Running
Let me preface this by saying the only training I did for this race was the half-marathon I did in October. Seriously, the only running I’ve done since then was a few laps around a tennis court during boot camp. And even that was before Thanksgiving. So in light of that, I’d say I did pretty darn good!
This race was in Baton Rouge, my hometown. So that meant we had to spend the night in Baton Rouge, and I had to get a decent night’s sleep, which is difficult at my mom’s house. Miles wakes up about 4,501 times per night at my mom’s, just to confirm I’m still there. So that doesn’t make for the most restful slumber, alas. But I managed to snatch a few hours, and got up at 5 am to get ready. (I can’t totally blame Miles for my tortured sleep, though. I also was afraid my new iPhone alarm wouldn’t actually work, so I kept waking up to check the clock. Argh.)
Got up, made a protein shake/energy drink combo (I’ve been doing an Advocare challenge for the past few weeks) and ate a bagel (mmm, carbs) and drove my mom’s car to the start. It took me longer than I’d hoped to get out of the house because my mom’s car is one of those fancy push-button ones and I couldn’t figure out how to turn it on. Yeesh. And then when I got downtown, I couldn’t find the key fob, and it was just v stressful. But I survived. Got to the start. I’ll spare you the details of the start. At least I made it through the port-a-potty line before the race started, unlike at the Jazz Half.
The start line – a sea of pink
So, okay, the race starts. I had my interval timer set to a 2 minute run: 1 minute walk cycle, and I felt pretty good. One of the great things about this race is that it was small (about 425 runners) and so I didn’t have to weave in and out of people. But it was unseasonably warm. I was very worried about this. Fortunately, the sun never really came out, and that helped tremendously.
I was having a good time. People always love my shirt, and I get lots of fun compliments on it. And since I was running for a family friend who is getting treated for leukemia, I had a sign on my back saying I was running for Laine Z. And a woman passed me and said she went to high school with her! (Or maybe it was her sister, I can’t remember now.) Anyway, it was neat to meet a mutual friend in such a small crowd.
Sometime after the first mile, I decided to try a 3:1 run:walk ratio. Why not? I was feeling good. But {spoiler alert} I probably shouldn’t have done that. I know not to go out too fast, but I reasoned that I’d finished the Jazz Half strong doing a 2:1 the entire time, so why not try to push myself? (Because it was 20 degrees warmer today, that’s why.)
Along the river at the beginning
At around mile 3, you could decide whether you wanted to do a 10K or a half marathon. I was kind of worried that I would see the 10K turnoff and not be able to resist it. But frankly, I wasn’t even tempted. Whew. And this was my tenth half-marathon, so I wanted to hit that milestone.
Tiger Stadium, and the turnoff for the 10k/half
So from then on, I ran and ran and ran. And walked, I mean. Ran and walked. We went through the LSU campus (where I spent, ahem, six years – and no, I didn’t go to grad school) and around the lakes. It was a really beautiful course. And there were TONS of water stations. I really appreciated this. I don’t expect more than one station every couple of miles, but I would guess there were at least a dozen stops throughout the race. I didn’t even have to stop at all of them, because they were so plentiful. The support was fantastic.
My freshman dorm was on the other side of those trees. Memories!
At about mile 7, I started to feel the heat. And probably the consequences of going out too fast in the beginning. And the hills (you laugh, but New Orleans is SO flat that it makes Baton Rouge look positively mountainous.) So I decided to set my timer to about 1:30 run to 1:00 walk. And I continued for a while at this pace. Until I decided, to hell with the timer and turned it off. And just ran when I felt like it (mostly on “downhills”) and walked when I felt like it. I just wanted to finish in under three hours. I knew I wasn’t going to do better than the Jazz Half (2:33), but I was totally fine with that.
And so on I went. I was taking pictures with my iPhone, posting to Facebook, texting my mom to see if they were at the finish line yet, and just having fun. No pressure.
We ran around the state capital, through some pretty parks and then back to downtown.
Was SO happy to see this! 1.1 to go!
I was SO happy to get back on River Road, where it was ending. I could see the finish line, and there in the chute was my mom, the boys, and Larry. Woo! Larry recorded me finishing…
Done! And in 2:44:59, my second/third best time! See, after all that walking, I still finished fifteen minutes faster than the one I did in March! Not too shabby.
