Half Marathon No. 6

As I have done after having all my babies, I signed up for a half marathon race to force myself to bounce back quickly. 3 weeks after baby #4, I set out for an easy 1-2 mile run. I ended up running 3 miles at a 9:35 pace because I felt great! (Perk to running throughout my pregnancy) I set a goal to run my half marathon at an 8:30 pace knowing that would be stretching my capabilities since the race was 6 months post baby.

This time training, I particularly struggled with pushing myself past 3 miles; I was content to stay at that distance. As I started adding on the miles, my speed wasn't improving very much at all. 2 months out from the race, I was running 8:55 miles for my long runs. I reluctantly admitted to myself that an 8:30 pace wasn't an attainable goal and 8:45 was more realistic, though it made me really sad.

I continued to trust the training process and push myself on my speed days (Tuesdays). Week by week, I started shaving off time pretty dramatically. I was afraid to be too hopeful. 3 weeks out from the race, I ran the whole 13.1 miles to gauge how I would perform for the race and I ran it at an 8:23 pace! I hoped to perform as well or better on race day.

There is so much anxiety leading up to the race...will I eat the right food the night before that settles well? Will I experience some unexpected cramping? Will I injure myself? Will the weather be right? etc. All the stars aligned, and I was able to have a terrific run! My finishing time was 1:49:32 or an 8:21 pace. I finished #27 in my age group (30-35) and #136 overall (out of 1800 runners). My Personal Record is 1:48:05 in 2012 when I was 5 weeks pregnant with Bryson. Fastest mile was the last at 7:45 and slowest mile was 8:35.

Most annoying part of the race: My shoe came untied at mile 5, again at mile 8, and again at mile 12. I just left it untied at that point because I didn't have the energy to bend down and stand back up again!

The thing I regret most about the race: what I wore! I planned to wear shorts and a running shirt when the temperature was predicted to be 54-57 degrees. Throughout the week, the predicted temperature kept dropping. When I saw that the morning was going to start around 45 degrees, I wore long pants and a jacket that I knew I would remove. I should have stuck with my original plan and toughed out the pre-race waiting in the cold.

2 Tender Mercies: #1 Austin slept through the night for the first time the night before the race. He typically will wake up once per night around 4 am. I knew if he did that that I would have a difficult time going back to bed for an hour with pre-race jitters. At 5 am, I went up to wake him and feed him. He was laying in his bed awake playing with his stuffed giraffe! I was so grateful for the uninterrupted sleep!
#2 I didn't have to stop during the race for bathroom troubles that I typically have. When I run long distances, it just tends to get my digestive system a movin' and a groovin'!

It was so fun to see my parents at the race and have their support. They were waiting at the finish line, but I also saw them at the last half mile. I was already giving everything I had at that point in the race; when I saw them, I had the energy to give a little more! Matt + boys got there just after I crossed the finish line, but I was grateful to have them there as well.

I love running! I love the way it makes me feel, I love the challenge of pushing myself to improve, and I love seeing what the body can accomplish. What an amazing feat to be so close to my PR 6 months after having a baby!! I was super proud of what I accomplished. :)

Past races:
Half Marathon #1 (2009) 1:58:45
Half Marathon #2 (2010) 1:57:47 (8 months post baby)
Half Marathon #3 (2011) 1:52:13
Half Marathon #4 (2012) 1:48:05
Half Marathon #5 (2013) 1:54:18 (4 months post baby)
Half Marathon #6 (2016) 1:49:32 (6 months post baby)

Marathon #1 (2011) 4:28:34
Marathon #2 (2014) 3:58:08

*Just as a side-note, it is so tricky to work breastfeeding in before and after running a race!

Random

Mr. Chunkers at 5 months

He's a pro at sitting up now, so we figured it's about time we start feeding him in his high chair. In the high chair for the first time. (The Cheerios were more of a way to distract him while I was trying to feed him. He's not quite ready for those yet.)

Such a big boy. He had to go potty during quiet time, so he went by himself and then got dressed again afterwards too. Finding the right holes to put your legs in is tricky though. (Both legs are in one of the leg holes.) You can't tell in the picture, but his pants are on backwards as well. I have no idea how that was comfortable, let alone how he managed to fall asleep.

Caleb loves blueberries, especially if they're frozen. He would eat them all day long if he could. He quickly ate me out of stock of the blueberries that we picked at the Blueberry Farm (I went twice and picked a lot!). I'm afraid his cuticles and skin around the nails are going to permanently be dyed purple!

