Motivational Monday #65

Happy Motivational Monday, Friends! It's been a couple of weeks, and I have some great MM posts for you today. Enjoy!

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Sam just completed her first FULL marathon! She has run short distances, including a sub-28 5K time, but she prefers to race-walk. She worked on her race-walking technique for about a year, losing 50 pounds in the process(!), and just completed the Vancouver USA marathon with a time of 5:39:59. (This blows my mind, because that's a pace of 12:59 per mile--that's a VERY fast walk!). The race was very special to her because it was at that race a year ago that she completed her first half marathon.

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Sara just started running in February, after losing about 25 pounds, and she recently ran her very first 5K race! She did the Women's Fitness Festival 5K in Sacramento with a friend, who helped pace her by doing a run/walk interval, and she completed her goal of finishing in 45 minutes! She plans to run another 5K on July 4th. (Sara's race report)

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Sharon is official a triathlete! She completed her first triathlon (a 300 meter swim, 10 mile bike ride, 4K run) on June 1st. She did the race with her sister, and both of them placed in their age groups. Her stomach cramped up on her during the race, but she kept moving and is very proud for finishing (especially considering she didn't even start biking or swimming until February of this year)!

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Anna and her husband just completed their first race--a 10K! When she signed up for the race six weeks ago, she hoped she'd be able to walk a 15:00/mi pace; then once she started training, she realized she could only do 18:00/mi, and was a little disheartened, thinking that her goal was unrealistic. Well, she completed the race with an average pace of 15:02/mi! Her husband was proud to discover that he could run the entire distance (he only trained up to 3.25 miles). (Anna's race report)

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These posts below are "oldies but goodies". Because of a stupid mistake I made with forwarding my email, I missed these posts when they were sent to me! But they were too good not to share, so here they are--a little late. Better late than never, though!

(March 2014) I really love that Robin shared this story--it's non-weight loss, non-fitness related, but she did something awesome, and it's definitely worth bragging about! The COO of Robin's company was raising money for the St. Baldrick's Foundation to conquer childhood cancer, and in the eleventh hour, was still $2600 away from his goal. After finagling with some coworkers, Robin felt brave enough to offer up her hair, raising $1565 to shave her head! The money she raised, along with the other coworkers, brought the COO over his fundraising goal. Robin said she started an active lifestyle in November, and this is something she never would have done at her heaviest.

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(November 2013) Kristen is VERY proud of her son, Elijah, who completed his first 5K race! At only 10 years old, he ran/walked the Awesome 80's 5K in San Francisco, earning a huge medal with Darth Vader on it. Throughout the whole race, he never complained or stopped moving! (My kids are so jealous of this Darth Vader medal, and now they want to train for a 5K so they can get one too, haha) Elijah, keep it up--you did great!!

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(February 2013) Pam has been maintaining a huge weight loss for a little over three years now, and she struggles just like I do. When she wrote in for Motivational Monday, she was very proud to have conquered a difficult situation--a buffet for her grandson's birthday dinner. The buffet had bread, pizza, a salad bar, a table of all Mexican food, Chinese food, desserts, kids favorites, wings, pasta, and all sorts of other things. Pam was determined to stay on track with her healthy new lifestyle, so she took some yummy foods from the salad bar: fresh fruit, pickles, broccoli salad, a small garlic roll, and half a cup of spaghetti with marinara. She avoided ALL the other temptations and stuck with her plan, feeling proud when she left the restaurant.

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Congrats to everyone for your accomplishments! Don't forget to check out the Motivational Monday Facebook post for more stories :)

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Pecan Pie

My kids stayed the night at my parents' house last night, and Jerry left for work early this morning, so I had the perfect opportunity to sleep in again. But of course, when opportunity presents itself, it just doesn't work out. I was up by 7:00.

I started to get dressed, and then had the sudden urge to go for a run. My last run was the Heartbreak Hill Half last Sunday, and I had planned to take a full week off of running in order to get my head back in the game. I think it worked, because I definitely felt like running today! So I started back to it a day early.

It wasn't humid this morning (thank goodness!) and the fish flies seemed to be hiding out. It's kind of strange--they hatched and were ALL over the place a couple of days ago, but now, they aren't too bad. I decided to run a four mile out-and-back route, away from the lake, so that the fish flies wouldn't be so much of a problem.

I was a little nervous about how my legs were going to feel after six days off of running. For the first half-mile or so, I felt a little stiff and clumsy, but I could feel myself loosening up as I went. I was sure my pace would be 11:00+ minutes/mile, but my pace was under 10:00, so I felt good with that. I think the week off was good for me.

I saw my dad's truck as I was turning a corner, and he was heading home. Since it was only 7:30 in the morning, I immediately thought, "Ohhh, I bet he just got doughnuts from Monica's!" and I was so tempted to just run straight to his house, but I kept going ;)  (I later found out that he did, in fact, get doughnuts from Monica's.)

After the first few miles, I saw that I was finishing each mile progressively faster, so I decided to try to aim for negative splits all around. I ran a sub-9:00 fourth mile, and felt really good!

I sat on the porch for a little while, just enjoying being outside without the humidity.