Afterwards, I got my picture taken, got some snacks for me and the boys, and ran into a few old friends. I was also able to get my results immediately, including my splits from all the chip mats. Very nice!
All in all, a very good race. Well-organized, great course, fantastic support. I’ll be doing it again next year!
Subtitle: “So Close”
I haven’t done a serious 5K in a while. About a year ago, I did one to benefit a friend’s cousin, but I wasn’t running much then, so I don’t even think I kept track of my time. And before that, I don’t think I’d done one since before the boys were born. Maybe even longer ago than that. As much as I love 5Ks, they’re kind of pricey when you’re on a budget, and when the boys were infants, I couldn’t really leave them. So I was happy when there was a Living Social deal for this race, which made it way more affordable.
I had hoped that it would be cool, since it’s, hello, November, but it was in the high 60s when I left the house and only getting warmer. At least there were some clouds in the sky to keep the sun at bay. But not enough.
When I got to City Park, I found the verrrrry long line to pick up my number (there were 400 Living Social entrants and only one person getting them registered. Ugh.) and eventually got it. They had to delay the start of the race by 20 minutes to account for all of the people in line.
I ran into my friend Heather from our neighborhood, and we lined up at the start together, but agreed to do our own thing and meet up at the finish. When we started, she was a few paces ahead of me, and I thought, if I could keep up with her the whole time, I’d be doing well. (She has not only the benefit of youth, but let’s just say a more running-friendly build than I do.) There were a lot of people walking in front of us, so no doubt I lost some time weaving in and out, but it wasn’t too bad.
The first mile was fine, and I finished it in 10:23. Ooh, that’s pretty fast! There was one underpass (read: giant mountain hill) and I figured that wouldn’t be the only one. Mile two was better – completely flat – and I finished it in 10:09. Oooh, negative splits! I was getting pretty hot at this point, but kept going, even through another underpass. When I hit mile three (10:05!) I really thought I might pass out, but I was so close to the end – surely I could get a PR! I couldn’t remember exactly what that PR was – it was very old – but I was thinking it was a bit over 32:30. So when I crossed the finish line at 32:30 on the nose (I crossed the start line at 2:30 and the finish line at 35:00 exactly) I thought I may have shaved a few seconds off my PR. That last tenth of a mile was killer. It was around a track (which was kinda neat – I’ve never run on a track before) but I was giving it everything I had. I mean, I was barely getting enough oxygen in, and I was hot, hot, hot. But as you can see, I was going at practically the speed of sound. Srsly. Look at that…that spike at the end is 7:14 pace! Ha ha!
Heather was a few seconds behind me, and as agreed, we met up at the Nutella truck. Yes, Nutella truck. Can you imagine? Heavenly. They were giving out slices of french bread with Nutella slathered on. Heavenly.
When I got back to my car, I looked up my race report from the race I got my PR at back in January 2005 and was saddened to see that my PR was actually 32:26, so I missed it by four stinkin’ seconds. Oh well. I honestly don’t think I could have shaved off four seconds at the end, but that’s okay. This race was undoubtedly hotter and probably more crowded. So I’ll call it even. 
All in all, a good race and hopefully I’ll be able to do more 5Ks soon. I do have another half next month, but after that…5Ks only!
I haven’t done a real race report in ages, but this race definitely merited one. As I mentioned in a previous post, my personal best heading into this race was 2:44. I didn’t know if I could beat that – I was nine years younger when I set that time. But I figured, why not try? I thought if the pace I’d maintained during my 9.5 mile training run last weekend was any indication, it would be possible, at least.
But Friday was still so warm – too warm to run fast. And I took the boys to Boo at the Zoo, where my legs got pretty tired. But I got a good night’s sleep that night, and when I was up at 5am on Saturday morning, I felt pretty good. Had some coffee and a little breakfast, and headed to catch the ferry. I was very happy to be hit with a wall of cold air when I opened the door to go outside.
