My Mastercard commerical: I'M A MARATHONER

Physical Therapy Appointments: $250
Brooks Running Shoes: $90
Flight to Nashville: $300
Becoming a Marathoner: Priceless

:)

My goal for this race was just to finish, since it was my first full. The time doesn't mean much to me, but it you're wondering, it was: 5:14:59. I refuse to be embarrassed about that time even though it was 45 minutes after I expected to finish. I was not prepared for the heat of today and I did my best during the race, pushing myself as much as I could without risking serious injury to my body.

Did I walk a lot? Yes.
Did I finish every single step of 26.2 miles? You bet your ass I did.

I'm a marathoner and no one can ever take that away from me. It feels amazing.

I couldn't have done it without all of the support from my family, friends, and of course the running blog community. Love you all. Full re-cap of the race to come soon. And, of course, I'll be catching up on reading all your blogs soon, I promise!

We have landed in Nashville!

Country Music Marathon, here we come! First Erin and I had to do some very important things like check-in to our super sketch $36/night hotel.

Then we explored downtown:

Then we met up with the most awesome Nashville Running Bloggers of all time, Redonk Runner and The Almost Runner. We had a wonderful dinner and then headed over to Sweet Cece's for what is required of all blogger meet-ups: FRO-YO.

I could only take a picture of the outside of my bowl of fro-yo because the inside was empty in approximately 0.7 seconds.

Tomorrow we are running 26.2 miles...have we gone mad?!?

Wordless Wednesday...with a few words

I know I said I wouldn't complain about the weather in Nashville as long as it didn't rain on race day, but I'm seriously kicking myself for saying that now:

Please keep in mind that I have been training for the marathon in 35 degree weather this winter. A LOW of 64?!? I think I might die.

Also, I really need a salad spinner.

If you use this method make sure you put the setting on low and warm

Lastly, I'll let you guys in on a secret: if you get your nails painted OPI shade Voltage Neon it will make you run super fast:


The picture does not do them justice. It's like a highlighter attacked my nails.

 I'M FLYING TO NASHVILLE TOMORROW! WOOO!!!!! :)

Funny Pictures & a Giveaway Winner!

I received a lot of really ugly (great) pictures. The moral of the story here is that it's important to just relax and laugh at yourself once in a while. Also, running isn't always a glorious sport. We sweat until a block of salt forms on our foreheads, we lose toenails, our faces turn red, etc. Congrats to all of you who pushed yourselves during your race and ended up with a ridiculous picture. Even bigger congrats to those of you who pushed yourselves and managed to look good doing it (send a sister your tips fo' real).

Here are the pictures of those who entered:

Not sure why this won't rotate, but her expression is priceless. Looks like the time of her life!

Self-labeled "alien face"

Sweat-tastic!

It takes skill to run with your eyes closed

She's about to cry...for everyone who she is leavin in the dust!

I gotta learn how to do the "evil eye" to anyone who cuts me off at the beginning of a race

Up close and personal!

Dude...I'm always that happy when I cross the finish line

Apparently medical masks don't help during races when it's 3 degrees outside... she just thought you should know

Oh heck yes. I have so many pictures like this.

I think she's saying something like "I'll kill someone if it gets one degree hotter out here"

I have no words for this. Just plain awesome.

It's seriously impossible for some of us to smile while running...we're going to try though!

Those darn home stretches are so tough!

Work it girl!

The classic flamingo picture

Nothin' ugly bout mud folks.

In my opinion you are all awesome and I wish I had something to give everyone.
random.org is probably easy, but writing all your names on bright colored paper seemed more fun:

And the WINNER is...

Sara @ Words to Run By
Congrats Sara! Email your address to webb.samj@gmail.com and I will be sure to send out your winnings :)

Running Group Perks & a Surprise Visit from Mi Madre!

First things first: my mom flew into DC this morning! I had no idea that she was coming. She just texted me a picture this morning and was like "guess where I am??" I'm so excited to have her here because I haven't seen her in a while and I know she'll be excited to see all the family that is getting together this weekend for Easter/my great-grandma's 88th birthday.