My calves were bothering me a little after my run. I had noticed that they were hurting a little while I ran the Heartbreak Hill races, and I think it may have something to do with the hills--I'm just not used to them here. At the expo, the blogger group I was with was given a coupon to get "The Stick" (or another product from that booth). I'd heard of it before, and I know a lot of people swear by it, so I chose the "Stiff Stick"--sounds so naughty, doesn't it?! The first one I picked didn't fit in my suitcase, so I had to exchange it for a smaller version.

Anyway, I decided to give it a try on my calves today.

It definitely hurt while I was rolling it over my calves, so I think that means I was doing it correctly. It reminds me a lot of foam rolling, only it's a lot easier to do. I don't know how well it works, but some of the other bloggers I was with said they love their sticks ;) It may have been my imagination, but my calves did feel better after "sticking" them.

After the kids came home, I decided to make a pecan pie for my dad. I never know what to buy him for Father's Day (or his birthday, for that matter), but he loves pecan pie, and I actually make a pretty good one. Normally, I can't bake to save my soul, but I can make a damn good pecan pie. It came out picture-perfect!

The kids and I went to get a Father's Day present for Jerry, and then we brought the pie and a card over to my parents' house. I made sure to leave before my dad cut into it, because it would be too hard to resist--and it's something like 500+ calories per slice! I usually only have it once or twice a year--Thanksgiving and my dad's birthday.

Well, we are off to take Jerry out for dinner! It feels like a Friday night, for some reason, and I keep forgetting the kids have school tomorrow. It needs to be summer already!

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A walk with the kids

I slept SO deeply last night. I haven't slept that well in longer than I can remember! This morning, I woke up from a very vivid dream, and was kind of confused for a minute, and then before falling back asleep, I glanced at the clock. 8:30. What the heck?! I am usually thrilled when I can sleep until 7:00, so I was shocked to see that I slept that late.

It felt so good to sleep in, but I flew out of bed to check on the kids. They had woken up at their usual 6:30, and played their iPods. I felt bad that they were awake for so long while I slept, but I really needed to catch up on my sleep, and they didn't seem to mind.

Because the fish flies are so bad near my house, I decided to take the kids to the Metropark this morning for a walk on the trails, because there aren't any fish flies there. The kids groaned about going, but it was gorgeous outside today (practically no humidity at all), so I wanted to get in some activity.

We went to the park and I decided on a lollipop route that goes on gravel/dirt trails. I never run that area, but it's nice to walk. I spent probably 10 minutes explaining to the kids what a lollipop route is. I even drew it the air, to help explain, but Eli misunderstood, thinking that WE would be going up in the air, "like in a helicopter" and flying in a circle.

Once we turned onto the dirt part of the path, the kids were both really happy to be out there. Noah even said that this was way better than playing his iPod.

We called my dad, who was working at the park, and told him to meet us at the boat launch. We stopped to talk to him for a few minutes, and then continued on the trail.

It felt like we were walking forever, but it actually wasn't even two miles. We stopped several times to look at stuff, so it took us well over an hour. It was a nice morning with the boys! I think we'll do it again after one of their half-days of school this coming week.

In the afternoon, I let them talk me into taking them out for an ice cream. While we were waiting in line, I heard a dog bark, and when I looked around, I noticed it across the street. We were on a pretty busy road, but there was a pit bull tied to a fence in a parking lot across the street from where we were standing.

There weren't any cars or people around the dog, so I was curious as to what it was doing there. I kept watching to see if anyone went over there, and after about 10 minutes, I figured I should probably call animal control. It appeared as if someone had just abandoned the dog there. So I called animal control to let them know, and they said they were going to send someone out.

About five minutes later, as we were getting ready to leave, I was going to ask for a cup of water to bring to the dog. Right as I stood up, I saw a man and a little girl come out of the store, and walk over to the dog. The man took the leash from the fence, and they walked away, bringing the dog with them. So I'm assuming he was the owner, and just tied his dog up outside the store while he shopped. Normally, I don't jump the gun on that kind of stuff, but I felt bad for the dog just standing there in the sun, and it really did appear abandoned. So I just called animal control back to let them know.

My brother, Nathan, ran his first 10K race this morning. I got a text from him with his finishing stats, and he finished in 49:36! That's an awesome 10K time, especially for his first. He had been hoping for sub-50, so he definitely hit his goal. I told him that he missed my PR by 13 seconds, so next time he should aim to beat his sister ;)

So speaking of running, I'm only taking one more day off, and then I am going to start with a much-lower-mileage running schedule. I'm keeping it super basic and open to running however I feel that day (if I want to run slow, I'll run slow, and if I want to speed it up, I will). But it will pretty much look like this:

Monday- speed work (intervals, hills, tempo, fartlek, whatever I feel like doing)
Tuesday- 3 miles
Wednesday- rest
Thursday- 4 miles
Friday- 8-12 miles (9:1 run/walk, if I want)
Saturday- rest
Sunday- 4 miles

That's about 25-30 miles per week, so it's enough that I feel like I'm maintaining fitness, but not so much to make me get burnt out. I'm really looking forward to running just to run, and not really "train" for anything! I'm going to be doing a couple of half marathons this fall, but I don't think I'll start training to PR until early next year.