{to keep this from being a solid block of text, here are a few pictures George took of the boys while they waited for me.}
I took the ferry over and then walked to the race start, where there were a couple thousand people milling about. I had plenty of time before the race started, so I sat on a bench for a little while before getting in the port-a-potty line. I didn’t want to use it, and then have to go again before the race started (I have a tiny bladder, okay?) so I waited a bit. And then once I saw the line, I regretted that immediately. On the bright side, I ran into our friend Dawn in the line, and we chatted for the thirty minutes we had to wait in line. The starting gun went off when there were still several people in front of us in line, but by that point, I was not going to get out of line.
Finally I was done, and then I had to drop my bag off at the gear check, and get my phone all set up. I had a running playlist, an interval timer, and a GPS mapping program going on to track my pace. So by the time I got to the start, the masses were all well into their first or second mile. But that was okay, the only person I was racing was myself. I started my run 2 minutes, walk 1 minute intervals from the start. The interval timer I was using would tell me which interval I was at, and each “set” was 3 minutes, so I knew if I could finish each mile by the end of every fourth interval, I would be doing a better than 12 minute mile, which was all I needed to set a personal best.
I should mention that the weather was absolutely perfect. I mean, the best running weather I can imagine. (Well, slightly less wind would have been fine, but it wasn’t bad.) It was cool and cloudy. Perfect.
Mile three hits when I was in something like my tenth interval, so I knew I was going much faster than a 12 minute pace. Much faster. Like, an 11 minute pace? (That’s blistering for me!) And I knew if George got to the finish line at 9:45, which was the earliest time I told him, they might miss me. So I sent him a text saying I might finish a bit earlier than expected. Fortunately, since I started six or seven minutes late, that built in a little buffer for me. But still – didn’t want to take any chances.
A few miles go by, and I’m maintaining my pace. My hamstrings are a little tight, but I feel good. And then I hear my name being called, and I turn around and see an old high school friend, Emily. She was actually doing a 16 mile run that day, using a 3:1 run:walk ratio, but since she wasn’t trying to set any records, she stuck with me at my pace. It was nice to have someone to chat with, it definitely made the miles go by faster! A few times I would go ahead when she had to make a phone call or something, but she caught up. It’s kind of unbelievable how fast the whole race went by. Before we knew it, we were at mile 12 and we passed the guys giving out free shots of whiskeys and beer chasers. A woman running near us took one, while I got heartburn just thinking of it. Emily told me when she went back to do her additional miles, she got her whiskey shot in. Hee!
We turn the corner onto Camp Street, which is where the finish line is. I’m feeling a bit worn out and when my interval timer tells me to walk, I do. But then the finish line is in sight, and I decided to ignore it after that. And then I see the boys, George, Dawn, and Teresa on the sidelines, cheering me on. I was so happy to see them, I just ran faster so I could finish as quickly as possible.
Pointing out the boys to Emily:
Come on boys, gimme five!
They were a tad distracted by the Spiderman on the other side of the road:
Imagine how surprised I was to see 2:34 on the timer when I stopped it. That’s ten minutes faster than the time I set in 2003! I went back to where everyone was standing and got big hugs from my boys. They kept asking if I won, and I said, no. I came in second. Ha!
Me and the boys and my sparkle skirt:
Later, I checked my official time and it was actually better than I thought…2:33:16! That’s 11 minutes faster than my 2003 time, and a whopping 32 minutes off my official time from the half I did in March!
Overall, just a great race. I felt great, the weather was great, I beat my time…and then seeing the boys at the end was the icing on the cake. So happy!
(And Dawn got fourth in her age group, so she did even better!)
Until a little while ago, I had no idea how many half-marathons I’d completed. Half a dozen? That would be my guess. But I’m happy to say I figured out that I’ve finished eight, and Saturday’s will be my ninth. Similarly, I had no idea what my best and worst times were, so with the help of Google, I was able to figure out my official times for all eight of those races. My hope for getting a personal best on Saturday has waned after reviewing this list, but we’ll see…
| 2002 Mardi Gras Marathon (Half) | 2:55 |
| 2003 Mardi Gras Marathon (Half) | 2:44 |
| 2004 Mardi Gras Marathon (Half) | 3:40 |
| 2006 Ole Man River Half Marathon | 2:51 |
| 2007 Mardi Gras Marathon (Half) | 3:01 |
| 2009 Jazz Half Marathon | 3:06 |
| 2010 Mardi Gras Marathon (Half) | 2:59:40 |
| 2012 Mardi Gras Marathon (Half) | 2:59 |
(I had to include the seconds in 2010′s results, because, by golly, I sure was determined to make it in under 3 hours!)