Okay, as for the running stuff: Last night's run group at Pacers was pretty cool. Before our usual 5 mile run a Saucony rep came in with a ton of shoes and let us try some out for the night. I just grabbed a box that was my size and it turns out that they were Saucony's lightweight trail running shoe. I don't run trails, and our run last night was mostly on sidewalks so there was really no reason for me to try them other than the fact that they were super cool looking:

Black/teal combo is the color of my race outfit...I was seriously tempted to buy them just for that reason. But I guess I'll stick with my clashing red/white Brooks lol.

I don't know anything about trail shoes so I can't really give them a fair review or anything, but I will say that they were pretty comfy and had lots of little grippy things on the bottom. (yes, "grippy things" is the technical term. look it up)

Last night's run was hip-pain free, so that's good! It probably had something to do with the fact that the physical therapist stretched me out at my second appointment yesterday morning, so I'm going to be stretching as much as I can these last few days.

Okay, that's it for today. I gotta go hang out with Heidi-Ho! hahaha, yup that's my mom's nick name.

The Adventures of a 2 week Taper

I honestly never thought the day would come that I would actually miss running, but here it is.

The definition of "taper" is to reduce gradually. For any newbies out there I remember not too long ago thinking I would never understand runners and their weird language. I've learned a lot, and I'm still learning.

My understanding of "tapering" is that you cut back on your mileage as you get near the race. Generally, the longer the race is, the longer you taper for. Not only do you cut down on the distance/frequency of your runs, you also cut down on your speed during runs (anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong at any point).

Tapering makes sense in my brain. I mean, your body needs to be well-rested before you push it to do something it has never done before (26.2 miles in my case). Tapering does not make sense according to my body. I get the fact that most runners feel anxious and want to go for a long run, but hold back. What I'm not sure of is this: Does everyone feel like they are getting sluggish and being lazy? Cuz that's what I feel like. It's probably just crazy talk, but I feel like I'm losing the cardio stamina I've worked so hard to build up.

I'll probably regret this later (you all can chastise me) but I'm headed to indoor rock climb with some friends right now. I'm 9 days out from the marathon, it can't be that bad of a decision, can it?? (Deep down, I already know this is a dumb decision...just praying I don't pull a muscle or something)

I'm also upset at myself for breaking my no-sweets challenge this week. One day I ate a bunch of free Godiva chocolate at work. Another night I ravaged my apartment for anything sweet, but I eliminated all sugar from the cabinets a while ago. This is all I could find:



Yup, I picked out every single flippin' sugar coated raisin from that box. hahaha. god I was desperate.



Marathon Playlist

Holy cow. Finding 5 hours of good running jams is harder than one would think. I also might have just spent an entire paycheck on music. You're welcome itunes.

I'm not going to post the entire playlist, because that seems a tad ridiculous and I'm pretty sure no on would get to the bottom of this post without falling asleep on their keyboard. So here are some highlights:

Pre-race I'll have to ask myself "How Far Do You Wanna Go?" by Gloriana

At the start line the race director will have to "Tell Me When to Go" by E-40.

I'm running with my best friend who is a little faster than me so at some point I'll have to jam to "Hit the Ground Running After You" by Keith Urban.

When we get to the hills I'm gonna bust out "Aint No Mountain High Enough" by Marvin Gaye.

On the outskirts of Nashville I'm going to need to hear "Country Roads" by Ryan Bingham.

If the sun gets hot I'll play "Gonna Make You Sweat" by C+C Music Factory.

When (I mean if) my bad hip starts hurting I'll play "F**k You" by Cee-lo Green.

And finally, I am ONLY allowed to play this after I have crossed the finish line: "Walk it Out" by Unk.

