2013 vs. 2012

What a difference a year makes! My parents and I completed our 3rd annual family 1/2 marathon this past weekend, and nearly a year to the date from the 2012 race, the runs couldn't have been more different!

2012 Recap:

My sister, mom, dad, and I run the USA Rock 'N Roll 1/2 Marathon. I hadn't really 'trained' for the race, only running 1 or 2 times a week. I (stupidly) believe that since I had run a 1/2 marathon in 2009 I would be fully prepared (hah!) with or without strict training. I throw-up twice on the course and feel sick the rest of the day. And I run a 2:04:46, 10 minutes slower than my 1st 1/2 marathon (1:54:26).

And after seeing this picture, I realize how chubby I've gotten.

2013 Recap:

My parents and I run the Myrtle Beach 1/2 Marathon. (My sister is currently living in Australia so she couldn't join us, but she's running Brisbane in March!) I've consistently trained for this race, logging at least 20 miles a week with a long run of at least 10 miles. I've started to incorporate speed work and I welcome hills and bad weather as an opportunity to push myself.

Perhaps I have lost weight from running. (see picture above)

The Myrtle Beach course is flat as a pancake, and the 40 degree 6:30am start feels practically balmy after morning runs in the frosty 20 degree NYC temps. Wonders of wonders, I don't have to stop and go to the bathroom (a rare occurrence with my anxious belly), and I feel absolutely GREAT the entire time.

And I run 16 minutes faster than the year before, clocking in at 1:48:35.

Hey, shiny new PR! That's a 6 minute PR from my 1st 1/2 in 2009 and more than a minute/mile faster than the awful race in 2012! I was really proud of my splits- outside of a slow first mile (course review coming soon), I was able to stay fairly consistent from mile to mile, even seeing a slight negative split!

How flat can a course be?

I placed 23rd in my age group (out of 201) based on gun time (really, what race uses gun time?!?), but based on chip time, I placed 21st! That's probably the first and last time I'll place in the top 10%... small town races can be really good for your psyche ;)

Now I'm excited to get to work for my new 'hometown' race... the NYC 1/2 Marathon on March 17th! The NYC course will be VERY different from Myrtle Beach (hello Harlem Hills!), so I'll really have to work to match my pace in Myrtle Beach. Plan of attack to come soon!

P.S. If you noticed... yes I caved and I bought those Lulu shorts. They were sold out in my size online as well as in stores... or so I thought. I was out shopping with my boyfriend and when I noticed a Lululemon across the street from J.Crew, I had to pop in and check! And guess what? They had only 2 pairs of shorts left in the store- and 1 of them was in my size!! And I couldn't leave the store without them after all that talking and searching, could I? ;)

January Recap, February Goals

Well I started 2013 with a great start... and didn't meet my goals. My goals were to run 20 miles a week and attend at least one Jack Rabbit group run. Jack Rabbit, check. 20 miles, not so much. I was doing great until I got sick, which resulted in a week of zero running. To which I say, Boo!

maybe next time, lulu.

I was just going to get those Lulu shorts after all, but wouldn't you know they were sold out everywhere? (unless you're a size 2. really, who wears a size 2?) Now I'll just save my pennies and make February's reward really great!

January by the numbers:

1: Weeks Sick and Jack Rabbit Runs

13: Hours Spent Running

16: Total Runs

23: Spam Comments. Lesson Learned: Don't Title A Post With 'Hungry.'

88.2: Total Miles for the Month

And now for February goals! Just to keep it interesting, one running related goal and one non-running goal:

1. Run a Sub-2 Hr Half Marathon! I'm running the Myrtle Beach 1/2 Marathon on February 16th with my parents, which promises to be warm and flat. If I can run the race like I've been running my long runs lately, breaking 2 hours is very possible!!

2. No ordering from Seamless Web. If you don't live in NYC, I feel sorry for you. Seamless Web is just about the best invention ever-- anytime you're hungry or don't feel like cooking, you can order a delicious meal from thousands of NY restaurants. 10am, 6p, midnight... something will be open and the food will be at your door in approximately 30 minutes. And on busy nights when I don't have the energy to dump pasta in a pot, I find myself leaning on Seamless Web. I took a look at my orders for January, and I was SHOCKED. I ordered from Seamless 5 times during the month for a total of... drumroll please... $104.18!!! Granted, a few of the orders were split with my boyfriend, but still. That's the equivalent of 2 weeks worth of grocery shopping. Or a pair of shorts and short sleeve top (give or take a few bucks) from Lulu. Dang, Allie!

