Tears of Joy

A few weeks ago I raced in the Columbus Great Prostate Cancer Challenge - Dash for Dad 5K. And it was an awesomely amazing experience!

My father is a prostate cancer survivor, and my mother has worked in the medical field for 31+ years helping to fight against this disease. So needless to say this race really hit home and meant more to me than any other run I have ever completed. And being the girl that I am - naturally I cried during the event.

Sure I have cried during races before. I cried during DC. I cry at almost every race when I cross the Finish Line (always brings tears of joy!) And this race was no exception. The main difference: it was also the first time I ever cried before the race even started. Let me explain.

Early on a beautiful Sunday morning I made my way towards the course's starting point. I only got lost once (silly GPS) but a nice lady gave me directions (after a police officer had given me incorrect directions.) Walking up to the arch made of light blue and white balloons I was filled with lots of different emotions. I was excited and nervous - as I get before the start of every race - but I was also a little bit lonely. My father's cancer played such a major role in my life and this awful disease has affected so many people across the world. I wished for nothing more than to have my family by my side but I knew that it just couldn't happen. I knew I was racing in representation and celebration of the ones I love so much. I even made a bib that I pinned on the back on my shirt to share my feelings with others. (I got lots of compliments throughout the race!) I also wore my prostate cancer awareness pin on my chest. The pin is engraved with the word "daVinci" which is the name of the robot that performed my father's surgery. Keeping it close to the heart.

As we all lined up the event coordinator hopped on the microphone and gave us some directions regarding the course and safety precautions. Then he handed it over to a prostate cancer survivor to share a few words. This is when I lost it. My eyes brimmed with tears and I definitely got choked up. It was a beautiful morning and I was surrounded by so many amazing people - all there fighting for the same cause. And I knew that many many miles away (he happened to be in Brazil that particular day) that my loving father is alive and well and has beat that battle with cancer. So very very blessed.

And then I raced. I ran my little heart out. We ran through a suburban part of the city weaving in and out of neighborhoods and only spent a few moments on a major roadway. I ran and ran and ran. Doin' it and doin' it and doin' it well. One HUGE aspect that definitely kept me going was my music. I created a special "Dad" playlist on my iPod that made me feel extra inspired to keep moving. It featured songs that are special to me and my father, or songs that remind me of him and my family. Read below for the complete list of songs.

J'en ai marre - Alizee
Baby Girl - Sugarland
Breakfast at Tiffany's - Deep Blue Something
Only the Good Die Young - Billy Joel
Elvis Ain't Dead - Union of Sound
Hey, Soul Sister - Train
Hey Jude - The Beatles

This music kept me motivated and encouraged me to continue even when I wanted to stop. One of my main goals for this particular race was to break 30 minutes. And I came SO close. I knew that I had lined up my song playlist perfectly to end with The Beatles "Hey Jude." The part that starts with the "na na na" hit perfectly - right as I turned the corner up the final stretch to the end. As the Finish Line came in sight I amped it up - only to see 30:00 tick past on the time clock. I just missed it and didn't make my goal time. But I kicked it out all the way through and finished just after with a still awesome time!

I ran back under the arch of balloons, was handed a bottle of water and stumbled over out of the way to catch my breath. One thing I had struggled with for much of the race - and took me a little while to recover from post-race - was the fact that I had begun crying so early on during the event. I was physically and emotionally choked up and that led to more difficulty catching my breath. But recover I did. And then I made my way back past the Finish Line and helped to cheer on other runners and walkers as they completed the race.

It was a fantastic experience in which I am so happy to have participated. My family, we are some of the lucky ones. My dad is still here and shares his love with us each and every day. I was so happy to be able to celebrate his survival and the many many more happy years to come!

Note: the first song on my playlist is in French. I do not know what it means nor the translation. I do not speak French. Neither does my father. But he loves this song anyways. Oh, well!

Bib & Chip Etiquette

Whether you are a seasoned runner or new to the game we all need to know the correct etiquette to follow when it comes to race day. Two very important factors that play a big role at these events are race bibs and timing chips.

For any running novices participating in an upcoming race, my first suggestion is to attend the pre-race packet pickup event. This way you can get everything prepared plenty ahead of time to avoid any last minute race-day confusion (like I experienced with Emerald City ... oops!) The folks at these events are running veterans and representatives from the companies organizing the race so they are extra knowledgeable resources and more than helpful when it comes to answering questions.

In your pre-race packet you will receive your race bib, timing device, fliers for running related activities, plus free goodies like samples or tee-shirts.