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Hatched

I couldn't have picked a worse month to do my challenge of walking 12,000+ steps per day! Not only am I taking a whole week off of running, making it harder for me to get in steps, but yesterday, the fish flies hatched.

Fish flies are these really nasty looking bugs that come around for a couple of weeks in the summer (usually mid-June). They don't sting or bite, but they're a huge nuisance. This is what they look like up close:

Ugly, right? They're attracted to light, movement, and shade. If you leave a porch light on overnight, the porch will be inches deep (literally) of the bugs. Normally, they just land on something (like the shutter in the photo above) and stay there until you walk by. They like movement, so they fly off and swarm you, trying to land on you. They also like to sit on the road, particularly in the shade.

Walking to the bus stop today was awful! Half of my street is completely shaded in the afternoon, I plugged my nose and covered my mouth, waved my arms, and just walked as quickly as possible down the street. They swarmed me, of course, and I had to pick about 10 of them off of me once I got into the sun.

Here is a pile of them next to the road:

I went for a couple of walks today, but it was awful. I'll probably have to walk and run on the treadmill for a couple of weeks until they're gone.

Anyway, that's what's going on here :)

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I saw a snack/meal idea in Weight Watchers magazine this month for zucchini with spaghetti sauce and mozzarella cheese that really gave me a craving for zucchini. So weird. But I bought some yesterday, and today I made it with a couple of modifications. I cut the zucchini into spaghetti shape, and then sautéed it, along with some mushrooms, in coconut oil. Then I added marinara sauce, topped it with mozzarella and parmesan cheese, and the put it under the broiler until the cheese started to brown.

Holy smokes, was it ever good! The whole thing was only 5 PointsPlus.

Zucchini will never be a substitute for pasta, in my eyes, but as a dish in itself, I really like it. I have a feeling I'll be eating a lot of it this summer.

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Last night, I was over at my parents' house for a few minutes, and my mom gave me a box of stuff that she'd saved over the years. Inside, there were a bunch of copies of my high school newspaper that I wrote for. I randomly pulled one out, and flipped to my story, and read it out loud to Jerry. I was cracking up! I wrote it 1999, and it was about how trends have changed. Well, reading it today is hysterical, because the trends have certainly changed once again. (You can click to enlarge)

I cringed while reading it, but it was too funny not to share. I'm excited to go through the rest of the papers and see what else I wrote ;)

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Back of the pack runners

This whole week is going by so fast. I can't believe that it was a week ago that I left for Boston! Not running this week has made me feel like I have so much more "free" time, but I can't really say I've been super productive.

I started the process of changing my email address. I was at the point where I was feeling embarrassed to tell people what my email address was, because when I started my blog, the email address was just meant to be kind of funny/clever. (It's SlimKatie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com--I came up with "SlimKatie" because I'm an Eminem fan, and it rhymed with Slim Shady... um, yeah, it seemed clever at the time!)

Anyway, I really wished I didn't add that "Slim" before "Katie", so I've decided to drop the Slim. It sounds like it would be really simple, but I used my blog email address as a sign-in for a lot of sites, and it's all over my blog, so I've been slowly but surely changing it over.

In the process, I logged into the email address Katie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com, which I had created a couple of years ago in case someone typed that by mistake, and I noticed a big problem. I had set the email to forward everything to the SlimKatie one, and there were several emails that were never forwarded. Which meant I never saw them.

I felt awful, because some of them were great Motivational Monday posts! Even though they are now outdated, I'm going to post them on Monday. I think I've gotten ahold of everyone who was affected by the error, but if not, I'm so sorry about the mix-up. From now on, my email address is Katie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com, but I will still get the emails to the other address. I feel a little more like a grown-up now, after dropping the "Slim" part ;)

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Heather, one of the bloggers that was at the Heartbreak Hill Half & Festival, wrote a great post about her experience during the half-marathon. Heather is normally a pretty fast runner, which she explains in the post, but she was sick the morning of the half, and wound up finishing next-to-last. Her experience was very different from someone in the middle to front of the pack (not in a good way), and sadly, it happens pretty often during races.

I experienced being in the back of the pack before, too. I think some races do a much better job with it, and some races just seem to "forget" about the back of the pack. But like Heather mentions in her post, all of the athletes pay the same registration fee, so they should all be entitled to the same experience. Unfortunately, it just doesn't work that way. I'm hoping that her post will really help open the eyes of race directors (who can take it into consideration while planning races), as well as the people in the front of the pack (who just aren't aware that this is going on).

When Jerry and I went to the Detroit Free Press Marathon in 2013 specifically to cheer on every single athlete, I felt so sad for the people in the back. When I ran the marathon in 2012, and came out of the tunnel at mile 8, there were a ton of spectators cheering and ringing cowbells--it was awesome! I knew that's where I wanted to hang out during the race as a spectator, and we watched the first person come through, and then we stayed until the final walker came through.

Jerry and I were literally the ONLY spectators still standing there when the last person came through that tunnel.