And finally I feel like I'm back up to speed with my running abilities prior to baby Carter. I ran 9 miles yesterday at a 9-min. mile pace. I have a half marathon in Nov. and my goal is to beat my time of my last race in April of '09. I'm experiencing lots of knee popping this time around as well as the arch of my right foot constantly sore. It feels good to be back in shape again though.

Signing Up

I have found a half marathon on a Saturday in November in Galveston and a marathon on a Saturday in January in Kingwood. Anyone interested in signing up with me? I'm also thinking about doing a training program this time around with Woodlands Fit that starts in a few weeks. If you live in this area, let me know if you want more details!

Life Goes On

I've heard friends from church talk about blackberry, blueberry, strawberry, and peach picking in this area, but we've never gone and taken advantage of this fun and yummy opportunity. This past weekend we decided to brave the heat with two kids in tow and go blueberry picking. We had so much fun! We were all sweaty and tired by the end, but Caleb was a great helper. He would add a blueberry into the bucket, while simultaneously pulling two out of the bucket to eat. He ate a ton of blueberries and really enjoyed the experience. I just barely had fresh blueberries for the first time in my life a few months ago and quite liked them. I've enjoyed experimenting with some new blueberry recipes. The only one I've tried so far is a blueberry cobbler, but I was surprised with how yummy it was. I've also enjoyed fresh blueberries in my fruit smoothies in the morning. I can't wait to try blueberry pancakes (never had them), blueberry coffee cake, and homemade blueberry muffins. We're definitely going to be better about taking advantage of more fresh fruit picking in the future.



I've also started up running again. Since we don't have a double stroller yet (no point since Carter can't sit up), I've had to start running at night. I enjoy running best on an empty stomach, so it's definitely not what I'm used to. If I'm feeling overly full from dinner then I'll end up rollerblading instead. My sister has a double running stroller, so when she's available to run, I'm able to run in the mornings with her (we have our two toddler boys in the double which is 60 pounds of boys plus stroller and Carter in my walking stroller). I started running again 5 weeks after Carter was born, and it was not fun starting up again from scratch. I undertstand now why people say they hate running. It definitely felt like a chore. I've run 3 miles consistently every other day, but I have struggled to push myself to run further or faster. I finally pushed through and ran 4 miles this last Saturday, and tonight I did a two-mile "sprint" as it was getting dark and was able to average 8.5 minute miles. It felt great, so hopefully I'm at a break-through point and will be able to start adding on the miles and get to the point where I enjoy going out and running again. Even with starting up running again, I have not been able to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I have just under 10 pounds that refuse to come off. I hope it doesn't continue to get harder with each child.


Since January, my sister, a friend, and I have been doing a rotating preschool with our boys. It's my month to teach, so I've been busy with that and learning the delicate balance of teaching 3 toddlers with a 2 1/2-month-old baby. The theme I chose for the month is nursery rhymes/fairy tales, and we've been having a blast reading fun books and doing fun crafts.



And finally, here's my chunky monkey sporting his Alaska onesie that my parents bought him on their vacation to Alaska. He's growing bigger before our eyes (maybe fatter is the more appropriate word), but we love having him in our family. As of tonight, he weighed 16.5 lbs. and he's 2 1/2 months old. He sleeps better at night than my almost 3-year old. Carter goes to bed at 8 pm and is only waking up once a night now usually around 5:30 am. This is definitely manageable, and I'm a better and happier mom when I have some consecutive hours of sleep! Because he's such a good baby, I'm worried that he's going to spoil it for the rest of my babies. My expectations are high now! We're able to get out and do fun things during the day for Caleb now too like we used to before Carter came along. We'll go rollerblading as a family once or twice a week...Matt pushing Caleb and me pushing Carter. We're loving being a family of 4!

A Pat on the Back

My sister and I are still running in this beastly weather right now, and I got my FASTEST time ever this morning! We run/walk a 4 mile stretch every day, but only time ourselves for 1 mile of it since the mile is actually marked out in a forest in her neighborhood. This morning I ran it in 6:24!

I also had my best couponing grocery trip ever yesterday. I spent $35 and saved $47. For the experienced couponers out there, this is probably not a big deal, but this is the first time I saved over 50%. Wahoo!

Mission Accomplished

I set the goal to train for a half marathon at the end of December, but it was more wishful thinking than anything else. I gave up the idea of running an actual race pretty quickly when I couldn't find a half marathon that was close by (within an hour). Running has always been something I've forced myself to do to stay in shape and to try to control weight gain, but never something I was passionate about. I have run 3 miles three times a week pretty faithfully since high school. Running anything beyond those 3 miles wasn't something I even ever considered, so each Saturday during my training when I did my long runs, every additional mile I added on was an amazing feat for me.