For all the time in-between here are just a few of my favorites:

1. Raining Men - Rihanna
2. Tootsie Roll - 69 Boyz
3. Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) - Shakira
4. Kerosene - Miranda Lambert
5. Shawty Get Loose - Lil Mama
6. Up Up and Away - Kid Cudi
7. Rompe - Daddy Yankee
8. Firework - Katy Perry
9. Songs Like This - Carrie Underwood
10. The Anthem - Pit Bull
11. Raise Your Glass - P!nk
12. We R Who We R - Ke$ha
13. Stuck Like Glue - Sugarland
14. Right Round - Flo Rida
15. No Hands - Waka Flaka Flame

Do you listen to music during races? (I'm going to try and put my ipod away for the last mile so that I can get some good pictures at the finish line and so that I can really absorb the reality that I am finishing a marthon)

What is your #1 favorite song to run to?

If you want the whole playlist just e-mail webb.samj@gmail.com and I'll be happy to send it your way! It's a good mix of hip-hop, pop, and country.

Sunday Funday

8 miles, brunch, and a new Brooks jacket...now that's my kind of Sunday. This morning's long run took place on the mall/around the monuments. I met up with my friend Amy who I am trying to convince to do her first 1/2 marathon in a month (I am sooo close to getting her to sign the form). It seems like every time we get together for a run we bring hurricane strength wind with us. Yet again we were almost pushed off a bridge by the ridiculous gusts of air. Aside from the wind, the weather was pretty nice and we had a good run with about a 10:30 pace.

We decided we needed breakfast before Amy headed off to vacay in Chicago so we sat outside at a little french bakery and enjoyed tomato and avocado omelettes, fresh fruit, and toast with jam (okay there might have been a tiny bit of nutella involved in the meal as well). When we got up to leave both of us had to grab on to the table to avoid falling as we said in unison "ugh, my knees!" Oh wait, you mean running 8 miles and then immediately sitting down to stuff your face for 45 minutes without any walking or stretching, isn't the best idea? Wow, some running buddy I am. Clearly I've learned jack $h*t in my 3 years of running. We narrowly escaped having to pick eachother up from the sidewalk and I headed off to City Sports in Chinatown.

I've been worried that Nashville might be much warmer than I've been used to and that I won't be able to wear my long nike pants or my capris so I decided I needed a good pair of spandex shorts for the race just in case. (Don't worry I'll wear them a few times before race-day to break them in). I might be able to get away with regular running shorts and a 1/2 pound of body glide to prevent chafing, but I don't want to risk it. Knowing these thighs, they would be as red as a firetruck by mile 18 and I really would rather not inflict any more pain on myself than is required during this race. While I was in the store I saw a neon yellow Brooks Jacket and thought "god forbid it rains on my first marathon!" "Dang, that jacket is cute, I think I NEED it." "Shoot...it's $70" "But, it's on sale...at one point it was $100" "I'll take it."



See...it's gonna keep me safe on night runs. Totally justified.

 In other news...good luck to everyone running BOSTON tomorrow!! Run hard and most importantly, have fun!

If you haven't entered my giveaway yet you should prob do it. Click here for the details! :)

Momma Always Told Ya' Not To Slouch...Lessons From My First PT Appointment

I paid $185 to learn how to properly get up from a chair. Ha, I'm kidding, I learned way more than that and really thought my first physical therapy appointment was worth it, but "how to sit up" was seriously one of the things we went over. If you're new here, I started having bad hip pain during training for my first marathon when I got to higher mileage (around mile 17).

Here's the 411:

The Bad: His ears perked up when he heard me say that over the last month my pain had switched from being only in my left hip to also being in my left lower back. He did a few tests and determined that it was most likely a nerve issue, especially due to the fact that icing and foam rolling weren't really helping much. One of the tests was kinda weird: I sat on the table with my feet dangling and he had me point my big toe toward the sky. I tried as hard as possible to keep my toe up while he pushed down on it. My right toe happened to be way stronger than my left. This showed him it was something affecting my whole lower left side (in my mind I'm freaking out at this point thinking "ahh!! it's spreading all over my body!").

