We Did It!

I can happily report that a one Aileen O'Donnell and I completed our half marathon and came out on the other side alive and accomplished!

I'll walk you through the entire race-day weekend as it was one of the most exciting times in my life. Friday night Schock and I bar-hopped a little bit, which was probably not the best choice but it was fun anyway. I got to bed wayyy later than usual but it didn't seem to affect me too much over the course of the weekend. Saturday morning Aileen and I trekked to Cleveland to pick up our race packets and gear. We wandered the expo, bought some energy jelly beans (my new obsession), and then had a pretty unhealthy lunch. Whatever.

Later that night I prepared a nice dinner of white pasta and meat sauce. I am completely and utterly opposed to white pasta but I ate it anyway because Aileen said I was supposed to. Good call on her part, I think it helped. The I polished off an untold amount of oreos and went to bed. Oops.

The Sunday morning wake-up call came early: 4:50am to be exact. I got up, took a shower, got ready, and ate my usual power breakfast. 1/2 cup Oatmeal, 1/2 scoop organic vanilla protein powder, 1 abby-sized spoonful of organic, natural peanut butter, 1 organic banana, honey, and a splash of milk & a cup of coffee with Splenda and milk. I basically eat this every day and I love it. I now love it for so much more than taste- it is seriously the best fuel in the world. I also made a slice of toast which I ate on the way to Cleveland.

After breakfast I rushed to Aileen's so her wonderful Dad could drive us to the race. We jammed to some Eye of the Tiger on the way in and were feeling pretty pumped/nervous when we arrived. Mr. O'Donnell dropped us off and we scurried over to the longest bathroom lines EVER. We finally got to the starting line a little late and unstretched. We took off anyway though as we were already lingering around 7:10am.

Everything about the race was phenomenal. I have only been to Cleveland a handful of times so it was awesome to run through areas I had never seen. The people were incredible- I have never seen such an outpouring of support and enthusiasm. It was 7 o'clock on a Sunday and people were outside cheering for us when they didn't even know who we were! Crazy!

I felt energized and excited the entire time. I kept thinking I would "hit a wall" but I really never did. We ate our jelly beans around mile 5 then stopped at had Gu at mile 9. We took water and powerade at every station and stopped to stretch a few times. I'd say overall, we maybe walked about 500 yards the entire time because of slowing down at water stops. I felt a little dead from miles 10-11 and I blame that on running uphill and into the wind from 10-12. How rude! Once we got to mile 11 though I felt strong again and really kicked it in until the finish.

I think we definitely learned alot during this entire experience. This was the most difficult thing I have every accomplished (besides that whole college degree thing) and I am so proud of myself. I'm also so happy and proud for Aileen, for finishing/doing awesome, and coming up with the idea of running the race. It was incredible and I'm glad I got to do it with such a dear friend.

So, to sum things up: I didn't quit. I finally, FINALLY finished my training and ran the race. And, I'm hooked. This definitely will not be my last half- marathon and who knows, someday I might even go for a full...

I've Come A Long Way

So, yesterday marked ONE WEEK until the race! I am pleased and proud to say I successfully completed the last long training run: 10 miles. I think it was sore legs combined with a windy and cold morning but 10 was wayyyy more difficult than the 9 I ran last Monday. I made it though, in slightly under 2 hours, and that felt pretty darn good. My pace is embarassingly slow- if I cared about my pace. I never have and I probably never will so actually I'm not embarassed.

Quite the opposite, in fact. While I was running I tried to fill my head with positive thoughts to keep me going. The overwhelming notion was how truly far I have come as a person in just a few short years. This training program, and blog, started as sort of a joke back in February- a "can I really follow through with something?" sort-of-thing. It has ended up being so much more though. It has led me to the realization that I can accomplish difficult physical tasks and I am not a failure. I also realized, and this is perhaps the most stunning part, that I have grown up quite a bit. Four years ago I was lucky to wake up alive on a Sunday morning in the Spring thanks to man-made forces of debauchery, i.e. Greek Week. The same goes for 3 years ago and maybe even 2. Last year was a little more tame but not much. However, yesterday I woke up early, ate a healthy breakfast, and RAN 10 MILES. Who am I? an adult?! Yikes.

I am pretty freaking proud of myself for that. I survived college and have been elevated to some strange semi-responsible status a mere year later. Sure, I may have come to this conclusion without the half marathon but it would have been for a way lamer reason, like I can pay my bills on time with my own money. Borrring.

Instead, I laid the smack down on 10 miles of the towpath trail and I am therefore, a badass. A grown -up badass.

A grown-up badass who is going to (kind of) (definitely) dominate 13.1 miles next Sunday in Cleveland with her very first Ohio State friend.

Hello World, It's me, Abby

Greetings! In case you thought I was dead (or had backed out) I'm still here! The weeks of training have been a bit tedious and there has not been much to report. However, I have been keeping up with the running and I'm feeling great. I haven't been doing the cross training but it hasn't hindered my progress thus far so we'll see how the rest turns out. I can only motivate myself so much, ya know?

As of today I have only missed 2 runs over the entire program so that's pretty darn good. I'll go ahead and pat myself on the back, again, for that. Fortunately and unfortunately though, I am departing for a week at the beach next Friday. This will likely interrupt my schedule severely as I do not see myself going for long runs alone on the beach. More like lots of cocktails in a lounge chair with girlfriends. However, I has instituted a plan to keep me on track, if only somewhat.

This Sunday is supposed to be a 10k race. I'm going to run the 9 miles I should run next Sunday this Sunday and hope to eek in a short run next Sunday in Florida. Next Wednesday or Thursday I'm going to do a 10-miler to replace the one I will definitely miss two Sundays from now. Basically, I'll probably miss most of my weekly runs while I'm soaking up the sun but at least I won't miss the long ones. I definitely don't want to backtrack on my endurance progress.