We rang the cowbells and cheered, and the walkers bringing up the rear of the race thanked us and said that nobody ever stays to cheer for them. That was heartbreaking! They're out there nearly twice as long as the average runner, but they don't get to feel the excitement in the air and the hear the cheers as they work on a very physically challenging goal.

I know there are some races that definitely cater to the back of the pack as well as the leaders, so I'm hoping that maybe in the comments here, we can compile a list. If you've been in the back of the pack at a race before, but had a great experience (all the water stations and spectators were still there, the volunteers were still out, etc), please leave a comment to let us all know which race that was.

Personally, I think the Indy 500 Festival Mini Marathon (13.1 miles) is an amazing race for front and back of the pack runners. That's the race that I did when I was 253 pounds, and the cut-off time is 4 hours. I walked the entire thing, and finished in something like 3:52--definitely the tail end. But the experience was awesome!

I noticed that the people in the back are usually a little more talkative, and it was fun to chat during the race (I'm usually super quiet, but I get very talkative during a race!). There were bands playing throughout the entire course, and none of them packed up to leave before the race was over. All of the volunteers and aid stations were still set up, with plenty of supplies. The finish line party was going full-swing. A great race, and I highly recommend that for a first half-marathon (or if you're just looking for a fun race).

Any other suggestions of a good race, for fast or slow runners/walkers? Give them a shout out!

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A day with Eli

I've taken the last few days off of running, and it feels so good! I've actually been looking forward to a break after the Heartbreak Hill Half, because I was just feeling the burnout from so much training. I'm going to take a few more days off, and then run a schedule with about half the mileage I'd been doing. It will be a nice change for the summer!

My goal for June is to get in 12,000 steps per day, and so far, I've done it. It's been pretty hard to do the last few days, since I haven't been running. I got in a ton of steps over the weekend at Boston College. We walked everywhere, and rarely had a chance to sit, so I wound up with over 30,000 steps a day. These are the stats from my Fitbit:

I averaged over 21,000 steps per day, and my total distance was over 74 miles! I'm used to just tracking my running mileage, so it's been kind of fun to see just how much distance I actually cover, between the running and the daily tasks/walking.

Yesterday, Eli had his appointment at the otolaryngologist at the children's hospital in Ann Arbor. His appointment was at 10:00, so I told him he could stay home the whole day--that we'd go to his appointment, and then have lunch together afterward. He was definitely excited about that ;)

The doctor ended up putting a scope through his nose and into his throat to check out his adenoids. It was just what we suspected--his adenoids are way too large, and they're blocking part of his airway. That is likely the cause of his snoring and heavy breathing. I was surprised when I saw the picture at just how big the adenoid was (you can see that it's blocking the airway quite a bit).

So, Eli will be having surgery to remove his adenoids and his tonsils. The doctor said that they remove the tonsils at the same time as the adenoids, and the whole procedure is only about 15 minutes. I'm so glad that we know what is going on, and that the surgery will hopefully correct it!

After his appointment, we were driving through Ann Arbor, and I really wanted to eat somewhere different for lunch. I hate driving through unfamiliar cities, though, and I couldn't find a place on the street, so we just ended up going away from downtown and stopping at Max & Erma's. I'd never been to Max & Erma's before, but the menu looked good. Neither one of us liked the food, though, so we won't be going back. But I did like the wrapper that was around my napkin:

We couldn't go to Ann Arbor without stopping at Whole Foods for dessert, of course. So we each got a brownie to take home with us. It was such a long time since I'd been to Whole Foods! I wanted to stay and browse around, but Eli was ready to get home.

In the evening, I realized I still had to get in about 7,000 steps. I decided to walk to Kroger, which is a little over three miles away, and then have Jerry come pick me up. We needed to get milk and bread, so I figured I would at least feel like I was walking with a purpose. Eli asked if he could come with me, so of course I said sure.

I really didn't think Eli would last the whole 3+ miles. He walks slower than I do, so it felt like it took forever, but we had a good walk. Some of the things he thinks about crack me up. Out of nowhere, he said this: "Wouldn't it be really cool if there was an elevator that went to the top of Mount Everest? And inside the elevator, there would be a treadmill, so you could run on the treadmill while the elevator went to the top. Then you could tell people, 'I ran all the way to the top of Mount Everest!'"

Almost two miles in

Hahaha, I thought that was very clever thinking (while totally random). About two miles in, Jerry and Noah drove by, and Noah decided to get out and walk the rest of the way with us. I was surprised that Eli made it the whole way, because it took us over an hour, but he did it! Right as we got there, I hit 12,000 steps.

Right now as I type this, it's 7:45 pm and I'm only at 5,700 steps for the day. Not even halfway there. I don't want to ruin my streak, but I don't know if I'll be getting in all 12,000 today. It's been a long day!

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Update at 9:01 pm... I did it! I called my best friend Sarah in Arizona, and chatted on the phone while I walked about five loops of my neighborhood. Glad to keep the streak going ;)

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Heartbreak Hill Half & Festival: Half-Marathon race report

You can read my recaps of the race weekend here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. And now, on to the final post, Part 5!