The Good: We most likely identified what the problem is. We also did a few exercises/stretches targeted for backs and hips for 20 minutes. One of them was me lying down on the table (imagine the position of someone about to do sit-ups). He sat on my feet and put his hands behind my knees and pulled for a few minutes. He then re-did the "big toe test" and guess what? My left big toe was already stronger! He was really optimistic about the fact that I had improved within 20 minutes. He also commented about my posture while we were just sitting there talking about running. I openly admitted that my posture is atrocious. I'm fairly tall for a woman - about 5'8" but you would never know it if you saw me sitting in a chair because I slouch SO BAD. He said I definitely need to work on that to strengthen the muscles in my back. I honestly don't even realize I'm doing it, so I made it a point to correct myself everytime I found myself slouching at work on Friday. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I had to correct my posture 30 times! This is going to be a challenge, but it will be worth it.

The End Result: Will I run my first marathon on April 30th? Yup. Will I run it without pain? Probably not, but I really don't think anyone is pain-free on their first full. This appointment was never about whether to race Nashville or not; it was simply about trying to race it with a little less pain than I'm having now. I think with the help of my physical therapist that is going to be totally realistic.

However, I don't think drinking a 1/2 liter of German beer with co-workers is going to help my hip. Whoops!

As for my giveaway, I cannot tell you much I have laughed this week. I was having a tough week at work, but your pictures made it SO much better. I hope you guys are ready for the day I announce the winner b/c the pics are going to crack you up. In my book you are all amazing runners and extremely brave to share these pictures :)

Hope everyone is having a great weekend and that you're "Livin' a little" :

Giveaway!

I'm having my first giveaway!! Tell all your friends! :)

A little while ago I posted some pretty brutal race photos of myself. Once in a while its good to just laugh at yourself, ya know? Plus, rough lookin' race photos are just evidence that we are working hard to become better runners, right?! Everyone enjoyed it so much that I said I would incorporate it into my first giveaway. I tried my best to keep with the theme of running and photography so here's what you'll get:

• A sweet photo frame to hold your ugly photo,
• An old school disposable camera (remember when it took 2 days to see your pictures, not 2 seconds??),
• 1 gu roctane (orange vanilla flavor), 1 gu (berry flavor), clif shot bloks (cran razz flavor - love it), and sport beans (lemon lime flavor),
• A New Balance Shoe Wallet for holding your money, keys etc when you're tearing up the pavement on your runs,
• Goody hair bands (can never have too many of these), and
• A Bondi Band to keep the sweat out your gorgeous face!

Here's what you have to do (leave a comment for each thing you do)

• MANDATORY: Follow me :)
• OPTIONAL (+1 entry): Send an ugly race photo to webb.samj@gmail.com with the subject line of "giveaway". Okay, it doesn't have to be ugly, it can just be a race photo, but seriously the uglier the better. I think I'll post them all at the end of the giveaway so we can all get a good ab workout from laughter.
• OPTIONAL (+1 entry): Post about this giveaway on your blog.

That's all she wrote, folks. Giveaway ends on Sunday, April 24th and the winner will be announced on the 25th! Good luck and happy running.

As Seen On TV

Okay, I know I'm preaching to the choir here b/c you're all runners, but I had to share with you this ridiculos thing I came across at the store the other day.

Seriously, America?!? This has got to be a joke. How much more lazy can we get?

"No more bending to clean your feet"

If there ever comes a day when I'm too lazy to bend over and clean my own feet, someone please put me out of my misery.

Have you guys ever bought an "as seen on tv" item? Did it work?

In other news, my hip feels fine on rest days (Mon and Tues). Thank you all soooo much for your wonderful/positive comments!! I can't tell you how much it means to me. I have a 4 miler planned for tonight, so I'll let you all know how it goes. Friday evening is my first PT appointment.

I saw the sign, and it opened up my eyes...