Here are the best directions to follow when it comes to bibbing up on race day. A race bib serves many purposes. Mainly it works to identify you as a race participant (note: a legal race participant ... and not a bandit.) Many race bibs now also feature your name which is cool because it allows fans to support you by name (I love hearing "Go Carrie!") Race bibs are to be worn on the front and center of your clothing. This way you can receive directions while you are out on the race course. Often times there are multiple types of bibs for a single race (differentiable by color) to indicate which distance you will be running (for example: half marathon vs. full marathon.)

 Wearing a bib on your front will also allow race day photographers to be able to snap pictures and identify you based upon your bib number: later sending you photo proofs by e-mail. If you plan on wearing multiple layers on race day please keep your bib placement in mind: it needs to be visible at all times. Ensure you have four safety pins. Attach the race bib to yourself while standing up (I've made the mistake of pinning it on while sitting in the car ... didn't work so well.) Be sure to also fill out all of the medical and emergency contact information on the back of your race bib in case anything unexpected should occur during the race. One final note on race bibs - they will often have a separate gear check tag flap attached to the race bib. Please REMOVE the bag check flap before attaching the bib to yourself. Nothing screams amateur more.

Many times a race bib will also hold your timing chip. The directions below are for the most commonly used type of timer - I fondly refer to them as "D" timers because of the shape which they make. Remove BOTH strips of the timing chip and tear along the perforation to separate the two pieces. (The one piece features instructions - take a look and read them!) The portion with your bib number printed on it is meant to be looped through the laces and fitted to your shoe. Sometimes you will be given an actual chip instead of the foldable "D" tag. Make sure to follow instructions on race day because you might need to snip it off and return it to the race organizers after you cross the finish line - and you definitely don't want to spoil your race day celebration by getting charged because you accidentally forgot to return a timing chip! Remember that the chip's purpose is to record your time - so that you know how FAST you ran!

Now that the boring facts are out of the way ... let's talk some fun about bibs.

As mentioned in (many) of my previous posts I am a big nerd. I love math, numbers, etc. So oftentimes during races I will play a little game to keep my mind distracted and think about something other than running. I try to find other runners with the bib number closest to my own. This is best played on courses where you take an out and back route - that way you have other racers running directly past you. I will also try to find the lowest bib number (it can be super hard to find the highest ... especially in races with huge fields of runners) or try to find the craziest number combination (666 = bad luck!)

And on a very random note: I seem to always find myself assigned a very low bib number. And I have no idea why! My last name is near the beginning of the alphabet, but not by that much. And I do always register fairly early. But for some reason I was under the impression that the lowest numbers were reserved for the best runners. And judging by my races times this certainly is not true!

Happy bibbing and timing and racing and running!

twentyfour

wow. wow. wow. It seems I have been out of touch for (more than just) a little while. But I'm back with lots of posts coming to catch everyone up to speed!

There have been a lot of things I have accomplished and a lot of things that I have learned in the past few weeks. I have even further confirmed that I am an interval runner. I proved to myself that running with music truly improves my performance. I have slacked off (as usual) with my training and have seen the (lack of) results. I have accepted the fact that I am a fad-chaser: that is I can dive whole-hearted into something only to lose interest very quickly (reads: failed at C90X and spending time at the country club.) But I also have proved to myself that I really do love running (it's funny how I forget so often!) So here's to keeping up-to-date and getting back in shape on the road to success!

A few weeks ago I turned 24. There wasn't too much celebrating on my part. Twenty three was not such a great year for me. It started off on a bad foot and went downhill from there. I lost a lot of things - including myself for a little while - and struggled day-to-day. Those 365 days were marked with very little forward progress. Some yes - but overall very little. It was like I fell so far behind in living my life that the extra efforts I have expended working super hard have only just gotten me back to the place I started from. Oh well - that's life. Even if you take 2 steps forward and 1 step backwards you are still making progress.

Thank you my ever-loving and oh so supportive family and friends. You all helped to get me through a very dark time. I am sorry if I wasn't there when you needed me - I needed to take some time off to find myself again.
But now I am back - and shooting towards becoming better than ever!

The past is in the past and I am putting it behind me.
I am bound to have 24 be the year I make things happen.

The question isn't who's going to let me. It's who's going to stop me.

Cheers to my best year ever (thus far!)

[135 : 0 : 0 : 32.4 : 57.15]

Emerald City

This Labor Weekend I officially kicked off the start of my Fall 2011 racing season. First up was the Emerald City Half Marathon!

