Saturday, October 15, 2011

ING Hartford Half Marathon

Waaaaay back in August, I bought a Runner's World magazine.  It just happened to be their half-marathon special.  It just happened to have a 10 week training plan in it.  I just happened to figure out that if I started training the next week, I could totally devote 10 weeks to training.  This just happened to bring me right to the time of the Hartford Half Marathon.  Dad had run the full marathon in Hartford in 2008 and 2009.  I had run the 2008 half-marathon, which was fun because the half and the full run the same course for the first mile.  Then, we split and I went one way and he went the other.  In 2010, he was injured and couldn't do the Hartford Marathon.  Instead he headed out to the Linear Trail for what ended up being his last run. 

So, I decided I was going to do the half-marathon for my dad.  I couldn't commit to the full because I only had 10 weeks, school was starting, and I hadn't run more than 7 miles at a clip since 2008.  My training started off just fine.  My "long" runs were 4 miles.  I could totally handle that.  Then as my mileage started creeping up, so did my self doubt.  There were a variety of factors involved.  Like, deciding to indulge in too much food and drink the night before a 7 mile run.  BIG mistake... All I can say is, thank goodness there was a port-a-potty at a construction site along my running route.  8 miles was easy.  I went just before dusk, so I was calm, cool, and collected.  10 miles just so happened to be when the humidity was about 100%.  I made it about 7 miles then had to walk and run the (mostly walk) the last three.  I was so disappointed in my progress.  Up to this point, I also wasn't drinking during my runs.  I know.... not smart... But I didn't want to stop and drink.  And I did realize that this was contributing to me puttering out as I ran, but I kept coming home disappointing in my progress.  So, for my 12 miles, I put a cooler with water outside to entice myself to stop.  Except, I ran 10 THEN decided to stop to drink.  *sigh* Too late.  So those last 2 miles were torture.  The last long run was 9 miles.  Again, I put the water outside.  This time I ran 7 and stopped for a drink.  My boyfriend came out while I was chugging water and said, "Well, you only have 2 more to go!"  At this point, my eyes started to tear as I whimpered, "But I'm so tired and I don't think I can do 2 more!"  He told me to stop then, but I knew I'd feel even WORSE if I stopped.  So I ran/walked the last 2.  Oh, I also forgot to mention that running routes around my condo and my boyfriend's house have some seriously gnarly hills.  I had gotten to the point where I just wimped out at the hills.  After mile 6, I wouldn't even attempt the killer hills.  I'd power walk to the top. 

This all meant that I wasn't feeling so confident approaching my half-marathon.  But I had learned some important lessons (even though they are quite obvious).  Drinking alcohol and running long distances= bad news.  Eating terrible food and running long distances= bad news.  Too much ruffage and running long distances= you guessed it... bad news.  Waiting too long to drink water= bad news too.  And boy oh boy was I getting down on myself.  I don't why, but I was trying to be FAST.  I'm not quite sure who I was competing against exactly.  Somewhere along the way, I forgot why I set out to do this in the first place.  That's where my boyfriend came into play.  After my last long run, he could tell I was feeling frustrated.  He reminded me that I wasn't competing against anyone and that I had set out to do  what my dad hadn't been able to do the year before.  I was doing it for him and he would be proud of me regardless of how long it took.  My boyfriend reminded me that running was fun for me, and that I hadn't been having fun once I started to focus on my times (oh Garmin, why are you so evil?). 

After that, I did the rest of my short training runs with a new attitude.  I did love to run.  It was fun.  I needed to have fun while I was doing it.  Yes, I still wore the Garmin, but just to see how far I was going.  While I was running, I tried to slow my pace enough that I was still having fun and enjoying what I was doing.  I finished my runs feeling invigorated, not exhausted.  Maybe I was ready after all... I just needed to remember this on race day. 

I paid close attention to my diet the week leading up to the race.  I didn't have a drop of alcohol the night before and stayed far, far away from high fiber foods (which my boyfriend says I'm addicted to).  I even ate *gasp* white pasta (a total no-no for me).  Ah, and no salad the day before and frozen yogurt instead of ice cream (a great sacrifice since Friday night is ice cream night).  I was ready!

