A running quiz

I’m kind of late to the party (per usual), but I did this running quiz that I saw on Jogging on Coffee ... three months ago, ahem.

Fuel: Shot Bloks, GU, Energy Chews, Candy or Other?  

When I first started running, I didn’t even know you needed to “eat” while running long distances. Once I learned this, I bought a variety of things to try, and I didn’t like most of them. I tolerated GU Energy Gel, but it was still gross to me. Then, I discovered GU Chomps, which I thought were the best thing ever (because they are almost exactly like gummy candy). I used them until this training session when a running group coach gave us a bunch of GU gel. I started using it again and realized that even though the texture was still nasty, I liked it better than chewing something while running. So for now, GU gel ... but only fruity flavors (the idea of espresso gel makes me gag … not that the fruity flavors don't sometimes).
 
Race Length: 5k, 10k, 1/2 Marathon, Marathon, Ultra or Other?

Half marathons and I are in love. Good thing, since I have seven on the calendar for 2013 (yikes). It’s a manageable distance, but I still find it very challenging. I have tons of room for improvement … and I’m extremely scared of the marathon distance. I’d like to someday get an under-30-minute 5K, but I just really don’t like that distance. It takes me at least one mile to warm up, so this doesn’t bode well for a 3.1-mile race. I’ve done two 10Ks: one I didn’t like and one I loved, so I’m still not entirely decided on that distance.

Workout Bottoms: Skirts, Running Shorts, Capris, Pants or Other?

I always run in black capris. Always. Why? My legs are blindingly white. Even the small amount of skin that shows could frighten small children. 

Black capris, pale legs? Yep, me.

Sports Drink: Gatorade, Powerade, Cytomax, you stick to water when you run or Other?

Nuun is my favorite sports drink by far. I highly dislike Gatorade but have been known to drink it during a race with a water chaser. But, blech. 

Running Temperatures: HEAT or COLD?  

Cold, please! Living in Florida, “cold” is anything below 80 degrees, which doesn’t happen very often (it was 85 degrees today, and it’s January for goodness sake). Hot weather is miserable here. The sun sizzles my skin and the humidity causes an excessive amount of sweating. 

Me excessively sweaty: not pretty

Running Shoe Brands: Saucony, Mizuno, Nike, Brooks, Asics or Other?

I love Brooks! I was fitted for the Brooks Adrenaline when I first started running, and I’ve never ran in anything else since. I tried on others and ran on the “track” in the store, but the Brooks stood out as the most comfortable and most supportive by far. 

My love

Pre-race meal: Oatmeal, Bagel, Banana, Eggs, Cereal or Other?  

I either have toast (usually sandwich thin) with peanut butter and a banana or oatmeal, but usually the toast, peanut butter and banana because it tastes better.

Rest Days: 1x per week, 2x per week, never ever ever or other?

I only run three days per week (Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday), so I have four rest days from running. I keep thinking I’ll add another run day, but I haven’t. Since I haven’t been injured and this allows me to run half marathons, I haven’t changed it.

Music: Have to have it or go without it?  

I go without it. I almost always run with my running group and chatting with the girls is one of the reasons I love running so much.

#1 reason for running: stress-relief, endorphins, you love to race, so you can eat all the cupcakes you want, weight-loss, love running for social reasons or other?

My number one reason for running is endorphins. I feel awesome after I run. Even if it was a “bad” run, I still feel fabulous. Closely tied for second: running is challenging, it allows me to be competitive (with myself), and it provides social benefits.

Are you a blogger that’s completed the quiz? If so, let me know so I can check out your answers. Otherwise, let me know your answers below. I particularly interested in your rest days ... how many days do you run per week? How did you determine that number?

A random Tuesday

You know those days when you have all these random thoughts and none really make a full, complete though? Yeah, that's pretty much every day for me.

• I recently bought some compression socks. They were necessary because they are pink, and I had a coupon for 50% off. I'm a sucker for a good color and a good deal. Well, I hear they do amazing things for your legs, too. I haven't tried them yet, though.  
  

I don't think I've ever bought a S/M in anything before!

• I found myself home alone this weekend (well, Chloe was there too ... she gets mad if I forget to mention her). I found myself on my couch with wine and a stack of movies to watch. None were great ... they were all OK: "My Week With Marilyn," "American Reunion" and "Moneyball." I want to watch an amazing movie. It seems like I've been watching all mediocre movies lately.
  

Did I hear you forgetting me?