I remember most of those races. Certainly the first one. My friend Chris and I did it together, just as we did the London Marathon together a few months later.
I wish I could remember the second one so I could figure out how in the world I finished so fast…hmm. The third one was slow because I walked it with some friends.
I can’t figure out how I did the 2006 one so quickly, because I know I got a terrible blister near the end that forced me to stop and get aid from an ambulance on the course. But somehow they didn’t have any band-aids. I’m pretty sure my real time was about five minutes faster than it’s listed. Oh, and this was a very small race. I came in second-to-last.
My friend Kelly and I did the 2007 one together, and my most vivid memory of that one (besides falling down at about mile 11) is singing the songs from Music & Lyrics, which we saw together the night before the race.
2009 Jazz Half…I was just glad to be done!
I took the boys with me to the expo before the 2010 Mardi Gras Half. Oh, and that one was fun because I passed a couple from the Biggest Loser.
The half I did in March was pretty good. The time wasn’t stellar, but I felt good throughout, and I did it with friends.
Now I weigh about 20 pounds less than I did then. Hopefully that does the trick! If I can maintain the 11:30 pace I kept for my run on Saturday (doubtful unless the weather is really perfect) I could certainly set a PR. Fingers crossed!
It’s weird to think that the first one of these I wrote was ten years ago, in the lead up to my first marathon. Which means that was almost ten years ago. And I met George a few days after I got back from London, so it’s been almost ten years since I met him. Crazy.
Anyway, this is going to be in no way as detailed as those race reports, but I do want to make sure I write down some of the details.
My friend Stephanie and her friend from Washington, Allison, were planning to do the race together. Allison was training for a marathon, but promised to stay at our pace. She was training using the Galloway method, which involves running and walking at intervals. She informed us that our intervals would be one minute running, one minute walking. Seemed fair.
The race started at 7 am, but since we were waaaaaay at the back, we didn’t get to the start line until 7:40.
Waiting…(me and Steph)
Once we got to the start line, we immediately started running for one minute, walking for one minute. It was super easy, even though Steph and I hadn’t run too much during our “long” training run/walks. I had to pee, though, and there weren’t any port-a-potties until mile 2 or so. Tiny bladder strikes again! Once we got to them, we had to wait several minutes in line, but whatever. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do.
Good thing about being in the back of the pack is seeing all the people in costume!
As you can see, it was a gorgeous day. Well, it would have been gorgeous if I hadn’t been running. It was a tad sunnier than I’d like, and so we did get hot along the way, but it was too lovely to complain much otherwise.
I can’t say too much exciting happened during the race. We chugged along at our 1/1 pace pretty much the entire time. At one point, a woman saw my tank top and said, “Pam? I’m Amy K’s friend…she said to tell you hi!” That was fun. Pretty cool that she found me in a field of 20,000 runners!
I will say that near the end, Steph and I were cursing the woman on Allison’s phone who would tell us when to start running again, but then again, we’d sing her praises when she’d say it was time to walk. We decided that someone needs an app that uses more inspirational voices. Like, say, Ewan McGregor, or Liam Neeson, or similar. Pierce Brosnan telling me I was doing great would be a hell of a lot more motivational than that robotic phone voice.
15K! No idea how many miles that is. 9ish?
We crossed the finish line officially in 3:04:55, but I know we were in line for the bathroom more than 5 minutes (we stopped twice) so I’m going to go ahead and say I met my goal of finishing in under three hours. Heh.
As I mentioned, my entire reason for signing up for this race was so that the boys could watch me cross the finish line. We even made flags a la car races for them to wave when I crossed. So I was getting pretty excited and emotional as we approached the finish line. Sadly, the combination of tens of thousands of people and three cranky little boys meant we missed each other at the end. But that just means I’ll have to sign up for another race! This time, a smaller, shorter one.
So happy to be done!