And, my "beach body" leaves something to be desired so here's hoping two stupidly long runs before next Saturday's departure will firm & tone parts winter was NOT kind to!

In case you're counting, it's almost one month until the half marathon and not only am I still with it, I'm doing better than I ever thought I would!

Happy trails!

5 Mile-Stone

Tonight something really amazing happened: I ran 5 miles on the treadmill, without stopping, and without feeling like death may come any moment. While this may not seem huge, it was.

Five miles has always been (well, since junior year) my signature distance. I blame my dad, who made me run this distance with him at home. Since I adjusted to that reasonable length everything else seemed too short. A 3 mile run only takes around 30 minutes and burns about 300 calories: not enough in my mind. So, I only ever ran 5miles or longer.

Then, last January, my dad and I started in on the "1,000 mile year". A goal which requires 20 miles per week for 50 weeks. I ran this as 4, 5 mile runs a week. For 2 months. Then I burnt out and ran maybe 10-15 miles a week (on a good week) until I fizzled out completely in May and got fat. So, in short, I haven't run 5 miles at a time, consistently, since like last March. That's pathetic (in my mind).

Because of all this, I was dreading the 5 mile run that has been staring me in the face for the past 4-5 weeks. The glaring figure on my schedule haunted me like Saw II never could. I simply did not think I could get past this mental hurdle again. And I didn't want to fail. Last winter I often did 5 mile runs indoors and it was fine. Then I had the burnout and couldn't get past one or two miles without a struggle.

But, I did it. I felt great after two miles. Still strong after three. I upped the anti at 4 and did some hills, then picked up the pace, and alternated this in half mile increments for the last 2 miles. It felt incredible. I can't really put my finger on why it felt so good, but I think it's a combination of accomplishment and confidence. I broke my biggest mental barrier by once again working up to my "signature" distance, and I felt strong doing it.

I know I have much longer runs ahead of me but they seem that much more do-able since I was able to destroy the 5 mile hurdle. I'm also looking forward to running outdoors on these Sunday long runs, another fact that's keeping me going.

I now approach this next week feeling strong, confident, and dedicated. I am my own worst enemy, and if I can control that, I can do anything.

Taking It Slow

Monday marked the start of week three. Aileen had the brilliant idea to repeat week two before moving on to the additional miles of week three. I agreed that it would be a great way to build up a little more strength before progressing. Sometimes taking it slow in the beginning is a far better decision than pushing it. So, this week we will run two 3 mile runs and a 4 mile long run before advancing to two 3.5 mile runs and a 5 mile long run. We have about 3-4 extra weeks to play with because the program is 12 weeks and the half isn't until May 16th. This is a beautiful thing.

As for my personal running, I feel stronger. It sounds ridiculous that only 2.5 weeks back on track could produce results, but I think it's happening. I'm enjoying my running days, starting to notice improvement in endurance, and generally feeling good about things.

I had an epiphany a few days ago: About a year ago, I stopped exercising when I felt stressed and started turning to other, less savory, outlets. BAD IDEA. I feel about a million times better when I workout after a stressful day than when I have an emotional meltdown (or a drink). Maybe it took a few months off the wagon to realize this or maybe I'm becoming a bit more rational. I'll chalk it up to running because we all know I am farrrr from rational. Whatever the case though, these past few weeks of running have felt good- physically and emotionally, and I'm excited to keep on going.

It's week 3 and quitting is not an option.

Infinitely More Awesome

To keep my millions of fans appropriately updated, I do need to discuss the 2 runs I completed after last Tuesday's run. Thursday night I did a 3 mile treadmill run. I was filled with terror before stepping on the belt thanks to the pain and misery leftover from Tuesday morning. My fears soon vanished though as I embarked on one of the best treadmill runs I've had in oh, a year. It was one of those rare combinations of energy and rage that powered me through to a strong finish. It felt great and was extremely empowering.

Which was good, because Friday morning I had to wake up and run 4 miles before departing for Columbus. I decided to run on the Towpath because I had the rare opportunity of running outside during the day. For some reason it never entered my half-wit mind that there would be a blanket of snow on the trail. When I realized this I chose to run on it anyway. Why? Because I'm stubborn and I like to feel superior. I had another great run which was again very uplifting. I also realized I was awesome. I ran 4 miles in conditions that could best be described as sand-like. I ran 4 miles in snow that was like sand on a cold Friday morning and I decided I was infinitely more awesome than everyone else in the world at that moment in time.

If you had told me this a year ago, I would have laughed. 4 miles was nothing to me then but after taking the better part of a year off of running, it felt like a significant accomplishment. It gave me back some of the confidence I needed and, dare I say, made me feel like I may once again be bitten by the running bug. Fingers crossed.

A Day Late & A Dollar Short

Well, that title is a bit misleading. I'm right around 4 days late in terms of blog posts and many, many dollars short. I spent the weekend in Columbus, Ohio, God's metropolitan gift to man. I had an absolutely ridiculous and fantastic weekend with my friends. It was a great boost for my spirits as this cold winter drags on. It was not, however, a boost for my marathon training plan. I ate like garbage and imbibed a bit more... eh... fluids... than necessary. Today I woke up feeling completely exhausted, obese, and laaaaazy. Thank heavens the only thing on the marathoning agenda is stretching and strength. While this weekend was incredibly fun, it was also eye-opening. College last four years for a reason and serious runners take care of their bodies very well. I'll pretty much be on the straight and narrow until May 16th when this race takes place. The best way to fall off the racing wagon is to fall off the wagon. And I refuse to quit because I didn't take care of myself.