The race took place in Dublin, OH (think Dublin ... Ireland ... Emerald Isle ... Emerald City ... etc - not too far of a stretch!) I picked up my race packet earlier last week. I was SO excited to find a really cool race day tee shirt included in our swag bag. It is a women's fitted tee (major plus because many races simply feature a uni-sex shirt - reads: a men's shirt - boo) and this one was in an amazing bright lime green color. SCORE! Random note to any novices: NEVER wear the shirt you got for a race to the actual race. The coolest style is to wear the shirt from the exact same race ... but last year's version. If you didn't run the previous year's race simply wear some of the other shirts you wore while training. DO NOT wear the current year's shirt - it screams
"I DON'T KNOW WHAT I AM DOING!"

cool cool swag

Pre-race started off a little bit rough for me. For some reason ... (cough cough : hangover) I slept the entire day before the race and thus my evening sleep schedule was thrown off a little bit. "Hello Midnight!" Add in there the late night phone call from a sobbing best friend I needed to console - and I was a little bit tired come 5AM on race day. And I think my grogginess contributed to the pickle I found myself in upon arriving at the race site. Running clothes: check. Race bib and timing chip: check. Hat to deal with the rain: check. iPod: check. iPod armband and headphones: check ... err ... SHOOT! So I did remember to charge my iPod. And even loaded an entire new running playlist. I brought the darned thing with me but had no way to listen to it! I think that with my previous race days screw ups with this thing it must be God's way of telling me that I am not meant to race with tunes. (My fighting argument back: but I PR when I have my music!) So I was a little bit tiffed to have to race in silence ... yet again.

on the kitchen counter : right where I had forgotten it

An additional factor adding to my tiredness was the weather. It had lightninged and thunder stormed all night and was still raining on race morning. Once I reached the race site I made a quick bathroom break and headed towards the starting line. The race organizers announced that they were very closely monitoring the weather to determine whether or not the start of the race would need to be delayed. Luckily the biggest cell of bad weather just missed us and we were able to start off promptly at 7AM.

The route was a simple out and back and included both half and quarter marathon distances. The race map took us out a series of country roads and into a park. For over half of the race we were running on paved trails through fields that took us in and out of the woods. It was a truly beautiful morning - the rain stopped exactly as we began running - and a cool breeze rolled in. It was certainly lovely weather for running compared to the previous few days 100 degrees temperatures. I could definitely tell the reason the race is called the Emerald City Half Marathon - because we were surrounded by beautiful greenery as far as the eye could see! It was a very relaxed and calm run. The pack certainly thinned out after the first few miles and I ran in solitude for the majority of the race.

I firmly decided that I definitely enjoy smaller races compared to the bigger event productions. Smaller fields of runners lead to a more genuine and homey feel - everyone is so sincere and welcoming. There is less anxiety and it generally leads to a calmer race day experience. The one factor I do have to give to the larger races is that the stress and excitement and crowd energy generally contribute to my speed and help me to race faster.

I started off strong and was improving my time mile by mile. PR thoughts swam in my head. And then I started to slow down. I was listening to my body and taking it at a slow pace. I did not try to push through the pain or totally wind myself too badly. I walked. A LOT. And I was quite content to do so.

I took it slow and crossed the Finish Line with a decent but not fantastic time. The race day medal was HUGE and made for a really cool souvenir.

The race's after-party also featured some scrumptious treats. I have been absolutely famished over the past few days so I definitely needed to refuel.

asiago cheese bagel = heaven. love.

This race was a great way to jump start my Fall racing series. It was a good gauge to benchmark where I am currently at in my training and to point me in the right direction to perform really well in my (many) upcoming events over the next few months. I certainly know that I need to continue to improve my speed, endurance, musculature, flexibility and stamina. I have re-dedicated myself to my running and I am committed to training hard.

As I was driving away from the race I followed a car out of the parking lot. The make and model to be exact? A Chevy Malibu. I swear it's a sign. Off to Cali in just a few shorts months! (But so many miles to accomplish in between!)

see you in November

Closing note: although I was without my music, there is one song I have recently heard a lot on the radio. It was one of the last songs I listened to as I was driving to the race on Sunday and it stuck in my head as I was running. In fact it helped to get me through a lot of miles. Sort of a morose message but I like it all the same. I am not dying young - I am living.
If I Die Young - The Band Perry

[134 : 13.1 : 13.1 : 13.1 : 37.85]