• My half marathon training group is partially sponsored by Nuun. By partially sponsored, it means there is always Nuun around to drink. I'm not sad about this at all. I never liked Gatorade or other sports drinks, but I can drink Nuun all day long. Yum!
• After getting an email about an amazing iPhone deal through my wireless company, and realizing that I had my renew-your-contract credit available, I finally took the plunge. As of this evening, I'll be an iPhone-carrying girl. 

Join in the randomness with me: Do you have compression socks? Do you like them? Are they a fun color? Watch any amazing movies lately? Have you tried Nuun? Do you like Nuun? Do you have an iPhone (or am I the only one without one)?

My dad, the baseball (and running) fan

My biggest cheerleader is in town, and I’m ready to race!

My biggest cheerleader: Dad (when I say "biggest," I mean best not "biggest" as in size; but, at 6'4", I think he actually is the biggest in size).

He loves going to races. He enjoys all the aspects of a race (even the pesky early-morning start). He takes a ton of photos. He checks on me the rest of the day: Are you OK? Do you need some Gatorade? Are your legs sore? (This is even after a 5K). He thinks I did great no matter what.

Some of my dad's photography work

My race: a 5K on Sunday.

I ran this 5K last year. It is an awesome course along the beach, and it is flat and fast (or so I’m hoping). I really want to test my “speed” (there are quotes around it to indicate that this is a ridiculous term to use). Perhaps I should use “progress.” Yeah, that’s less ridiculous.

In the meantime, we’re going to hit some spring training games … it’s the most wonderful time of the year!

Women's Half Marathon, St. Petersburg, Florida, Nov. 20, 2011: race review (Part 2)

I woke up at 5 a.m. on race day. Normally, I hate waking up early. I wouldn't say it was my favorite thing this day either, but I was happier than most days.

First thing: toast an English muffin, spread with a little peanut butter and slice a half a banana on it. Second thing: eat this.

Due to the aforementioned car starting problem, as soon as I ate my runner's breakfast of champions, I headed out with my dog to see if my car would start (oh, and to let my dog go to the bathroom). The car started! My dog went to the bathroom! Hooray on both accounts!

Knowing my car would start made the morning a little more relaxed. Of course, I thought that even though it started that time, it may not start the next time. Sheesh! I always think of something to ruin my relaxedness.

After getting ready (handy that I set out the clothes the night before and packed everything I needed ... I should do this every day) and after Chloe wished me luck, I headed out the door.

I still left in enough time that, if necessary, I could call a taxi. I was a little nervous starting the car, but thankfully, it started without issue. Whew!

Since my running buddy, Caroline, lives close to the course, I parked at her house, and we walked to the start line (probably about a one-mile walk). We left her house at 6:30 a.m. for a 7:00 a.m. start time, and even with a stop at a porta-potty on the way in a park (not a race porta-potty, thankfully; this one smelled like cinnamon and had hand sanitizer) and a stop for a quick photo, we made it to our corral by 6:52 a.m.

This was just enough time. I didn't get nervous about not making it, but I also didn't have too much time to stand around and get nervous about the race. Although, one thing did trouble me: I started sweating on the walk there. Yes, a walk. Before sunrise. I was afraid bad things were to come.

I was extremely impressed with the organization of this race. About 7,000 runners fit easily into their corrals for an on-time start. Almost three minutes after the horn to start the race, Caroline and I crossed the start line to "Going the Distance" (I love some Cake. I'm glad the race organizers do, too.)

The first few miles were a breeze. The street was crowded, but it wasn't too difficult to pass someone if necessary. There was a ton of fan support at the start, so that helped pass the time, too.

Miles 4-5 got a little hot and boring. We ran through a neighborhood with little crowd support. But, we did hit our first water stop of the day, and we ran into the race photographers. I tried to keep my vow to myself: look happy in all of the photos. I started off on the right track.

Even though you can already see my shirt is soaked with sweat, I'm still happy (or pretending to be). Caroline is still really happy, too (I love this picture).

I don't really remember being that happy from this point in the race forward. Oh, wait. I was happy when I saw Caroline's husband and parents. That was fun. But, that was probably the last memorable happy time during this race. We kept trudging along until we took our first walk break (about the 6-mile mark). It was then we decided if we wanted to finish, we needed to walk some. It was freakin' HOT and HUMID, and it was barely 8 a.m. Oh, and it's November!

We kept going. Hit the next water stop hard. I took water (sometimes two or three) from each stop (The water stops were plentiful and well-stocked. I am extremely grateful that this was the case. Thank you, Women's Half Marathon organizers). I drank some and poured the remainder on my head.

