Runners Unite

It's hard to know what to write on a day like this. It's hard to even fathom that someone would do something like this in the first place let alone at the Boston Marathon. I only started running last summer so I don't really feel like a runner, yet this feels so personal.

I'm not going to tell you anything that you don't already know or feel but next month I'll be doing a half marathon in Green Bay and I was worried that I haven't been getting in the training that I should be. I was worried that I might not do as well as I'd like. But now I just find myself wanting to run for the sake of running. If I don't get the time that I wanted, it just doesn't feel like that big of a deal anymore compared to what some people are going through right now.

Running has literally changed my life. Runners are such amazingly supportive people. They welcome you to their sport with open arms and I'm lucky enough to be part of an an online running group that I love. Runners don't care if you're better than they are. I do races with friends and not once have I been sad that I didn't do as well as they did. I'm happy for them and they are happy for me. At one race, my friend Karen could have had a much better race time but she chose to run together with me and we had so much fun! This is a sport for everyone no matter how young or old you are, whether you are slow or fast, you can be a seasoned runner or a beginner, you can run alone or with other people, race fans don't boo the athletes - in fact they're going to cheer for you even if you're the last person over the finish line and they don't even know you!

In addition the half marathon that I'm doing next month I'm doing a 5K the day before with my friend Kelly. I think Kelly is amazing - she's a 50 something runner (sorry Kelly, I'm giving away your age!) and this will be her first race. One time she said that she was worried about letting me down because she won't be very fast. I told her that this race was all about her. I'm going to stick by her no matter what and we're going to have fun because that's what runners do! She'll see very quickly that runners are a tight knit group and we only want our fellow runners to succeed and do the best job they can. But that's what also makes this more difficult to comprehend. But we are a family, runners are so helpful and generous and this is the reason that we will get through it, move on and dedicate our upcoming races to the victims of the Boston explosions as well as to the runners that finished and did not finish that day. We'll do anything we can to support them. That's what runners do.

Chocoholic Frolic 10K and running costumes!

I completed the Chocoholic Frolic 10K yesterday with friends Karen and Sadie-jo and friends Billie and Heather did the 5K (their first run, yay!!!).  Here is a short sweet recap of that - it was cold and I put on too many clothes and I was boiling half way through the first of two laps and had to shed some layers. I decided to run with a pacer this time (they have a person or two that runs at a certain pace throughout so you can finish at a certain time) and I chose the 1 hour pace group which was a little bit of a stretch as my last 10K time was 1 hour and 3 minutes. Sadie-jo and Karen chose the 53 minute pacer. I stayed with them through the whole first lap and then in the middle of the second lap around the lake I lost them when I had to walk up a giant hill and I never caught up. By the way I had a personal record and I finished in 1 hour and 2 minutes so I'll take that! Afterwards we had the best warm chocolate in a cup and plenty of goodies to dip in it. Seriously, best ever! Also, I haven't seen my race photos yet but as soon as they are, I'll post to show you how I did!

Here is a photo of us after the race!

So you'll notice that I've got on some ridiculous stockings and a sparkle skirt (and notice Karen's lovely sparkle skirt too - she MAKES her own!). When you run the Princess Half marathon not only are costumes allowed, but they are encouraged! And now I'm totally hooked. This was my attempt at Mr. Mint from Candyland but because it was cold I had to add a layer over my white shirt with fake starlight mints attached to it (thanks Amanda!). I love to wear costumes and most of all I love running skirts.  They are my new obsession. Here is my look from last month's Get Lucky 7K (a St. Patty's Day theme).

My friend Karen is crafty and I'm jealous that she knows how to make her own but I'm not even a little bit crafty so I get mine from Team Sparkle where they have tons of colors and they are $25 with free shipping. There is also another great place called Sparkle Skirts but these are much more expensive and I while I've heard amazing things, I haven't been able to pay that much for a skirt. They are much less sheer than Team Sparkle but it doesn't matter to me because I always wear something underneath anyway, and they are a bit longer. They even have some with the shorts attached to the skirt which would be nice.

I've got some upcoming races so I'm now trying to figure out if I should wear costumes or skirts to any of them. I've got the Race For the Cure which will totally be a pink skirt, the Bloomington Women's 5K and I can re-use said pink skirt, the Go Commando mud run and I'm thinking about either a camo skirt (with pink in it of course) or a Wonder Woman inspired outfit. But probably not these shorts - the Wonder Booty shorts.

I am bummed out because I'm doing a half marathon that runs right through Lambeau Field (Go Packers!!) and I'm dying to wear a Packers outfit but I looked at the photos from last year and no one else seems to be doing this. So I'm going to wear a plain old black Nike running skirt with a shirt that says "I run half marathons. I'm lazy that way" that I got from One More Mile. This place is one of my faves too and they sell shirts with very funny running slogans on them.

So now you've got plenty of places to go if you're interested in running skirts. Pinterest has lots of great running costume ideas as well if you're interested. I'll leave you with a final photo from the Chocoholic Frolic if you think that I'm crazy for dressing up. These people did me one better and they dressed (and RAN) as full on Oompa Loompas! Genius!!

