Monday, February 28, 2011

I DID IT!!!

I can't believe the day has finally come when I'm coming on here and telling the world that I DID IT!!!!

I'm back home now and exhausted, bloated, and sore. I need to look through my pictures which unfortunately are pretty lame-o as they are all pretty blurry since I didn't stop along the way to get good shots! I hope to write a nice little report today. But right now I'm just sitting on the couch squeezing my little boy who I haven't seen in three days!

Thank you ALL who have read this little blog along the way. It's pretty boring so the support you've given me is even more appreciated!!! XOXOXO

I will "Hurry Baa-aaaack" (Haunted Mansion, duh!)

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Getting close!

Tuesday I had a pretty good short run. My friend came over and watched Lauren so I could do the run. It was really cold and windy but not nearly as bad as the wind from over the weekend. I ran the 4 miles pretty fast (well, fast for me). I'm hoping to get in a run today and then I leave tomorrow at 6:45 am for Disney!!

I can't believe it's almost here! I'm so incredibly nervous. I'm scared that I won't be able to finish. I have been promised by so many that 10 miles as my longest is plenty to be able to complete the half. I have to remind myself that I'm doing this for fun, for me, and NOT for some crazy finish time.

I woke up this morning with a little bit of a cold. Perfect. I am hunting down my Zicam and will be shoveling that down my throat through Sunday. I have to pack today too. I'm planning on just bringing a backpack and telling myself over the weekend that I MUST just relax and not go to crazy trying to get on all the rides. Maybe I should just hang by the pool for a while? But how often will I be able to stroll around Disney by myself and go on ANYTHING I WANT?!?!

Need to relax. It's a half marathon. I can totally do this. I will do this. I just need to stop thinking about it so much and psyching myself out. I'll be around thousands of women who will be finishing as well. Push it! Get that medal! Woot!!!!

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Major bummer of a last long run :(

GAAAAAHHH! I planned on running 10 miles yesterday as my last long run before the big race. I walked out the door and the wind was CRAZY! I figured that it would just make me tougher and I still headed out. Holy jeez the wind was insane and according to the news the gusts were around 40 mph. My hat kept blowing off and I just couldn't seem to move forward! I made it to the park but needed to turn around. There was so much stuff flying around like garbage cans and dirt and dust. YUCK!

I made it only a little under 7 miles. I was really disappointed. I've done only 2 10 mile runs so I'm hoping that's enough to get me to the finish line. I'm telling myself that the almost 7 I did yesterday was the equivalent to running alot more since it was SO hard to run. I usually don't stop to walk but I needed to stop 3 different times yesterday which made my pace something like 13 min/miles.

Wah, I'm a little bummed. But, one week from today I'll be running my race! Wow!!! Now or never baby!!

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The weather is playing games with me!

Monday was gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous! My friend's daughter was supposed to come over to watch Thomas so I could run but she wound up going home from school sick with a cold. Ick.  It was so nice that day so I figured I would just take Thomas out in the jogger. Mistake! I took him in the jogger and made it half a mile down to Maritime College before I had to turn back.  The wind was insane! I could barely control the stroller. Bummer.

Yesterday John had meetings in the city so he was able to get home by 4pm which was great! I left him with Thomas and went out and ran as soon as he got home.  I did my usual 4 mile short run and unfortunately I felt like poo the whole time. Still, I wound up finishing it pretty strong. And when I looked at my MapMyRun app I saw that I completed with with a 9:55 min/mile pace! Wow! Hey, for me that's pretty fast! My long runs tend to be at a 11-12 min/mile pace so it was nice to see an improvement in SOMETHING after all this running!

Tomorrow I hope to get out and do another 4 miler.  My friend is supposed to come up and visit and I might pawn Thomas off on her for about an hour. And this weekend I'm going to do one last 10 mile run before next week's 13.1!!

It's getting so close! Time to start thinking about what I'm going to pack! I'm hoping to make it down for the weekend with just a backpack. I think I can do it! I'm not planning on wearing any sort of  costume. That's just not me. I'll wear my usual running clothes. My goal is to finish this thing - I don't give a hoot about how I'll look doing it! Haha!!

Sunday, February 13, 2011

T-minus Two Weeks!!

Two weeks from today it'll all be over! I can't believe it's so close! Yesterday I ran an 8 miler. It started off really cold but I felt pretty good! It was nice to for ONCE  not feel like stopping as soon as I started. I ran pretty well and wound up finishing the 8 miles in a little less than an 11 min/mile. That gives me plenty of time to finish within the time limit! Sure, I'm not breaking any records but I'm ok with that.