I think miles 8-9 (I may be off on my miles because I was somewhat delirious from the heat)were the toughest of the course. It involved running The Pier. No trees. No shade. Out and back. Extremely hot. I almost had a meltdown when I realized we had to run around the stupid thing as opposed to turning around in front of it. This was really probably only an additional 0.1 mile, but this explains my level of hate of this portion of the race. We ended up walking a portion of this stupid pier, too. Maybe our longest walk break of the day. Stupid, stupid pier!

After the stupid, long, hot pier, we headed up to downtown St. Pete. At this time, we saw our coaches (both guys; they probably felt like pimps) and yelled at them, so that was a nice distraction. It was fun and all smiles until I realized they were finishing the race. Then, I got angry and bitter. I wanted to be them, but we still had 4 miles to go. Ugh!

The coaches saw this; we did not for another 4 miles

I knew that we were headed to Tropicana Field (home of the Tampa Bay Rays), but I didn't realize that we weren't taking a direct route there. So, when we had to turn to run around a lake in a park, I almost had another meltdown. I was also literally melting. I was hot. Really hot. As in, getting dizzy hot.

After more walking and more water, we dragged ourselves to Tropicana Field. I should have enjoyed this. I love baseball in a serious way. I love the Rays in a serious way. I should have been super-pumped that we got to run around the warning track of the stadium. I DID NOT CARE. I just wanted this race to end.


On the field at a much, much happier time

We walked some in Tropicana Field and some outside of it. Down to our last two miles, I thought I felt a surge of energy. I was wrong. Or it only lasted 0.5 mile. We walked some more and ran some more.

Thankfully, we ran into another coach at about the last mile of the race. She finished the race (in 1:44, no less), and then kept going out to find people in our group and run them almost to the finish line before she ran back for the next group. This was the sweetest thing ever and exactly what we needed. She had us running and running at a pretty good pace for the last mile. As she left us, she said the finish is just around the corner. She lied about that (or our ideas of "just around the corner" are different). But, we finished, and we finished strong!

My official time: 2:48:26 (Oh, my gosh. I am slow, but not that slow. Except on this day). I was really hoping for a  2:35 finish, and based on my training runs, I could do that (of course, our long runs were on 60-degree mornings with no humidity, and this was an 84-degree day with high humidity). I really think the heat and humidity were to blame. My body felt great. I was prepared. Nothing hurt. I just felt out of it. Dizzy. Nauseous.

After about the 6-mile mark of the race, I started feeling disappointed. I wanted to run the entire thing. I wanted to feel good throughout the race. And, things were falling apart fast. I had this feeling the entire race until the finish. Crossing the finish line strong really made these feelings go away (somewhat). I guess I'm still kind of disappointed, but hey, it was my first half marathon. It was unseasonably hot and humid. And, I finished. And got a cool medal. I now remember that this is part of the reason I signed up for this race.

It's so big and shiny! And, it has a detachable charm that you can add to a necklace or charm bracelet ... still haven't decided how I feel about that.

After getting our bling, we headed to the post-race refreshment area. First stop: ice bags. Oh, this felt glorious on my head and chest and neck! I finally could cool down.

After sitting on the asphalt (sitting on the hard ground never felt so good) applying the ice bags for awhile, we decided hit the snacks. I really wanted an orange. They didn't have oranges. But, they did have bananas, frozen strawberries, granola bars, pretzels and yogurt. I took some for later, but couldn't even think about eating anything at this point. All I wanted was liquid. So, I drank more water and more Gatorade along with more water and more Gatorade.

We finally found Caroline's parents and husband and got the cameras out!

Even though the race didn't go as I wanted it, there were a lot of great things about this race:

• Extremely scenic, beautiful course. Sometimes I forget how beautiful it is since I live and run here all the time.
• Well-organized race. Everything seemed to go the way a race should.
• Well-manned and plentiful water and Gatorade stations. This was a lifesaver on this hot day. I really don't think I could have finished without the many, many water stops.
• Great crowd support. It was pretty awesome hearing people you don't know yell your name.
• The Bondi Band did the job! I love this thing! It stayed in place (no headband ever stays on my head), and it prevented sweat from going in my eyes. Amazing!

Really, the only negative things I can think of had nothing to do with the race itself:

• HEAT AND HUMIDITY (Oh, did I mention this before?!?)

I'd definitely do this race again ... on a much cooler day. And, I'm looking forward to my next half marathon in February, when it better be cooler.