo!

What are your plans for the weekend?

Have ever tried Coach's Oats?
-They really are the best!

Did you ever make/wear friendship bracelets growing up?
-I made them all the time when I was a kid.

Have you ever run a race just for fun?  No PR intended?
-Grandma's will be my first.

XX
Sarah

Stretch Intervention

Do you like to stretch?  I hate it.  I just don't have the time.  I feel like when I get home from a run..usually the long ones I have so much stuff to do.  Like paying attention to my four kids.  But I do know that if I don't stretch then I will for sure pay for it on my next run.  A couple days ago a friend called me and said please come to the a stretch intervention she was holding.  A couple of guys from my church decided about 6 weeks ago that they where also going to run Grandmas Marathon.  They both had run some in the past but this was there first marathon.  Well long story short they don't stretch after.  Never.  And they are paying for it.  They don't fuel during runs either but that is another post.  Here are a few pictures from the intervention.

Who else hates to stretch??

Happy Friday

-Heather

Before and After with a Salad

Do you remember last Saturday when I told you I bought these Nike shorts for my marathon.  Well I tested them out to see if they ride up too much.  I bought the 5" length ones and I LOVE them!  I had never ran in tight shorts like these so I was hesitant.  But as I got going they felt great.  Almost as if I had nothing on, but in a comfortable way.

I will say that they did ride up a little but not enough to make me think that my bum cheeks were showing.  Thank goodness! I also really wanted to test them, so I never pulled them down once and as you can see from my pictures they hardly moved up.  So yep, these are the winners.  My sisters and I are all running in the same outfit!  We will show you the rest of it later.  Can't wait! Only 9 more days till RACE DAY!!

A little over a month ago I wanted to pump up my veggie intake so I made up my own food rule/guideline/diet.  It is called the salad once a day diet.  I try my very hardest to eat a salad once a day.  Simple as that.  I would say that it is going pretty well and I have about a 95% success rate.  The trick is that you have to mix up the ingredients.  I usually buy the Taylor's organic salad mixes.  At first I was really into the herb salad mix but now I have moved onto the the baby spring mix.  I will seriously throw whatever I have in my fridge into my salad.  Some days are better than others but I will say eating my greens everyday helps me feel so much better!! (and I change up the dressing, but always remember to take it easy on the dressing or it just defeats the purpose)

If I am really not feeling a salad I will make a salad mix(this case, with tuna) and just put it on some bread to make an open faced sandwich.

I am in charge of doing activities for the kids in our church and so last night we headed to the park for some games and I brought fruit salad to munch on.  The kids loved it!  No I don't really count this as my greens for the day but I definitely love eating fruit in the summer.  Plus I think it tastes like you are eating dessert when you are eating fruit salad.

The weather was perfect and the kids had a blast.  We played Red Rover.  Do you remember that game?