I'm a Star

Sunday was my last ever day at my TV station. It was a little sad.

The awesome part, however, was that our relay team was on the news!

Here is the video... our relay story is at 1:37.



Sweet, right? :)

And here is a fabulously-cheesy screen-shot of my teammate and I high-fiving...



2 days til I move. I'm so excited!!

Rockford Marathon Race Report

(If you stumbled on my blog looking for race results, go here. If you're looking for photos, go here. Or you could just stop and stay for a while!)

Today, I ran in my first marathon.

I won't make you wait... I'll just get right to the good part:

I completed my 6.27 miles in 59:03.

That's a personal-record pace of 9:25.

I'm in total disbelief. After reviewing my recent runs and races, I was aiming for a 10:25 pace. So this blew me away. Granted, my last 5K was run in a 9:26 pace, but this was twice as far!

So overall, I'm thrilled.

Here are a few photos and a rough rundown of the day...

The race went off with a bang at 7 am. It was a BRISK 39 degrees outside.



Our sports reporter was there capturing the action.



After the race started, I wasn't sure what to do with myself. I walked over to my relay start, but no one was there. So... I went home. It was only a 10 minute walk back to my apartment. I warmed up inside, drank some water, and watched some "Property Virgins" haha.

Around 8, I meandered back towards the race. Our 2nd relay runner came in around 1:55. We high-fived and I was on my way.

About 2 miles in, I thought to myself, "I'm way too tired. I'm probably going too fast." I don't know my mile splits, because I started my race somewhere around 13.5 miles.

Around 4 miles, my hip started aching. Fortunately, it never got so bad that I had to slow down.

At 5 miles, we started heading up hill. It was really tough. I saw some extremely strong runners slow to a walk under the hilly conditions. But I kept chugging along and would NOT allow myself to walk.

I neared our final relay checkpoint, and I was feeling pretty decent. I was able to give it a good push up the final hill and enjoyed a large cheering audience. I high-fived our final runner, and she was off.

I felt good, but hungry. We drove back to the finish line, and I scarfed down a bagel and some chips.

At 3:48, our anchor crossed the finish line.



One thing I'm dissapointed about is that the marathon and HM runners all got medals, but the relay runners did not. Boo that.

We checked our final time on a nearby computer, and found a big surprise. It said we finished in 1:10! That's right... under 3 minute miles haha.

I guess what happened was our 2nd runner got lost along his route and ended up CROSSING the finish line before he even hit mile 12. Well, he was wearing his chip, and it must've registered that we finished our race. Woops!

Oh well... no harm done. Someone else must've made the same mistake, because it said we got 2nd place overall. I just don't want anyone to think that the local news team tried to cheat!



I got a little sunburnt. I know I should've worn sunscreen, but when it's 35 degrees and you can't feel your fingers, slathering on sunscreen is the last thing on your mind.

Thanks for everyone's support recently. I feel really great about my race and especially my time. Even though 6.27 isn't an official race distance, I'm going count this as a big fat PR! Now that I've done this, I look forward to signing up for my first 10K.

Happy Anniversary

An exerpt from my very first blog entry:

Well, to explain how I got here, I need to explain where I started... which was more recently than it seems.

Our city held a marathon about a month back. What's funny is I wasn't even awake for it. I think I slept until 1pm that day. But, when you work at a news station, these things tend to come up. One of our reporters even ran with a relay team.

So it got me to thinking. I've always had it in the back of my head that I wanted to run a marathon some day. But I always thought of it in a 'distant future' sort of way.

It was that VERY moment that inspired me to get off my butt and start running again.

And here I am... one year later, and I'm going to run in that EXACT marathon tomorrow. If you had told my 2008 self I'd be doing this, I would have laughed in your face.

So tomorrow's race is sort of a big deal for me. It's my 1 year training anniversary. Yay!

I'm nervous about tomorrow. It's supposed to be chilly (40 degrees), so I'm not sure what to wear. Because of the relay, I can't leave any clothing at the beginning of my leg, cause I won't be back there. So what do I wear that allows me to stand around for 2 hours waiting, but still allows me to run 6+ miles?

Our Sports Director, Pat, talked about the marathon last night during the news. The Director made a funny graphic using all our heads and hot runner bodies (except mine... that is TOTALLY my stomach!).



Here is a link to the whole video on our website. I'm about 2:28 into it.

I won't have my photographer (my mom) at the race, so I'll try to bring my camera with.

First marathon experience... WOO! (dear God, help me.)

Only 7 Days Left

Our family dinner when well. I got my mom a bike helmet for her birthday. We (I) then drank WAY too much wine, and apparently I was modeling the helmet during the car ride home.



Oh dear.

After a fun weekend, I returned to the packing grind.

Only 7 days til I move out. This is what my living room looks like now...



Who knew I had SO much junk?! And I'm not even done packing yet!

The good news is I got all the logistical matters taken care of. I have my UHaul reserved, my utilities transferred, my cable and internet transferred, and my apartment all ready to move in to.

Time to take a breather and concentrate on Sunday's race. I ran a quick 2 miles today as a mini-taper. I'm gonna stay off my feet for the next three days so my joints can rest before the big day.

My goal for Sunday? To finish without walking. It's hard for me to pick a time, because I am still unsure how far I'll be running. The marathon organizers have now told me THREE different distances ranging between 6-6.5 miles. That's a pretty big difference. Hopefully we can sort all this out before I cross the start line!

A Bloody Good Run

I hadn't run since last Wednesday. With these longer-than-usual runs every week, it's been taking me longer than usual in between to recover.

So yesterday morning, I ran 6 miles. Every time I add more distance to my run, I get increasingly nervous that I might not finish.