Just practicing for March 5, the day after the half marathon I just signed up for. I know, it’s not very far off, but I’ve done halfs on less training than this. Not that it’s smart, but whatever. I’m spontaneous, man.
Love this:
Source: facebook.com via Pam on Pinterest
One of the reasons I’m most excited to do this* is that George promised he would bring the boys to the finish line. They’ve never done that, and just the thought gets me a little choked up. Even though I’m sure the boys will say things like, “whatcha running for, Mommy?” and “why are you running, Mommy?” and “you are stinky, Mommy!” but that’s okay.
*the only one, actually.
Wow. Ten years.
As of today, I have been blogging for ten years. (It also happens to be my dad’s birthday. He’d be 73 this year. Crazy. But not the point.)
I started out back when blogging software wasn’t readily available. Maybe it was, I’m not sure. I just kept everything in HTML files, but I’ve been working on transferring them to WordPress so you can read them in all their glory.
In April 2001, I was 26 years old, overweight, completely out of shape, and smoked a pack a day. I decided it was time for a change.
If you know me, you know I like to do things big. One baby? No way, let’s do three. So I wasn’t going to start by walking, I was going to go right into running. And that’s what I did. Obviously, I wasn’t very fast, nor could I go very far, but it helped. And to keep myself from quitting (like I’d done so many times before), I signed up for the 2002 London Marathon in April of the following year. Sending in the deposit ensured that I had to do it. I roped my friend Chris to doing the marathon with me, as an even greater incentive.
So that’s what I did. I quit smoking, started running, and finished the marathon a year later. Sure, I was passed by a one-legged guy at the end. I never said I was fast!
Who could have guessed that ten years later, I’d still be blogging?
10 years, 2100+ posts, two marathons, a million page views,
Ooof, am sore today! Kettie came in this weekend and we did the Mardi Gras half-marathon yesterday. We did pretty good, I think, considering neither of us really trained for it.
We also went and saw Music and Lyrics on Saturday. I have to see it again, I loved it. And I’m humming the songs, can’t get them out of my head. Ack! Highly recommend it.
Also got some sky-high heels for Kristina’s wedding. Must practice wearing them. They are uber-dreamy, though.
Who watched the Oscars? Chris won the pool this year. Congratulations, Chris! If only I’d voted for the Departed for best picture. Oh well, I went out on a limb with LMS. (And I watched the Departed right before the Oscars came on. Still not sure I would have changed my vote.)
Jenny’s shower is this weekend. I think Miss Emily is going to end up a very well-dressed baby, thanks to Aunt Pam.
Do you ever have so much fun, that you’re almost jealous of yourself? Last night I had dinner with my friend Laurie, and it was just so nice. I hardly ever see her because she works full time (at night) and takes care of her son during the day. Yow! Speaking of her son, he is the sweetest pumpkin ever. His birthday party was on Sunday. Much fun was had playing on kid’s gym equipment.
Also had a fun weekend. Did Mary Kay facials on Saturday, and ended up buying the microdermabrasion kit. It’s amazing. Amazing. No kidding, I can’t wait to get my kit so I can have baby-soft and lineless skin.
Had fun with camera, too, but didn’t take as many pictures as I’d have liked to. My battery died at Elliot’s party, so I only got three pictures of the cake before it conked out.
Ran five miles on the treadmill at the gym last night. Hope I can maintain the losses I’ve had for the last few weeks!
Must continue to run lots. Kettie and I are doing the half marathon on the 25th. Eeeps!
Word to the wise:
Don’t do a half marathon on no training. Or, at least wear socks made of wicking material. Not cotton.
And that is all I’m going to say about that.
Had a fun weekend, even including the 13.1 mile death march I voluntarily participated in. Teresa and I went shopping on Saturday and got a ton of cute outfits. And yesterday after the “race” (I came in second-to-last, hurrah!) there was a barbecue at the pub. Which is always fun. And hard to feel guilty about eating after you’ve just burned 2000+ calories.
Lucky George has this week off work. Ah well, at least I don’t have to work on Friday, like some people do. Blech!
My name is Pam, and I live in New Orleans with my husband George and my identical triplet boys Linus, Oliver, and Miles, born in December 2007.