I woke up on Sunday morning uber early again. I had my alarm set for 6:00, but was wide awake by 4:45. I was nervous about the race, but was looking forward to getting it done so I could stop worrying about it. Thankfully, my legs felt great! I was expecting the worst, but I think the fact that I ran at an easy pace for the 5K and 10K (and doing Hansons' Half-Marathon training) really paid off. 

I wore my Heat Gear capris and a purple and black tank that was given to us by a New Balance rep the day before. The tank was really cute and comfy, so rather than wearing the shirt I'd brought for the race, I wanted to wear the new tank instead. I also wore Mark's bracelet again, knowing I would need the push to get through this race!

We walked to the race at 7:00, for the 7:30 start time. I'm really glad that these races started early! The heat was already pretty bad, even that early in the morning. I can't even imagine an 8:30-9:00 start, which is pretty typical here in Michigan. We took a silly group photo before the race:

My plan for this race was to meet up with Caitlin and run the entire race with her at a very easy pace, so we could have fun and enjoy it, and maybe take some goofy pictures while we ran. At around 5:30 in the morning, however, I got a text from her saying that she'd gotten some sort of stomach bug and was sick all night/morning. She was bummed, because she was registered for the Hat Trick and had already done the 5K and 10K, but there was no way she could complete the Hat Trick.

I was disappointed, because I was really looking forward to running with her, but I just kept the same run strategy--go easy, and try to enjoy it. We lined up at the starting line, and it was so crowded. The half-marathon had even more runners than the 5K and 10K. 

I would have really liked to run with someone, but the other bloggers were taking it easy at a 9:00-ish pace, and that would have been pushing it for me--on a flat course in cool temps, sure! But not for the Heartbreak Hill Half in June ;) I lined up just behind the 2:15 pace group, and figured that'd be a good place to start. 

The race started, and I surprisingly felt pretty good! My legs didn't feel tired, and the first couple of miles passed pretty quickly. The 2:15 pace group was completely out of sight ahead of me, which was strange because my pace was a little faster than the pace group's should have been. But since I wasn't actually aiming for 2:15, I didn't even think about it, and just ran by my plan.

The sun was really heating up, though, so I wasn't sure how long I'd be feeling good. I kept my pace very conservative, because I knew that the second half of the race was going to be killer (with the hills and the heat). My pace wasn't very consistent, because of the hills (and I walked for about 10 seconds at each water station, to slam some water or Gatorade). 

Halfway through the race, I was still feeling really good, and I started to think that maybe I should set some sort of a goal to work on. I had finished my first half-marathon (in 2011) with a time of 2:10:40, a 9:59/mi pace, and I thought maybe I'd aim to beat that, because my pace was hovering right around 10:03 at the halfway point. 

The 2:15 pace group was still ahead of me, but in mile 9, I came upon them. I hate running behind a pace group, because it's like a wall of people, so I picked up the pace for mile 9 to get past them, and then I settled back into the 10:00-ish pace. 

Once mile 10 hit, it was like another race completely. I was SO HOT, and the hills were getting tougher. I threw any thoughts of a 2:10 finish out of my head, and honestly wasn't even sure I'd finish under 2:15 or 2:20. I desperately wanted to walk the rest of the way, but I also wanted to be done, so I kept running. I also had a goal of running the entire thing, regardless of pace, so I didn't want to walk just because it got tough. 

I kept looking at Mark's bracelet, and I thought a lot about him the last three miles. Every time I found myself thinking about how hot it was, and how I wanted to quit, I remembered Mark and his goal to go home from the hospital. He never gave up working on that goal, and did everything it took to make it happen, even though it was painful for him. Thinking about all of that made me tough it out, and just keep running.

When I got to the last incline of Heartbreak Hill, the 2:15 pacer passed me. It was a little disheartening, but according to my watch, I was still on course to finish under 2:15. When I saw the crest of the hill, I ran a little harder, and passed the pacer, because I knew the downhill was coming, and I didn't want to be behind the pacer for that. I heard her tell someone else that was with her that she had to cut her pace back a lot, because she was going to finish too soon. 

After cresting Heartbreak, it was all downhill (literally) from there. I love the finisher's chute of these races! I rounded the final corner, and picked up the pace a little, just ready to be done. I was looking for the photographers at the finish line, because I had already planned on a particular pose for it, but by the time I spotted them, it was too late. I'm pretty sure I looked like death in all of my photos.

I crossed the finish line in 2:13:25 (a 10:12/mi pace). That was my slowest half-marathon time ever (other than the ones where I walked the whole thing), but it was also the hardest race (or, at least, the last three miles were) for me. I'm very proud of myself for finishing all three races without walking a single hill--including Heartbreak Hill! 

I had brought my 5K and 10K medals with me, and carried them in my FlipBelt (I still love that belt, by the way!), so that I could get a finish line photo with all of my medals. I picked up my half-marathon medal, and wore all three.

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Final thoughts on the Heartbreak Hill Half & Festival:

*The races were very organized and well-done. 

*I love that the weekend is about much more than just the races--there are seminars, running movie screenings, speeches, book signings, etc. that are free and open to the public. 

*The Runner's World staff was very friendly, approachable, easy to find, and visible all over the place. Bart Yasso himself was announcing the race over the loudspeaker. 