My awesome friend, Stacie, found a half marathon that was only 90 minutes away. I figured that was doable, and so I now had a deadline for my training: April 11th, which helped to keep me focused. Starting out in my training, I averaged 10 minute miles whenever I ran distance. After 2 months of training, I still hadn't improved that average by much on my Saturday runs (9:45), so I was getting a bit frustrated. Then I decided that during my weekday runs, I was going to start doing some sprinting to work on my speed. I did mostly 1 mile sprints (running at the fastest speed I could push myself for the duration of the mile), but I did run a couple of 2 mile sprints as well. It was amazing to me how I would feel like there was no way I could run any faster one week, and then be able to shave a substantial amount of time off the next week I ran. The fastest mile I ever ran before my training was a 7:04 mile in 7th grade. I never thought I could beat that time, but last week I ran my fastest mile ever at a 6:28 (with Caleb in the stroller).


Thanks to the sprinting, I started to notice that I finally was able to improve my speed during my distance runs. A month ago, I ran 13 miles in my training at 2 hours and 3 minutes (just under a 9:30 mile), so my goal for the actual race was to run the 13.1 miles under 2 hours. In setting this goal, I knew it would be a stretch to actually achieve it. Perhaps it was the energy that comes from running with other people or the great new music Matt downloaded on our ipod for me, but I achieved my "mission" and ran the race in 1:58:45, which is pretty close to a 9-minute mile.


The race site was in Groveton, Texas, and we were up at 4:30 in the morning to allow plenty of time to get there and get checked in etc. We didn't check the weather for the day of the race beforehand and just assumed it would be like the previous day, which got up to the 80s. Imagine our surprise when our car read the temperature at 50 degrees. I was not dressed for the weather at all, but thankfully the race fee included a long-sleeved t-shirt! It did warm up to 55 degrees, but I was so cold for the first couple of miles!

Before the race

Beautiful sunrise!

The starting line. All the serious runners are at the front. I was somewhere mixed up in the middle.

We started and ended the race at a highschool track. Here's me at the last .1 mile of the race. I was so excited to see Matt and Caleb at this point and it gave me the extra boost I needed to sprint faster than I already had been for the last .5 mile.

In my training, whenever I ran past 10 miles, my knees hurt so bad, and I felt weak and dizzy. I definitely had nothing extra to give at the end. I was amazed that during the actual race, I felt great right up through the end of the race. I was able to pick up my pace for the last 2 miles and started working towards a sprint during the last 1/2 mile. A girl that I passed in the last 1/2 mile came up and told me how impressed she was with my strong finish. Matt quickly jumped in to brag that it was my first race and the girl was shocked. She's run 3 half marathons and congratulated me for doing so well on the first one.

This whole experience was so invigorating and just so amazing to me that I could actually do this! I really appreciate Matt's support throughout this goal. He watched Caleb Saturday mornings so that I could run without the stroller, which means he oftentimes gave up his Saturday morning football. Getting up early and driving to and from Groveton was a huge sacrifice as well, but I so appreciated having him and Caleb there for support! I'm really grateful that one of my college roommates, Laura, started getting into half marathons and marathons because that's what inspired me to do this! I don't know if marathons are in my future, but I definitely would like to do a few more half marathons...

Some Good News

I am signed up to run a half marathon on April 11, and I am ready to go! This morning I ran 13 miles in 2:03:28. Hopefully I'll be able to run that well or better on the actual race day, but from here on out the training will just get easier as I start cutting back how far I run. I've been running 4-5 miles 3 times during the week, and running long distance on Saturday. Now that I've reached the climax in my training, I'll start running less and less on Saturdays. I still want to work on my speed, however, during the week on my short runs. It feels good to almost be able to check this goal off as complete!

We're going cruising! A week from today we will be heading on a 5 day cruise in the Western Caribbean. Matt is definitely ready for a short vacation from work as he has been super busy and stressed. We are going with our best friends Jeff and Tahlia as one last big vacation before our families start growing bigger (she's pregnant with her second right now). Caleb will hang out with Grandma and Grandpa with some help from my siblings as well when needed. It's super nice of them, but I'm super nervous to be away from Caleb that long. He's not going to understand why he isn't seeing his mommy and daddy everyday, and that just breaks my heart. Hopefully he'll be having too much fun to miss us.