Throwback song from Ace of Base (good god, the early 90's were so good to us)

Yesterday I posted about my hip pain and how I refused to accept the fact that I might be injured. *Fast forward two hours later and I'm stalking all your blogs*

Before yesterday I had never heard of "hip bursitis." The first blog I read yesterday was Kurt's. Ironically it was about running injuries, specifically runner's knee and tight IT bands. One of his followers commented about the fact that tight IT bands also cause "hip bursitis." Hmmm, I thought to myself. Interesting. I'll have to look up what that is. On to the next blog. Ali just happened to be blogging about an old injury of hers. What injury, you ask? Yes, hip bursitis.

I think a massive sign fell out of the sky and hit me in the head. If this is only coincidence it is ridiculously creepy and I might need to stop blogging now before I spontaneously combust. Am I absolutely sure that I have hip bursitis? No. But you can bet your bottom dollar I'll be bringing it up at my phyical therapy appointment.

Lots of injuries are going around the blog world right now, but we have to remind ourselves we are runners for life, not just this race. So I'm going to accept whatever the doc tells me and keep my head up. Janae announced today that she can't run Boston this year. I almost had a nervous break-down at work. Go give her some blogger love please.

No. No. No. I am NOT Injured.

Yesterday was my last double digit run before the marathon. Heading out for the run I was super happy:


Clarification: This is not a onesie, just a black shirt and black shorts b/c apparently I like to dress gothic when I run.

I did not come back happy. I'm not ready to admit that there is the possiblity I could have a slight injury. The word makes me cringe. However, yesterday's 12.3 mile run did not allow me to ignore the fact that my left hip simply does not feel normal. In fact, it's getting worse. The pain has spread from just my hip to my hip and left lower back. And instead of just occurring on long runs, it is happening on every single run. The 12.3 miles took me 2.5 hours so obviously I walked a lot. Maybe I should go to a physical therapist or some other kind of sports medicine doc to see if there is something else I can do other than at-home hip flexor stretches, foam rolling, and liquid glucosamine. Do you guys know of anything??

I've been lucky to be injury-free the entire 6 months I've been training for this race so I can't believe this is happening two weeks out :( I know a lot of you suffer from constant pain like shin splints or bad knees, so maybe this is something I just need to run through. Oh please racing gods, let it be healed soon!

I felt sorry for myself so I made breakfast for dinner and had double helpings of blueberry pancakes. Take that ya stupid hip.


Blueberry pancakes, banana and PB, and scrambled eggs with ham and cheese. Get in my belllyyy.

 I cheered up when I got online and saw that I now have over 50 followers!! yayy for you guys making my day better :) I promised a give-away so now I have to go shopping this week and figure out what I'm going to give the lucky winner...stay tuned for give-away details by Friday. For now: go enter Tara's give-away (and tell her congrats on her first half marathon) b/c you get an extra entry for following me! ay caramba....I feel so special.

To all my new followers: I apologize for this lame-sauce depressing post. I am usually much more witty, sarcastic, and lively. Do excuse my case of the Mondays.

Lil' Local Low-Key 5k

Say that 5 times fast.

Today was my first trail race! It was pretty exciting. I was nervous that I might fall and break something because 1) I have the weakest ankles on earth, and 2) I'm super clumsy (did I ever tell you about how I tripped over a tree root in a piggy back race and broke my arm?) Anyways, all that mattered was that I didn't fall and I had a good run.

This was my first small race. I'd say there were probably 300 people total between the tot trot, 1 miler, and 5k. The entry fee was only $20 and the money went towards a great local non-profit that put on the race, A Wider Circle. I'm not sure of my official time (no time chips), but my Nike ipod app said 26 minutes, 20 seconds. I don't even know if the course distance was exact, but it sure was fun (and a little muddy!).