I'm a little nervous about the fact that the longest run I've ever done has been 10 miles. That's not a whole lot. "They" say that the adrenaline will get you the last 3.1 miles and I'm hoping that's right because after I finished 8 miles I was exhausted and couldn't imagine doing another 5 miles. I am planning on running 10 miles next weekend and then the next weekend will be race weekend! It means I won't be doing any tapering but I think that that's more important for the full marathon anyway.  I really feel like seeing all those people running this race with me will keep me going. That, and my iPhone. Lol! My iPhone is what I use to play music and also has an app on it that tells me how far I've run. I might use that app during the race. I will obviously know how far I'm running but since I've been running with that app for so long that it might be nice to hear it tell me how far I've gone and how long I've been running.

Tomorrow is a short run. Looks like it's supposed to be a little warmer this week! Hurray!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

good LORD it's cold!

This morning it wasn't that cold. In fact, when I put Thomas down for a nap it was probably in the mid to high 30s (sad that that's what I consider not cold nowadays). My friend's daughter came over after school to watch Thomas so I could get out and run. Before she came I ran outside (you have to go outside my house to get to my basement) to do some laundry and the wind was howling and COLD! Gah! Why couldn't it have stayed warmer just little bit longer??

I headed out and it was really cold and windy.  By the time I was under the Throgs Neck Bridge over at Maritime it was FREEZING! The wind was gusting so strongly that I was practically sprinting against the wind and going absolutely nowhere. Doing three laps of that SUCKED! But hey, it's done.

But was REALLY pissed me off was my iMapMyRun app decided to crap out on me. I use it to time myself and figure out how far I ran. I got back to my house and hit Save to stop the run and it said I only ran .8 miles. WHAT?? Nope, sorry, I did more than that!

Workout: ~4 miles
Times:~45 minutes
Next up: Need to get another 4 miler in sometime this week. Looking at the schedule, I might not be able to do it until Friday
Next long run: Sunday 8 miles. Be there or be square.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Bib #8103!!

It's almost here!! I got my bib number today! 8103. Sounds as good as any number to me! I think the number of runners is somewhere around 14,000 so I'm guessing that I'm not in the last corral. Sure, it may be second to last but I like the idea of not being last. The sweepers who stop runners who are going to slow frighten me. I really don't want to get swept! They are sweeping if you don't maintain a 16 min/mile pace. I have been running (ok, it's not running, it's more like something between a jog and a walk...a wog) at about a 11:30 min/mile but I like the extra time cushion in case disaster strikes and I need a bathroom break or need to walk more or, hey, I just HAVE to get that picture with Chip and Dale.

Yesterday I ran 6 miles. I actually ran into (literally, lol) one of the moms from Mommy & Me class who runs as well. I had been running for about 30 min already and we ran together for about 20 minutes.  I have to admit, it was awful. Don't get me wrong, I love this woman. LOVE! But she is so darn fast and SOOOO darn in shape! My legs felt like lead and I just know she was running so much slower than she normally does. After a while we split up since she lives a bit away from me and I finished up my 6 miles. It was really bad. I felt really crappy. I am still struggling with eating and drinking way too much lately (after Disney I pretty much haven't stopped) and it's making the runs pretty rough.

I'm hoping the weather holds out this week as there has been talk of even more snow. I would like to run 8 miles as my next long run next weekend. Then after that I'll run 10 miles and then after that is the big half marathon!!!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

damn this snow!

so yes, i did go out and run after that last post. i did not, however, do a long run the day before we left for disney. the high that day was 19 degrees and i just couldn't get a long one in. i only did about 2.3 miles as i was totally freezing. i wound up not running AT ALL during our trip to disney. and you know what? i'm ok with that. we had a GREAT time. i ate and drank like a piggy but it was so fun!

i got in 4 miles yesterday and froze my butt off. i did ok with it and felt alright. but this snow is just out of control. it is more like ice-raining right now and it looks like i won't be able to get out tomorrow like i had hoped. it's supposed to snow all day. they will probably close the schools too. blah.

the race is getting closer and closer! i had originally hoped to do a 13 mile training run but it doesn't look like i'll get that high up. i think that's ok though as many training plans only have you go up to 10 miles anyway.

i have to go back to drinking my hot chocolate. it's cold out!