*The course was challenging, but nice. I would definitely do it again, even though it was hard. I actually liked the new-to-me challenge of hills!

*I like that the race had options for a 5 & Dime (5K & 10K) and the Hat Trick (5K, 10K, & Half-Marathon). It gives you a little something extra to aim for. 

*The expo was very runner-relavent. It was small, but each booth was something that I was interested in. I'd rather have that than a huge expo with lots of things that didn't interest me. 

*I liked that we got Balega socks and a hat (along with two shirts) for the Hat Trick registration. The socks are super comfy, and I wear hats all summer when I run.

I really can't think of any negatives about the race festival! I would have liked for it to be cooler, but the weather is obviously out of our control. At first, I thought the race was on the pricey side; but after being there, I think you do get what you pay for. I think the only thing I would have done differently would be to have a beer garden at the finish line ;)  Nothing tastes better than a cold beer after a hot race! But other than that, it was a great race and I hope to do it again next year.

(In full disclosure, I paid my own airfare, but Runner's World covered my race registration, my dorm room lodging, and a few meals. I wasn't required to write a review of anything, but had such a great time that I wanted to post about it.)

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Heartbreak Hill Half & Festival: 5K & 10K race reports

...Continued from Heartbreak Hill Half & Festival, Part 1; Part 2; and Part 3.

Considering I was registered for the Hat Trick (5K, 10K, and half-marathon), you would think that the races would be the major part of the weekend; but with all the other stuff going on, the races were just a small piece. Staying so busy actually helped me to kind of forget that I would be running 22.4 miles before going home! ;)

On Saturday morning, I was up super early. I just couldn't sleep well, and it was really light outside so early in the morning. I chose to wear a super bright orange shirt for the 5K & 10K races, so that I would be easy (well, easier) to spot if a reader wanted to meet up. I had no idea that the race would be so big, otherwise I would have come up with a more specific meeting plan.

I had planned on wearing black capris, but after the Running Skirts "fashion show" that I took part in the day before, I decided to wear the skirt I was given. It actually had black capris attached to it, so my thighs were still covered (I can't wear shorts/skirts because of my loose skin). There was some bright orange in the skirt, so it matched my shirt.

I wore a hat, because it was already really sunny outside, and finally... I wore the blue mustache slap bracelet that my Ragnar SoCal team had worn in memory of Mark. To me, the bracelet represents Mark's positive attitude, and that he NEVER complained about anything, even though he certainly had a lot of things to complain about. I knew that the races this weekend were going to be tough, and I wanted to wear the bracelet to remind me that no matter how bad it got, someone else has it even tougher, and I shouldn't complain.

I was really nervous about the races, because I knew the courses were hilly, and it was so sunny and hot outside, even for a 7:15 AM start. I walked up to the race with some of the other bloggers.

When I say "walked up", I mean that very literally. We had to go up about 60 steps to get to the starting area! My thighs were a little sore before we even reached the starting line ;)

The 5K
There were a ton of people there lined up for the 5K--I got into the corral and the farthest I could move forward was between the 10:00/mi and 11:00/mi pacer. That was fine with me, though, because I planned to run about a 10:30/mi pace for all three races.

When the gun went off, it took a long time to get to the starting line. Once I crossed, I was really glad that I wasn't trying for a PR because it would have been frustrating trying to go around people. Once I started running, my legs could definitely feel the hill workout I'd done on Friday--it wasn't too bad, but my legs didn't feel very fresh.

It was quite a bit hotter than I expected it to be, too. The hardest part about the 5K was giving myself permission to run it nice and slowly. My slowest 5K, up until this race, was 27:17 (an 8:46/mi pace); so it was hard to make myself believe that it's okay to run a 5K at a 10:00+ pace. But I kept reminding myself that the slower I went today, the easier the half-marathon would feel tomorrow.

The finisher's chute on this race is fantastic--you turn a corner, and then the last tenth of a mile is just lined with a ton of people (and shade!). I crossed the finish line in 31:32 (a 10:09/mi pace).

I took my medal, and got some water, then chatted with the other bloggers and walked around a little. One run done, two more to go!

With my roommate, Jessica, who did the Five & Dime

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The 10K
After about a 40 minute break, I lined up for the 10K start. Again, it was pretty crowded, and I lined up in the same place as before. While I was standing there, I heard someone say my name. Turns out it was a reader named Crystal, and she gave me a hug (poor girl, I was very sweaty after doing that 5K!). We chatted at the starting line for a few minutes before the race started, and then we were off. Again.

I felt better during the 10K than I did during the 5K; I think because my legs had loosened up a little, and the sun wasn't directly in my face.

The 10K course is an out-and-back, which I love. I like out-and-back courses because you can see people ahead or behind you going in the opposite direction. As we ran along, we could look to the right and see other racers. I actually saw Shalane Flanagan go past (way in the front of the pack, of course!). I was on the lookout for Caitlin, who I figured would be at least a few minutes ahead of me.

I heard "Hey, Katie!" and I saw Caitlin wave to me. I kept thinking I saw the turn-around point just ahead, but it ended up being farther than I thought. Finally, we turned, and I had just three miles to go.