Have you done small local races? It feels good to know that my money went to help someone else in need and that I got a great work-out from it (and let's be honest the free bagels/bananas/granola bars are what I do it for). It seems like most of them are 5k distances. I have a Susan Komen Race for the Cure 5k planned for this summer. Maybe when I'm finished running my first full I'll start training for speed, not distance. Considering I just ate an entire tub of fresh mozzarella and pesto on french bread, I wouldn't bet any money on it :)

p.s. - Government shut-down averted with one hour to spare last night! Thank goodness my trash is still going to be collected (DC isn't really a state, so our basic services use Federal funds and would have been cut-off). For a while though I was legitimately worried that our city was going to stink really bad. Okay, okay, I'm not trying to make light of a serious situation...just a little humor for the day ;)

p.p.s. - Go check out The Studly Runner. She has an awesome giveaway for a medal display for your all your race hardware.

Crunch Time

Have you read SUAR's article about first time marathoners? I didn't think it was possible for me to get more excited about my marathon IN 22 DAYS, but her article did the trick. I am excited and nervous and might pee my pants when I land in Nashville, but it's all good b/c bags fly free on Southwest so I'll just pack extra clothes (as long as they don't fly out a hole in the plane).

I was relieved to see that I've done most of the things on SUAR's list to prepare for my first full. I mean, I realize that running a marathon is not like taking a vocab test freshman year. There is no cramming your training in during your lunch period and expecting to cross the finish line with any dignity. As runners, we actually have to do the opposite of that when we near race day (the dreaded taper).

So this is not crunch time for running, but it is crunch time for all those things that make us better runners: food, sleep, mental confidence, etc. I have been really bad about the sleep part. I stay up way too late doing nothing overly important. That stops today. As for food, I've cut back on sweets, but I haven't been paying enough attention to my calorie count each day. I have to remind myself that just b/c I'm training it doesn't mean I can eat 12,346,378 calories each day...even though I really want to. Plus I need to drink tons more water.

SUAR suggests telling everyone you know about your marathon so that they can keep you accountable...thank goodness I have you all for that every day! :) I'm trying my best to stay focused and confident that I can complete 26.2 miles, even when my hip tries to tell me otherwise. My head is like one of those child-proof pill bottles right now...doubt can't open that sucker even if it had the jaws of life.

Wednesday's work-out was a 4.5 mile run and 20 minutes of strength training. Thursday's run was 5.5 miles. After Wednesday's work-out I was super hungry, and I hadn't done dishes all week so that means I made a gigantic salad and ate it out of a mixing bowl. That baby had lettuce (duh), garbanzo beans, tuna, carrots, tomatoes, onions, cheese, and balsamic vinegar. yumm. Do you think the size of this salad could rival Janae's awesome monster salads??


Huge salad and runner's world magazine. Heck Yes, what a night.
P.S. - I hope Santa can bring me abs like Kara this year for Christmas. How did that woman just have a baby?!?!

 I mentioned some great give-aways last post and here is one more: Megan has a sweet playlist to give away!

p.s. - Thanks for all your awesome comments on my last blog post about "bad" race pics. I'm definitely going to incorporate it into my first give-away. Maybe at 50 followers?? Help a sister out and spread the word if you can :)

Wordless Wednesday...and some giveaways around the blog world.

Do y'all think there is a contest out there for the worst race photos? I would win every time. It doesn't matter that they are hideous. I'll still post them for your enjoyment...plus it makes me think I was working ridiculously hard at the Cherry Blossom 10 miler last weekend :)

Maybe when I get a few more followers I'll make this part of my first give-away. You'll have to send an ugly race picture to be entered for the give-away. Then we could all laugh at with eachother.

I think it's safe to say I can give up on finding a boyfriend at a race...also, what is that guy behind me doing??



friggin' super model right there. watch out victoria secret angels, here I come!



I look like a man.



hahaha. I assure you I was having fun. I was NOT as miserable as this pic portrays!

Speaking of give-aways there are some pretty sweet ones going on right now. You should go visit The Almost Runner and Krista and Julia for a chance to win some cool free stuff.