I have to admit, I felt gooooood running my half today.  The weather was absolutely perfect.  Upper 50's/ Low 60's. Slightly breezy.  White puffy clouds.  Dad was definitely looking out for me today!  I was also good about hydrating.  Starting at mile 6, I made sure to have a drink at every station, which ended up being about every 2 miles.  I started with water, felt brave and had a sip of Gatorade at the next one, felt good about the Gatorade and had another sip at the next one, and chugged and chugged and chugged water after I finished the race.  Right before the end, my mom and boyfriend spotted me and were cheering.  That gave me a great boost!  Prior to that, a girl my age had spotted my shirt and tapped me on the shoulder as she passed and told me I was doing great.  I had taken a picture of dad in the 2009 Hartford Marathon and put "Doing it for Dad" on the top with his birthday and death date on the bottom.  This was also to remind me why I was taking on the 13 miles.  I almost starting crying after her encouragement, but her words helped me as I was closing in on mile 13. 

I ended up finishing (unofficial right now) in 2:04:09 or a 9:30 mile.  Not too shabby for me!  I thought I killed my 2008 time, but looked it up and realized it had done it in 2:05:35 three years ago.  Most importantly though, I had a wonderful time.  Running the 13.1 miles was almost effortless.  I was calm and comfortable the entire time.  Dad must have been there pushing me along. 

Now after the race was a different story.  I felt sick, sick, sick and sore.  A banana and half a bagel later I felt a bit better.  I am sorry to say though (and I apologize to my father) that I did not use my free beer ticket after the race.  I just couldn't stomach the thought of it.  I'm sure he understands though :o)

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Some more photos

Stephanie flys through fire

Jim as "James Brown"
Slogging through the mud
My mom said I knew you could do it, you are a Sattler
My nephew congratulating me on being dirty.

My twenty yards of running.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

My Turn! (Views from the Warrior Daughter) and edited by Warrior Kathy

I've definitely meant to write about at least one of the 5K's I've done during this summer, but I slacked and never got around to it.  My friend, her roommate, and I ran the GE Petit 5K back in July.  Dad and I had done this race together ever since it started in 2008.  My most favorite memory of this race was from back in 2009, where dad and I held hands crossing the finish line, finished in one of my best times, and beat one of my ex-boyfriends by 2 seconds  (read about it here).  Plus, dad and I always loaded up on Sobe Life Water 0 after the event among the other fabulous give-aways.  It was our yearly tradition.  So, I was thrilled this year when my best friend said she'd run it with me.  My loving boyfriend bowed out (I guess he didn't bow in to begin with), but he said he'd be there to cheer me on.  That's why I did a little happy jig when I found out my friend would be running with me.  Oh, and her and her boyfriend's roommate too.  He also happens to be another ex-boyfriend.  I seriously don't have that many, but they keep cropping up at this race.  I don't know what it is, but it's like a magnet for them.  No ill will towards him though since he'd be running with us.  Anyway, it was supposed to be like a billion degrees that day and a billion percent humidity.  Luckily, the race started at 9:00 so it was only around 85 degrees and 90% humidity.  I started off feeling fast and furious and started to feel more slow and furnaced as the race went on.  Luckily, lots of people set up sprinklers along the way to help you cool off.  I don't drink and run when it's a 5K (I choke on the water...plus the glugging in my gut is too much), so I slowed down to a slog (slow jog) at mile marker 2 so my friend could catch up after she had her water.  That's where we lost ex-boyfriend #2 because he started walking for a bit.  I can't blame him though.  It was H-O-T!  I finished in 27:20, which is a miracle because I thought I might spontaneously combust at the end :o)