No Seamless February is in full effect! I'm going grocery shopping today, and I'm planning on picking up a few frozen items that I can pop in the microwave if I get desperate--- I also don't want to rely on frozen foods for February, because that's not healthy either, but just want to have 2 or 3 backup items for the nights when I really have no motivation.

February, here we come! And the groundhog didn't see his shadow yesterday, so hopefully we'll have some more warm temps to look forward to :) What are your February goals?

Just Do It Already

Today I faced my fears and joined a Jack Rabbit group run. I signed up for their Resolve 2013 program and one of my January goals was to attend at least one event. Solo. Terrifying. But I decided this weekend it was time to just do it already and the 9am Upper East Side run looked like a great fit- the schedule said it would be 7-10 miles and for runners with a pace of 9 minutes and faster. Easy peasy.

I went to bed early last night, woke up in plenty of time to get to the store, but found myself more nervous than the morning of the Philly marathon. I was second-guessing my decision, thinking thoughts like: what if everyone else is best friends and I'm the only one who doesn't know anyone? What if they're all faster than me? What if I can't keep up? Ah!

But as I ran from the subway to the Jack Rabbit store this morning (of course there were major delays on the 4,5,6!), I forced myself to think logically: Runners are generally nice people and my Garmin tells me I've consistently run under a 9 min pace for 10+ miles for the past 2 months. All I needed was some confidence.

And then I walked into the store.

I was one of the last people to get there and everyone was already paired off, chatting as if they had known each other for years. Fear realized, strike 1. I then looked around and realized I was the ONLY person wearing a fuel belt. I felt like a kindergartner trying to fit in with high schoolers. Strike 2. My confidence was waning.

We started running towards Central Park and I immediately thought I was sprinting. I fell to the back of the pack, and even though mile one clocked in at 8:34, I was struggling to keep up. Strike 3. This was not looking good. At this point my confidence was totally shot and I started toying with the idea of just fading into the other Central Park runners to finish the run on my own.

We headed towards the north Harlem Hills, and that's when magic happened.

I powered up those hills, passing half the group in the process, and started to feel like maybe I could hang. My Garmin beeped and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw my 2nd mile split- 8:09. My confidence returned and I settled in for the rest of the run. Everyone's pace evened up, and I ended up running in the middle of the pack for the rest of the run.

It was a hard run-- there were some tough hills and a SUPER strong headwind along the Hudson River, but I ended the run smiling. It was a great experience and I'm definitely planning on going to more events. I learned I should probably listen to my logical side a bit more-- even though I started out shaky, I was more than capable of running with the group, I met some really great people in the process, and now I'm one step closer to meeting my January goal! (and getting those cute Lulu shorts! ;))

My splits:

The miles in the 9s were on city streets, where the Garmin always has trouble keeping a strong signal!

Total miles for the week: 25.7!

On Goals

Presented By Chick-Fil-A... I'm feeling good about this race!

I'm officially signed up for my first race of the year! My parents and I are going to run the Myrtle Beach Half Marathon on February 16th. We were originally supposed to run Hilton Head, but the weekend ended up not being great, so the beach it is! I'm excited to go back down south... hopefully it's not too warm out!

This will be the 3rd half marathon we've done as a family- in 2011, my mom, brother, and sister ran the Nashville Country Music Half- my dad and I were sidelined with injuries so we sat out until 2012, when my mom, dad, sister, and I ran the DC SunTrust Rock & Roll USA Half. None of us are what you'd describe as 'runners,' but it's a fun way to get together and stay in shape as a family!

Short sleeves in January? I'll take it!

As for goals, I'm really hoping to break 2 hours. I ran my first half-marathon in 2009 and got my 'PR' of 1:54:38-- since then, I haven't been able to break 2 hours. I ran 11 miles in 1:39 this Saturday (plus another 1.5 without my Garmin), so that puts me right under the illusive 2 hours if I can maintain the pace for the last two miles!

As for another goal? We're roughly halfway through January, and I'm keeping up with my goal of 20 miles a week, but I'm still so nervous about going to a Jack Rabbit run by myself! I'm thinking this weekend I just need to man up and do it. And if I do, I'm buying myself these snazzy little shorts as a reward:

Sadly, all the normal girl sizes are sold out online. Thank goodness most girls in NYC wear the smaller sizes, so the normal ones will hopefully be in store!

Here's to pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone and going for goals!