Fabulous weekend/Two PR's

  This past Saturday was a glorious day for me. Not only did I achieve the 10 mile run that I was so nervous about, but I also finally met my fundraising minimum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was a little afraid that I wasn't going to meet it for the past few weeks, because I knew that there were people who wanted to donate, but they just weren't coming through for me. It added a lot of stress into my life because if I didn't meet my minimum, they would have charged our bank account. I am assuming that you all understand what it is like when you are planning a wedding and even $10 seems like a HUGE amount to pay for something. I can't help but think about the favors that I could be ordering with that money, or the drink that we could be having on our honeymoon :-)

 Thankfully, a very dear friend of mine took pity on my facebook pleas and donated the last bit that I needed before the deadline. Phew! No more limbo for me!

 The run on Saturday was so nerve-wracking! There was something about crossing the line from singular to double digit miles that scared the hell out of me. On top of it, I got next to no sleep. I couldn't seem to fall asleep until Alec got home from work around 1am, and then I woke up at 5am from a terrible nightmare (involving ghosts of dead relatives) and just couldn't seem to fall back asleep before 6am when I had to wake up. For the record, I am absolutely non-functional unless I get 8 hours of sleep. I know it sounds like something a teenager might say, like: "oh, I need soooo much sleep", but if I am being completely honest with you, when I get less than 8 hours, I am grumpy, my eyes get red and baggy, my stomach is upset, and I will get sick if I am exposed to any germs. This is one of the reasons that I am a party pooper on Saturday nights...because I know that I have to sing in the morning, and if I go on less than 8 hours (heaven forbid, throwing in a drink or two), I am no good for at least two days.

 So, now that you get how severe my sleep-deprivation effects me, I can move on with the run. When I "woke up" that morning, I made my standard egg whites, oatmeal w/brown sugar, and banana breakfast and drank about 5 servings of water. I went to the bathroom (hooray!) and got dressed, and left the house. I realized about 10 minutes later that I had completely forgotten to take along my water bottle for post-run. I think in all of my nervousness, I had a brain fart. I drove to the NCR trail and got there right around 8am when practice starts. We did some calisthenics and stretched a little (it is bad to stretch cold muscle) and pretty much just started right away.

 For those of you who have not read my older posts, I am not the biggest fan of the NCR trail. I think it stems from a combo of monotonous running scenery (it's great for biking), slanted path tracks after rain, and the whole "last time I was here I seriously injured my ankle" thing. That in addition to the 10 mile heebeejeebees equalled a very tentative Sara. One thing that really helped me was that I got up that morning and went online to check email/facebook and saw that Aunt Janet had emailed me. It made me remember just why I am doing this and gave me a little extra push. Then, I saw the status of one of the other girls that is training and it said that she was nervous, too! I felt really relieved seeing that I wasn't alone.

 So, the course was very basic. Out-and-back. Run up 5 miles, run back 5 miles. The first 5 were pretty decent. I started off a little slow due to technical ipod issues, but once I found my footing I didn't stop. Around mile 4 is when I start to feel REALLY good. It is like I will be able to just run forever at mile 4. I also got my Gu timing down for the duration so that I have a plan for future long-distance runs. I take it after 4, 7, and then if I really need it at 9. For the marathon, I will be able to space it out even further... I am thinking 4, 8, 12. That last one is really important, because it gives me the extra boost that I need to have a strong sprint to the finish.

 So, the second 5 were pretty strong, but I ran into some road blocks along the way. When I took Gu the second time, I stopped to drink a bottle of water. And, being as competitive with myself as I am, I wanted to drink it down as quickly as possible so I could keep going. Well, I must have swallowed a lot of air with it because like 5 steps later, I had a severe pain in my stomach/digestive tract. I ended up slowing my pace for almost a mile because it just wouldn't go away. It almost felt like when you get a stitch in your side, only it was higher. Eventually, it went back to normal (I have no idea why it did, but thank gosh!).

 Around mile 8, I started to get fatigued and had to fight with myself to stay positive about finishing. I sort of love that internal struggle, because when you get through it is even more invigorating. It takes a good struggle to really grow! When I took the Gu at 9, I felt re-energized and just hit the turf as hard as I could. I managed to almost sprint towards the end. When I did, I realized that I was only the second runner to finish for the day!!!! WOWeeWOWeeWOW!!!

 We figured out my time (I desperately want a Garmin) to be around 1hr, 51 minutes which is a little over an 11 minute mile. I think that is pretty fan-freakin-tastic considering that when I started running in October 2003, I could just barely jog for a 1/2 mile at 3.0mph (20 min. per mile). Last January, I got it up to 3.5 mph (17 min. per mile), and last summer 2010, I ran my first 5k at the gym at about 4.5 mph (13 min. per mile), in January when I signed up, I was running my distance runs at 4.9mph or just under 12 min. per mile.... 11 minute miles this week =about 5.4 or 5.5 mph! I can't wait to see what my time will be in a year. I hope to still be blogging so that you all can follow my improvements and be encouraged by them.

 On Monday of this week, I didn't have enough time, so I ended up running 4 miles. Just to give you an idea: in January, I was running a 5K (3.1) at 40 minutes. On Monday, I ran 4 miles in 40 minutes (that a PR-personal record, for me). I think something that helped me was that Alec was there with me and I knew that we had to go to the store, and then he had to head to work. So, I used the motivation of not making him late to work and it turned out very much in my favor.

 Then, on Tuesday, I did 5 miles by running to the gym, working out my abs and arms, and then running home. That was great because I waited until it was the height of the heat (yes, Mom I wore my sunscreen) and headed outside. I am trying to prepare myself for any weather conditions that we might experience in Virginia. I have a sneaking suspicion that it is going to be 85 and humid even at 7am.

 This evening, I decided to mix it up again and used http://www.mapmyrun.com/ to find a new route around Pikesville. The start location that I wanted to use was 1.5 miles away, and I didn't want to drive, so I rode my bike and then headed out for a run. In spite of all of this great early morning training that I have been doing, tonight is proof that I am an evening runner at heart. I beat my old PR and after I biked home, had enough energy to take the dog out for a run as well. When all of this is over, I think I will try to mix in more evening workouts again.

 My annoying moment of the week so far: I just can't seem to shake the dressing room anxiety. We went shopping today for a suit and dress for some events coming up, and even though I know that I am a small size 14, when I was going to put the dress over my head, I just wanted to stop and take it off because if it didn't fit I was going to be so disappointed in myself and feel fat all over again. So I had to take a deep breath and I asked Alec about 10 times, "are you sure it isn't too tight?" before I realized that in all reality, I looked good. Meaning- I didn't hate myself when I looked in the mirror. The reason that I say this is annoying is that I want to be over this feeling now, and just go shopping like most girls do...you know, for the fun of it. Maybe that should be my "homework"?

11 miles this weekend. As me how nervous I am about that! I'm glad that Aunt Janet will be back, and am hoping that she is up for a trip to Under Armour so I can score a running hat for cheap. Now that's exciting shopping!

XO

ps-for those following my injuries: they are significantly better after using Rock Tape. I now swear by the stuff for all of my long runs and recommend it to anyone who has recurring pain.