marathon 1 is in the books.

it's with hung head and heavy heart that i say this race was miserable.

i wanted it to be good.

and with that i will explain.

1. the course was great, but the weather was ridiculously hot

2. broken knee.

the first half (literally) was not bad. i was slower than my half marathon pace and i knew that was good. i felt strong and ready.

then mile 14 hit. and whamo. knee pain. SON OF BITCH. yes those words happened. BUT no sobbing this time...

i clearly thought about sobbing

but i knew i had to finish. i made a friend and we ran (mostly walked) the rest of it.

i think the st. jude race has it out for me. this was where i ran my first 1/2 marathon and i hit the wall hard at mile 11 then and walked. this race is the throwaway race for me in my book.

so i am taking a week or so off and starting slow. i have a marathon in march and i want to be healthy.

so here's to stretching, yoga (i bought classes...go me), strengthening and the all important having fun.

here is picture from mile 3 where i am having fun...

i actually had a lot of fun this race. it's amazing how nice people are. i am eternally grateful to my support system and all the people that came out to this race.

i promised myself i would finish running.

and then the all important medal finisher picture.

and the most important picture of all...

TWO free beers.

 those beers were followed by many MANY others.

here's to getting the first out of the way and onto running more.

pictures except the last one because that one is mine...

eep.

i am sitting on the floor of my den pondering (mainly stretching) why on earth i signed up for a marathon.

not only that, i've already signed up for another.

there must be something off in my brain.

you know what else is off? my internal clock. it doesn't know what day it is, time it is, when it is appropriate to eat food. nothing.

i think one of the main reasons i signed up to do a marathon was to prove to myself that i could. i run for me. no one else. sure i like when people support me in my running goals, but i don't run to show other people that i a can. i run because i know i can and i like to push. (hence why i finished a 1/2 with a bum knee...)

so now is time to prove to myself that i can do it.

and maybe wrangle a new pair of shoes before, because i still haven't done that yet.... ::head hung::

race results:

yes you are reading that correctly (with a magnifying glass and bifocals of course) that i ran under 8 minute miles. boom.

fine, barely under 8 minute miles. but whatever i lost to a 14 year old (clearly we were in competition...) cousin of one of my friends by 40 seconds. i take it as a win in my book. 

i am also not ashamed to say that i ate my weight in oreos and animal crackers at the end. and didn't drink enough champagne to make france blush. okay, okay you caught me, i did indeed drink enough champagne to make france blush. followed by some good old american (not owned by americans, but still american) coors light.


and if someone wants to buy me this for christmas i will love you forever and we can be best friends. i have only been lusting after it since june...

post thanksgiving, pre marathon.

marathon is in 5 days. AHHHHHHHHHH

i'm not ready. even slighty.

so i'll avoid it for now and post all of these pictures from my awesome week at home.

i did run while at home. and ran a race. boom.

leaving on a jet plane.

my tree with a hamster buried under it. true story.

face time with the old man

watching the sunrise on race day.

free mini cliff bars. best. idea. ever.

a little italian mimosas on thanksgiving.

thanks tasha.

snuggle buddies.

yep. that's mom.

looking pretty with the sil.

totally innocent.

power hour tradition at NMAS

belle sleeps rather bizarrely

puppy sock. leggins as pants. football. mmm saturdays at home

dropping bombs on mom in yahtzee.

sweet old man.

converted mom to ProCompression socks.

memphis is dark at 6am.

up in the clouds.

sunrise on an airplane.

i am taking this week (3 days before i get on a plane to go home again) to think of race strategies.

the winning contender so far: don't die.

solid advice.

wordless saturday.

well almost.

i've been a bad blogger since the last half marathon. over a month. eep.

so here's what i have been up too in picture form...

post disaster 1/2 mimosa party on my couch.

sharing personal space

wine and drawing with the lovely lady below.

taking over my left arm so i can't type

realizing even with a discount italy is expensive

i am a bad person, but i giggle every single time

fall colors in the north georgia mountains

the problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind - humphrey bogart

trader joe's fall flowers compliments of the mom

hair of the dog attempt.

break from atlanta

soothing the soul

forever driving. one tank - destin, atl, birmingham

surprise dinner for mom's birthday was a success

dracula beer coozie

too cool for me with her new mohawk

tag on the tail of my shirt i wore as a dress

the dirty guv'nahs

much deserved nap time

perks of babysitting

keeping my wine and drawing partner company

buying a little art for a good cause

questioning words with friends tactics..

3's across the board in the work truck.

snotty and sobbing.

i had a rough time convincing myself that today was thursday. i laid/lain/layed? in bed for a good 5 minutes contemplating what day of the week it was. legitimately had no idea.

i also have been sleeping later in the mornings because of a self imposed running rest break.

self imposed because of the disaster that was sunday at the Allstate 13.1

saturday mom and i went to the LA Fitness to get my packet. which was the lamest packet pick-up i have ever been too. but whatever.

mom and i watched lsu get clobbered and the georgia get stomped. bad day in our household in the football world.

after downing about 18 gallons of water, i finally convinced myself to go to bed.

this was the first race that i haven't been worried about sleeping late, missing the race, wearing no clothes to the race. typical worries that keep me up the whole night. i slept like a rock until the lovely hour of 445. mmmmm. should have known.

mom and i drove over to where the parking was for the race, walked to dunkin donuts...i had to potty, and failed, and then walked to the race. it wasn't a super big race, but it was just the half and a 5k. a bit of a bizarre combo if you ask me.

the race began in the dark, and it was a bit of an obstacle course. the neighborhood didn't have street lights, so you had to seriously watch out for the speed bumps and tree limbs.

i was falling nicely behind the 1:45 pace group. i knew i probably wouldn't be able to sustain it, but i figured it was a good place to be. the pace felt comfortable and the weather was beautiful.

i crested a hill just as the sun was coming up and it was absolutely spectacular. mile 7.5ish comes along and i feel that familiar tug at my knee. i knew the race was over for me.

so what does a 26 year old do, when she knows her IT band is shot, and she has +/- 6.6 miles to go? well this one sat on the curb and sobbed uncontrollably. SOBBED. i started to walk back, but i couldn't make myself. i wanted to finish. i HAD to finish.

snotty, tear streaked me jumped back in the pack and motored on. and by motored i mean walked/hobbled/jogged the rest of it.

if i had been able to keep my pace i would have finished right about 1:50 or so. a big PR for me. but alas, i didn't.

i ran my heart out the last .5 mile. and cried simultaneously.

not one of my finer moments.

but i must say, runners during a race are the most supportive people ever. EVER.

and it's over.

tomorrow is tentative run day 1.

eep.

sunday is race day.

eep.

but...the weather is supposed to be gorgeous.

perfect race weather if you ask me. and since you are reading this then i am going to pretend that you asked.


i am a bit nervous about this race because i was sick for a bit during training and because i got my first email about packet pickup....yesterday. yep yesterday. okay maybe it was monday and it was in my spam folder, but still. cutting it a bit close if you ask me.

running has actually been going really well lately, so i am excited to race it and not be super worried about the actual running aspect.

i know i can run 13.1 miles. i've done it before, 4 times to be exact. i am going into this course blind. i like it better that way. no scary hill pre-knowledge.

yes this probably isn't the best approach, but that's neither here nor there for to me. i like running just to run.

when i run the full in december i will probably make dad drive the entire course with me, while i rock nervously in the front seat. sounds like a good combo. 26.2 miles is a long way dude, give me a break.

i also get ridiculously nervous before races. even 5ks. don't ask. same thing when i have to take a test, call someone on the phone....awesome opossum.

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