Three Thing Tuesday

I'm jumping on the tuesday blog bandwagon. I'm sharing three random things about me in hopes that you'll share too b/c I love learning about my fellow bloggers/runners :)

1. I share my birthday (August 21) with the late Wilt Chamberlain. I bet he would have been embarrased at the quality of play in last night's NCAA championship game. Did y'all watch? It was pretty bad.

Do any famous people have the same birthday as you?

2. I think I have bad circulation in my body. My toes are always freezing...like legit little ice cubes. I imagine my future husband will request that I wear socks to bed every night.

3. When I left my parent's house for college I didn't leave much behind. One of my brothers took my room and after they left it was turned into a guest room. Apparently after college graduation I did leave my old crew jacket there. My dad has discovered picture text messaging and likes to send me pictures all the time. This morning it was my cute mom wearing my crew jacket as a rain coat because of the massive storms they are having in Florida right now.

Do you still have a room in your parent's house?



This is blurry Dad - you need a little practice on your picture texts :)

Random Recovery Day.

I don't have anything running related today b/c it was a recovery day, but I do have some walking related things:

I helped an old lady cross the street. Who knew that actually happens in real life?? I felt like I was in a movie when the lady on the corner was like "Are you crossing? Can I walk with you?" and she held my arm. She was a precious little lady.

I walked to work and back and stopped to smell the roses (well more like take this pretty picture):

After work the weather was so nice (felt like summer) that it demanded I be outside. I walked to the park at Logan Circle and read a novel for a half hour before heading home to heat up some left-over chili and cornbread...yumm.

I was thinking today (as I signed up for more races) about some of the best spectator signs I've seen lately. If you've ever held a sign at a race: THANK YOU! They are seriously motivating :)

Recently I've seen:
"Guys love girls with stamina. Can I get your number?"
"Your feet hurt because you're kicking so much ass"
"Run, (insert name here), run!"
"BRUNCH: You're almost there"

What are some of the best signs you've seen?

How (not) to run 23 miles

This weekend was supposed to be my longest run before my first full marathon. Two days ago I was given the opportunity to run the cherry blossom 10 miler here in DC for free (I just have to volunteer at another race) so I decided to use the race as the first half of my long run. My friend Heather had been training for this race for a while now and was unfortunately injured a couple weeks ago. She ended up running the 5k instead and did awesome. I know she'll be back soon to kick a long run in the butt. I decided to dedicate my run to her and made this shirt:

Maybe I should quit lobbying and go into the t-shirt designing business.

So here are the logistics of running all morning:
1. Wake up early and don't make your bed

2. Jog 1 mile to the race start line.
3. Race 10 miles through the cherry blossoms (finished in 1:40:19).
4. Stretch and eat a banana and muffin.
5. Jog 5 miles to the arboretum where you see more cherry blossoms:

6. Take a potty break and take off your ankle braces/switch your socks for dry ones (then put your ankle braces on your arms like wrist guards so you look like a tool).
7. Run 2 miles.
8. Walk 1/2 mile to eat the extra muffin you snagged from the race.
9. Jog 2 miles (don't let that muffin come up).
10. Walk 1/2 mile because you feel like your left hip could actually split in half.
11. Suck up the pain and shuffle/jog/limp your sorry ass home because you're so hungry you could eat your right arm (2 miles).
12. Try to stretch/foam roll your geriatric hip without screaming in pain and worrying your neighbors.
13. Make an enormous amount of chili and cornbread.

14. Take advantage of having your cousin's car for the weekend and take your chili out to the 'burbs (very carefully) to share it with your great-aunt and great-grandma.

15. Relax in bed watching the Academy of Country Music Awards.

Things I learned from this training run that I will change for the full marathon:
1. Don't eat french fries and drink beer the night before.
2. Don't stay up til 11:30 the night before.
3. SPF 90 sunscreen only works if it is sweat-proof.

Oh, and I also had a spa-day with my friend Laura on Saturday. Got my toes done a crazy color:

What a wonderful weekend I had!
1. How was your weekend?
2. If you've done a marathon what was the longest run you did before the race?