Well, it turned out to be an extremely difficult run, mentally. It was warm and windy. At my 3-mile turnaround, my hip began to hurt. Each mile went slower than the previous. I REALLY wanted to stop. I wouldn't even allow myself to stop for water because I didn't think I would be able to coerce myself to start up again.

But I pushed through. I've become pretty good at that over the past year. Walking is no longer an option. Ever.

And it's a good thing I finished, because my time was an impressive 1:03. To put that into perspective, I finished last week's run (1/2 a mile shorter) a minute SLOWER. I would like to say again that I am a crazy unpredictable runner!

So I'm happy with my time, and I'm feeling less anxious about next week's race. I'll try to get in a 6.5 mile run this week, but I won't freak out if I don't.

As for my issue from last week, I used a large square bandaid that seemed to work well. So my mole held up through all 6 miles...

... but my toe did not.



Ewwwwww!

_________________________

On a different note, happy belated Mothers Day everyone! It was actually my parents' anniversary yesterday too, so yay for that!

We're doing a family dinner in Chicago tonight in honor of Mothers Day and my mom's birthday last week. Then I'm doing lunch with my grandparents tomorrow, followed by a dentist appointment (bleh) with my uncle. Overall, LOTS of family time!

Even Body Glide Can't Help Me Now

Thanks for all of your new-job well-wishes! Now that all the official business stuff is over, I'm getting really excited for my move. I'm trying to strike a balance between packing up all my junk, and continuing to train for my race.

I was scheduled for a 5 1/2 mile run yesterday. It was supposed to rain, but I said, "I will not allow the rain to be an excuse." So I set my alarm for 9 am.

I woke up and I was pretty sore from all the packing and box-lifting I did the day before. But I said, "I will not allow my soreness to be an excuse." So I got dressed and headed out.

About 2 miles in, my sports bra was chafing again. UGH. I looked at my stomach to assess the damage, and I was bleeding. Now, this is going to sound odd and possibly gross... but my sports bra was rubbing a small mole on my ribcage. I have no idea why after a year of running, this is just NOW becoming an issue.

It hurt pretty bad. I thought about stopping or walking or turning back. But I knew if I didn't do this 5 1/2 miles now, it would put a serious damper on my training progress.

So I kept running. And for the final 3 MILES, I ran while holding my sports bra away from my ribcage. I bet people who saw me thought I was totally crazy.

But I finished. I finished 5 1/2 miles, which is my longest distance yet. I came in at a respectable 64 minutes (considering all my hinderances).

So as for all your body glide suggestions... I laugh at them. Because I don't think even Body Glide can tackle this one. I have my marathon relay in less than 2 weeks, so I'd like to figure out something before then. I fear a bandaid may make the situation worse. Any thoughts?

To make matters worse, I just found out that I'm actually running 6 and a HALF miles during the race instead of just 6. What's a measly half mile, right? ...RIGHT?!

I Can Finally Breathe (For Now)

Smackdown

Ryan bowled...



Kelly bowled...



Note the final scores...



Enough said.

Interviews

I don't want to go into too much detail until I hear back from the stations, but they both seemed to go well.

Since this was my only chance to get out there before I would need to move there, my Mom and I took the opportunity to look at apartments and drive around town.

It was an extremely long 2 days.

4 hours driving
4 hours of sleep
3 apartment complexes
1 1/2 hour interview
2 more apartment complexes
1/2 hour interview
4 hours driving

By the end, we were exhausted. I'm crossing my fingers for these jobs, but I know even if I don't get them, something else will come along. The recent interest in me has definitely peaked my confidence.

Training

This is what I'm supposed to be writing about, right? I had a bad 1 1/2 weeks due to Ryan being here, and then me being gone. I've been short on time. I've been out of food for days now. But instead of going grocery shopping this morning, I went running like a good little marathoner.

I ran 4 miles a week ago and nothing since then, so I was nervous to amp it up to 5 all of a sudden.

But my 5 miles went swimmingly. It was 54 degrees with no sun and a little wind. I've only ran 5 miles ONCE before, and it was over a month ago. I was very happy to come in having knocked a whopping 1:10 off last month's 5-mile pace. That's over 5 minutes off! Nice.

2 1/2 weeks until the marathon. It's an important day for me, but I'll explain that more later. I'm actually starting to feel like I just might do this!

I Swear I'm Not Dead

- Ryan was here for 5 days (3 of which I had to work). We tried out some new restaurants, I kicked his butt in bowling, and we watched our local hockey team lose the final game of the season.

- After being contacted about a job in Indiana, I was then contacted about a job in Las Vegas. I had a phone interview with Indiana today, and I have a phone interview with Vegas tomorrow.

- Today's phone interview went so well that they asked me to come in for a real interview. My mom and I will drive out there tonight.

- It has been hot here (seriously... I'm sweating as I sit here typing this), yet seriously rainy and windy. Not very good workout weather.

- I'm not ashamed to admit that I only worked out once last week. I had a 5-miler on schedule for tomorrow, but it looks like that may not happen.

- Only 3 weeks until the marathon. I never did sign up for my triathlon (June 7th), because the day I went to sign up for it, I was contacted about 2 jobs. So we'll see how these pan out first.

- I'll be back and blogging (with photos from last week and Ryan's bowling smackdown) by Wednesday or Thursday.

Have a good week!

This Really IS a Horrible Idea

I don't know what I was thinking... but I just agreed to be on a marathon relay team. Yes, me: the girl who has never run more than 5 miles. The girl who never even WATCHED a marathon, much less thought about participating in one.

I'll give you a moment to let all that sink in.



I was asked to join three of my coworkers (who are all on-air). They wanted to form a station team so they could promote it on our news beforehand.

1/4 of a marathon is about 6 1/2 miles. The race is 5 1/2 weeks from now. Phew. Looks like I need to start running more. Like... NOW.