I managed to take a pretty good mid-race selfie during the 10K. Dani, from Weight Off My Shoulders, is the master of taking mid-race selfies, and she gave us some pointers. I decided to try it out, and I got (what I think is) a good one!

The last half of the 10K was tough! Miles 4-6 contains Heartbreak Hill, which just feels like a really, really long, gradual incline. It wasn't nearly as steep or dramatic as I imagined, but it was hard! I found while doing this race that the long, gradual hills are much tougher than short, steep hills.

My only real goal for these races was to run the whole thing (except while drinking water at the water stations). I didn't want to walk the hills, because I thought it would be a good challenge for myself. And I was right! I almost caved on Heartbreak Hill, because it was so hot and my legs were tired, but once I could see the crest of the hill, I knew I'd make it. The last part quarter mile was downhill, so you can get a good pace going to cross the finish line. I finished the 10K in 1:02:23 (a 10:03/mi pace).

After the race, I was walking around a bit, and ran into another reader. Her name is Lisa, and she's lost a whopping 75 pounds!

I was so relieved to be done with the first two races. I tried not to think about the fact that I was going to be running 13.1 more miles the next morning!

This post ended up being much longer than I thought. I'll do a separate post for the half-marathon.

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Heartbreak Hill Half & Festival, Day 3

What a weekend! I have SO much stuff inside my head that I really want to share, but it's so hard to organize and even remember everything. I'm going to write my actual race reports on a separate post. Here, I'll just recap some more stuff about the weekend, and throw in some random stuff that I just wanted to mention. This post is probably going to be all over the place!

First, the bloggers. I hadn't met any of the other bloggers that were attending the Heartbreak Hill Half & Festival, so I was really nervous going into it. I got the impression that all the other bloggers already knew each other, and had done this kind of thing before, so I was worried I wouldn't really fit in. But I was going because I was very interested in Runner's World, and attending the seminars, and meeting the people behind the scenes, so I kept reminding myself that it wouldn't even matter if I was the oddball ;)

The other bloggers that attended are:

Julie from Peanut Butter Fingers
Charlene from FAB Running
Matt from No Meat Athlete
Caitlin from Healthy Tipping Point
Anne from fANNEtastic food
Sarah from Sarah Fit
Jason from Strength Running
Theodora from Preppy Runner
Presley from Run Pretty
Amanda from Run to the Finish
Katy from Katy Widrick
Karla from Run Karla Run
Heather from Relentless Forward Commotion
Marnie from Run Street
Sarah from Picky Runner
Larisa from Zero to Twenty-Six Point Two
Jessica from Keeping Mommy Sane
Dani from Weight Off My Shoulders

Most of the bloggers were very extroverted, so I definitely felt out of place, but I introduced myself and just went with the flow for everything. I was so excited to be there!

But speaking of being extroverted, there was one point where we had a seminar with Running Skirts. They had brought a ton of running skirts and tops with them, and then asked us to put on a "fashion show". Not for the public, but in front of a few RW people and Running Skirts reps... oh, and a video camera! I was mortified. I wanted the floor to swallow me right then and there, but I just tried to make the best of it. I basically tried to remove my brain from my body, and just go through the motions of what the other girls were doing, and go with the flow. I did my thang on the red carpet, and almost died ;) Hopefully, there will never be a photo or video of it online, haha. But by doing it, I did manage to score a $100 gift card to give away on the blog! I'll write about that when I know the details.

I think what makes this race weekend so unique is that they have seminars that are open to the public to attend. I had the pleasure of attending Bart Yasso's seminar, "My Life on the Run" yesterday. He is SO fascinating--he has a way of telling stories that just makes you want to sit and listen for hours. He's got a lot of running stories (he's traveled all over the world doing races--some seriously crazy ones!).

After the seminar

After Bart's seminar (see how we're on a first-name basis now? hahaha!), I went to Mark Remy's seminar, "Remy's World". Because I had stayed after at Bart's, I was a couple of minutes late walking into Mark's--and of course he heckled me a little ;) (Mark Remy writes a humor column for Runner's World--and I adore his sarcasm!).

He had a "Jeopardy" game set up for us to play, with some funny trivia questions about his column.

Mark Remy and his "Jeopardy" game

Afterward, he gave away prizes by asking who traveled the farthest, who was the tallest/shortest, etc. He said the prizes were all very crappy, and the last person to choose would obviously get the crappiest prize. When there was one prize left, he asked who was the last person to walk in the room, which was obviously me, so I got the "crappiest" prize. Hahaha! It was a framed advertisement that appeared in an issue of RW a really long time ago, for a realistic looking chimpanzee. So funny!

After Mark's seminar, I went to a blogging seminar. Three of the bloggers (Matt, Katy, and Karla) were on a panel to talk about building up the success of a running blog. I found it very interesting, because my views on blogging differ completely from a lot of the others' views.

From there, we went straight to the pasta dinner. The dinner was open to the public as well. It was an awesome opportunity for runners to meet people like Bart Yasso, Shalane Flanagan, Sarah Reinertsen, Mark Remy, David Willey (Editor-in-Chief of RW), and others who are known to the running community. The food was fantastic--a few different pasta dishes, salad, rolls, and a cash bar.