My little sister, Lindsey, is serving a mission! I've told her that I am going to live vicariously through her letters so she better write often. I couldn't be more happy for her as I think this is one of the greatest opportunities in the world. She is going on a mission to....


Minneapolis, Minnesota, Spanish-speaking.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving day started bright and early waking up at 6:20 am...not to start making food, but rather to go run 5 miles in The Woodlands Turkey Trot. (Notice the short sleeves and shorts. It was 67 degrees that morning.) My goal was to finish between 45-50 minutes, preferably closer to 45 min. The first two miles felt great, and I was right on track to finish around 46 min. But as I pushed on from mile 2, my body stopped cooperating with me and we'll just say that I was in pain, not because I was pushing myself too hard or anything like that. Needless to say, it was all I could do to finish the race. The mantra that I kept thinking over and over in my head was, "Just keep going. Don't stop. Just keep going." I actually still met my goal and finished in 49 minutes, which I was proud of considering the circumstances, and as soon as I crossed the finish line, I made a beeline to the bathroom to take care of some "issues."

Race day

Being Thanksgiving, I would like to share a few things here that I am grateful for, although my other journal will contain a more adequate list.

The first thing would have to be my sweet husband. He is one of the most amazing men I know as well as the most patient! He never raises his voice at me or says hurtful things to me ever. He is so positive and teaches me so much about service and charity. I have to say that I am so thankful and in awe of his handy-man abilities. He can fix just about everything whether it be cars or things around the house. It is a huge money-saver. (In fact he worked on a project all morning today that would have cost $600 to pay someone else to do it.) He is such a hardworker around the house, in his callings, and in his job. He is such a good daddy too. I love to watch Caleb and Matt play together. Caleb loves attention from his dad more than me, I think, because Daddy is just so fun! I'm so grateful to have Matt in my life and grateful that he is mine forever!

Another thing I am grateful for is Matt's job and how it allows me to stay at home with our little boy. Caleb adds such purpose to my life. I love his little quirks, and I love seeing more and more of his personality come out. He definitely has had his moments where he makes life difficult, but the good always outweighs the bad. He is such a joy in our lives. Who can't help but love this kid?

Race for the Cure

We partcipated in Race for the Cure on Saturday, October 4th with our good friends Tahlia and Jeff Butler. We thought the Sprint for Life race that we ran about 6 months ago was big, but there were 30,000 people who showed up for this race. It shows all the support for breast cancer. It was neat to see the survivors participating in the race, who were wearing pink shirts. They divided the race into three categories: competitive runners, non-competitive runners, and walkers. We ran in the second category. I thought the last race was difficult to weave around people, but this race was twice as hard. There were people everywhere, and I wasn't even pushing the stroller! I felt like I was booking it the whole way and my side ached pretty bad when I was done, but I sprinted the last stretch and felt so good about my run until I saw my time. I set a goal to run under 27 minutes (it's a 5K...a little over 3 miles) and my finished time was 29:30. I guess all the weaving I had to do around people took more time than I thought! I'm running in The Woodlands' Turkey Trot in November which is a 5 mile run, so now I've got to work up to running 5+ miles every day in order to prepare. It's fun to run in an organized race to mix things up a bit.

Sprint for Life

Matt's work participates in the "Sprint for Life" 5K run/walk each year. Last year, Caleb and I weren't able to go watch, but I wanted to go support Matt this time around. It worked out that they let me run as well, and I was so excited. One of my college roommates just finished running a half marathon, and it has made me miss running so much. I used to run 3 miles every other day until about my 4th month into my pregnancy where I slowly cut back. I haven't really gotten back into running simply because I go on fast-paced walks a couple times a week with my sister (and sometimes other people join us). We don't own a running stroller either, which makes running with Caleb difficult, and I'm not disciplined enough to get out when Matt is home. So because it has been over a year since I have run, my goal for this 5K was to just run at a steady pace the entire time--no walking.

Starting off the run was really hard because there were so many people that you couldn't do much more than walk for the first 1/8 to 1/4 of a mile, so that added time, but I finished in 30:58 and feel great! I'm ready to start running more again. Matt finished a few minutes behind me, but he generously offered to push the stroller and he had to walk occasionally due to a bad knee (he tore his meniscus in a high school basketball game) Caleb loves walks, so he did super. As I watched Matt cross the finish line, Caleb was just chilling, sucking on his foot. It was too cute.

Before the run

(Thanks Jeff and Tahlia for letting us borrow your running stroller!)
After the run