Race Photos

Today I would like to talk about race photos! For those of you that are new to running let me explain a little about these dastardly things. I’ve done 5Ks and 10Ks (one 7K) and one half marathon. The race organizers typically hire a photography company that takes sports photos. Photographers are strategically placed along the course to capture action shots of runners. These photos are then placed on the company’s website where you have the option to buy them. It sounds like a great idea doesn’t it? As runners we should really be proud of all of our accomplishments and show off our photos whether it’s a short run or a long run…either way we’re out there running!! If you are lucky and you’re looking for the photographers, you will get a shot like this ridiculously handsome guy running.

However, I do not have great luck with race photos. I am a hideous runner at best. My face gets red, I have a tendency to look down at the ground so my eyes always look like they’re closed, I slouch a bit, my hands are in a weird position (I’m working on this) and it looks like my feet never leave the ground. For some reason I NEVER, EVER see the photographers so I when I go to the website to see if there are any decent photos of me…this is what I get.

Look at the girl next to me. She was clearly looking at the photographer and she looks happy to be finishing her half marathon. And then there's me.

At the half marathon I was even trying to look for them but I missed most of them so all of my shots look like I’m about to die. I did manage to get a few decent race photos there but even some of the ones that I posed for look ridiculous. I had even practiced several potential poses but then when I actually saw the photographers I forgot everything and chose to give the thumbs up instead. Ugh. So I guess this race photo thing will continue to be a work in progress.

So here are some suggestions (trust me, these are not tried and true because I have yet to get any really good photos).

1.       Be aware. Look at your surroundings so you will notice the photographers. I tend to zone out and miss them every time.

2.       When you see them, practice your best running form and look like you’re hauling ass. Then maybe I won’t look like I’m shuffling my feet in all of my photos.

3.       Smile! Even though you feel like hell, just muster a smile for that brief second and you’ll be glad you did when you’re looking through photos.

Those are all of the suggestions I have for today. Let me know if they worked! I’m doing a 10K this weekend and I’ll test my theories and report back!

This is me!

So now that I’ve got my Princess Half Marathon report done, I’ll take a step back and introduce myself! My name is Tracy and I’m a mom of one teenage girl and I’m 41 years old…very close to 42. I used to run cross country in high school and truth be told, I sucked. I didn’t like it AND I sucked. Distance just was not my thing but I loved my teammates so I stuck with it as best I could. I dabbled in track in college until I blew out my knee in the first year and after that I did nothing. Over the course of the next 20 years or so I tried to start working out at the Y, tried swimming (I hate water), I got a bike and it felt very foreign to me and tried some more running but I gave up on all of those. I was just a lazy blob for 20 years. Somehow I lucked out and I had a good metabolism so I equated being a decent weight with being fit. But then age 40 hit me like a ton of bricks I gradually started putting on weight and I’d get winded and tired just riding the escalator. Haha! I couldn't fit any of my work clothes anymore and had to start buying larger pants and flowy tops to hide my spare tire. So last summer I bought myself a pair of running shoes and I was determined to stick it out this time and mainly it was to get the extra pounds off.

Every other week I did Seattle Sutton’s Healthy Eating (they premake your meals for a week with fresh, yummy ingredients with proper portion sizes) and I started running a little bit by my house about two or three nights per week. I started to see some great results and when I got to where I wanted to be, I stopped the Seattle Sutton’s. I honestly think that I would have stopped running and fallen back to where I was if it wasn’t for my friend Sadie-jo. We were roommates in college and she was that one person that “gets me” and we have the same sarcastic sense of humor. We honestly hadn’t hung out for years with just a passing email or lunch every now and then. And I mean few and far between. But one day we discovered that we’d both started running and we decided to do a 5K together. She was a lot faster than I am (and still is) and she could run more miles than I could (and still can!) but she encouraged me and we went on some runs together. I know that she was holding back and going slower than normal and I can’t thank her enough because she got me over that “I hate running” hump and I actually started to enjoy it! And now Sadie-jo and I barely go a day without texting or Facebooking or emailing! It's great to have her back.

Our first 5K was an alumni run at the college we went to and we got our honeys to run with us! Her honey happens to be an amazing runner so it wasn’t hard to twist his arm. My honey however, went into it with virtually no training. They all beat me by a ton but after that I was hooked!! Here is my honey and me after our first race.

By the way, after we finished I said “That was so fun!!! I can’t wait to do it again!” and honey said “I wouldn’t call that fun” and he hasn’t done a race since and just sticks to our treadmill.

I couldn’t wait to find more races and Sadie-jo signed up along with me and we had so much fun! I had so much fun that with only two 5Ks under my belt I decided to sign up for a half marathon! I figured that I should ramp up my training and I made the mistake of going apeshit about running. I knew almost nothing about form and how to take care of myself and I ran myself right into a stress fracture in my tibia. The biggest mistake I made was taking long strides and when I was going downhills I was jamming my feet into the ground while taking those long strides. And combine that with being lactose intolerant and getting very little calcium, it was bad news. So in the middle of training for a half marathon I had to cease and desist. Not a good feeling at all. Luckily it wasn’t a really bad stress fracture and I slowly got back into training and obviously I was able to do the half. I honestly think I could have benefitted from some more time off because I still have pain and I don’t think I let it heal properly but I thought I needed to get out there so I could complete the half. But I did it!

As a person who has only started really running in their 40s, I have so many things to talk about! And so many running related things in general! So thanks for joining me and we can learn about this running thing together!