Immediately after dinner, we went to the key note presentation, which was a talk by Sarah Reinertsen. Holy cow! She is AMAZING. She talked to us bloggers the day before just a little, but when I heard her whole story, I was floored. She is SO inspiring. And one of my favorite moments of the trip involved her, actually...

I was in my dorm room, looking out the window, when I saw Sarah and another woman wearing a prosthetic leg (I later learned that she was a victim of the Boston Marathon bombings). Sarah was teaching the other woman how to run with her new "running leg", and they were practicing in the parking lot. There weren't any cameras around, or even anyone else who was watching. It was just the two of them, in a parking lot. I knew then that Sarah was for real--she was doing it out of the goodness of her heart, and I loved that!

Speaking of which... at the kids' race, there was a girl who was running her first race, was really nervous about it, and it was clear from the beginning that she was in last place. Without missing a beat, Sarah (who was there to watch the kids' races) ran over and finished the run with the little girl, allowing her to cross the line first! Sarah has a heart of gold, and it's obvious when you see her.

I loved her key note talk. Sarah met someone who had completed an IronMan, and she wanted to do the same, so she trained for it for a VERY long time (I think she said it was 12 years). She actually got a DNF (did not finish) on her first attempt, but that didn't stop her. She eventually completed the Hawaii IronMan! I also didn't know this about her, until she talked about it, but she was on the reality show The Amazing Race. I left her presentation feeling so inspired!

I'm currently sitting at the airport writing this, trying to remember everything about the weekend. It was SO jam-packed full of stuff to do, that it's hard to remember it all! But I had such a great time, I learned a ton, I met some amazing people... and I ran 22.4 miles (which I'll write about tomorrow). This whole experience has been fantastic!

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Heartbreak Hill Half & Festival, Day 2

Continued from Heartbreak Hill Half & Festival, Day 1

Okay, so I have a confession... I've never eaten a cannoli. After I posted about the pastry shop yesterday, lots of people commented that I should have gotten a cannoli. I've never tried one, so I wasn't sure if I'd like it. Next time, I will definitely have to try one. But that carrot cake was SO good!

The past two days have been crazy busy here in Newton. We had to get up bright and early this morning to be on a bus at 6:00. We went to do a workout called the November Project. I first read about this group in Runner's World magazine in the November 2013 issue (I think!). They do some crazy running workouts--running up and down stairs, and big old hills. Today was the hill workout, and it was done on Summit Hill. I wasn't sure what to expect when we got there, but it was actually pretty cool!

There was the "leader" named Brogan, and there were probably about 200 people that showed up for this workout. It blew my mind! It's a free workout, and all you have to do is show up to join in. We were told we'd be running laps--down the hill, then turn and come back up the hill, go around this little field, and then repeat. The thing that I liked about it was that nobody ever feels like they are last--because it's a big loop, you don't know if the guy next to you is on his first loop or his fifth.

My plan was to take it very easy, and just do one loop, because I'm running three races over the next two days. I didn't want to tear up my legs before the races, otherwise I would have tried to do the whole workout (1 hour). Even that one loop kicked my ass! It was so tough.

All the bloggers

After the workout, we headed to breakfast at a restaurant called Zaftig's. Brogan came and had breakfast with us, and he was so fun. He explained how the November Project got started, how it grew, and what a big success it's been.

The afternoon was spent meeting some pretty amazing runners! The first was Sarah Reinertsen, a former Paralympic track athlete. She had her leg amputated at age 7, and she now runs marathons!

Then we met Shalane Flanagan, superstar distance runner ;)  She was so nice! She said her favorite post-marathon treat is a burger, fries, and a beer. Haha!

We had lunch, which was all recipes prepared from the Runner's World cookbook--watermelon and feta salad, chilled zucchini soup, sweet potato salad, and chicken sandwiches. Bart Yasso had lunch with us, and I was really looking forward to meeting him. He's another superstar runner--he's been running for nearly 40 years, and he has some awesome stories. He talked to us for a little bit, answering questions, and then when he left, I was feeling a little bummed that I didn't introduce myself.

So, I did what any crazy would do, and I chased after him! ;)  I introduced myself and asked if he would be so kind to sign "my" issue of Runner's World. We chatted for about a five minutes, and took a couple of pictures. He is SO nice, and I want to read his book on the plane home.

We went to the expo after lunch to pick up our race packets. Since I'm doing the Hat Trick, I got two shirts, a hat, and a pair of socks with my bib! I walked around the expo a little bit, and I was feeling completely exhausted by 4:00. I didn't sleep much at all last night in the dorm, so I'm going on very little sleep, and tons of walking around. Yesterday, I got in almost 24,000 steps, which didn't even include a run! This weekend has been so exhausting, but so much fun.

Tomorrow morning, I have the 5K and the 10K to run. I'm nervous, but I am planning to take it easy. If anyone is around, and wants to meet up, you can look for me at the finish area after the races; also, feel free to tweet me, so we can find each other!

Continue to Heartbreak Hill Half & Festival, Day 3

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