And now to August 13, 2011... Warrior Dash Day!
As you all know, mom took dad's place in the Warrior Dash this year.  This made it a special event.  So my uncle, aunt, 2 cousins, and grandmother all came along for the adventure.  We were signed up to run at 12:30, but once we had gotten our bibs, chips, t-shirt, and hat and gone to the bathroom it was 11:50 (oh I forgot... some of this time was spent pointing out men in Batman underpants-- there were like ten of them that day-- and another man dressed like Wonder Woman to my 12 year old cousin who didn't seem to enjoy looking at either).  You can technically run at any time during your day and my boyfriend "wanted to get this over with," (love you!) so we lined up for the 12:00 wave.  This actually sounded good to me because I had some serious butterflies in my stomach.  We were waaaaaaay at the end of the starting chute, but I wasn't too concerned because it's all up the ski mountain for the first mile and a half and you don't start getting time until you cross the starting line.  Before the race, my boyfriend had bet me we'd see a banana costume.  I said we'd see men in Speedo's.  No bananas, but we did see a Big Mac costume.  And no Speedo's per say, but there was a plethora of super hero under-roos.  We were behind a group of women dressed as Catholic school girls (more on this later).  The flames went off and we got started.  Some people are jogging to the starting line.  Uh uh.  No way, Jose.  I'm not running up this hill any sooner than I have to.  I'll start slogging once I'm over the starting line.  I high five the some dude yelling stuff on a microphone and off I go!  Yep, that lasts for, oh... 30 seconds?  Time to power walk up this mountain!  Thank goodness I've inherited dad's long legs so I can pretty much out-walk my own slogging.  I'll just break down the obstacles...
1. Barricade Breakdown: Basically a series of hurdles with barbed wire you need to crawl under on the other side.  I just use my long legs here to step over, pull the other leg over, and crawl under the wire.  Unfortunately, I get stuck behind a woman going a little too slow for my liking.  I take a deep breath (okay several of them) to remind myself that this is just for fun NOT time. (Stephanie was able to throw a leg up and over these walls, but since they were nearly chest high for me, I had to pull myself up and over, it was however, easier for me to get under the barbed wire.)
2. Road Rage:  Run through tires (boot camp style) with several sets of cars and trucks in the way that you need to climb over.  I learned from my boyfriend last year (when I told him he was cheating) that it's easier to bounce off the outside of the tires instead of tip-toe through the middle of them.  This was fun, fun, fun!  I also think there was some flat space after this so I could run (for maybe a minute). (This is where I received my first injury.  I was not able to step up on the bumpers of the second set of cars, so a fellow slow poke warrior offered a helping hand, I slipped and banged my thigh on the fender.  That bruise is now a lovely yellow-green.)
3. Teetering Traverse: Sets of balance beams that go up, and down, and up, and down, and up, and down.  Some of them are skinnier than others.  Some of them have little wooden blocks set up on them to keep your feet from sliding too far forward.  Some of these blocks are way too far apart on the ones that go down to actually do anything, so I had to slide my foot far forward to ensure I wouldn't slip off.  I learned later that mom went down on her bottom to make sure she didn't fall off (and to think I was worried about her!). (Stephanie didn't mention that I tore a hole in the rear of my shorts when I scooted down the beams.  Thank goodness I was wearing underwear, not princess underroos, however, but maybe next year.)
4. Deadweight Drifter:  The same icy cold pond from last year, but this time with chained logs in the middle that you need to get over.  The first one I could swing my leg over and boost myself to the other side.  The second one, not so much.  A woman next to me and I figured out if we counted "1, 2, 3!" and rolled stomach first over the log at the same time, it was much easier, so we did this for the next 3.  At some point during this obstacle I obtained a nasty hand sized black bruise on my back thigh and scraped knee.  However, I didn't even notice these until I had washed off at the end of the race.  I did rip my bib off my shirt from rolling on my tummy though and had to stop to re-attach it. (I also figured out that the only way I was getting over those logs was to wait for some guy from the next wave of warriors to push the logs down so I roll over them.  But alas, as one young ginger haired warrior glided over the log it came up fast and spun me head first right into the water. I am now soaked and mud covered, but made over the remaining logs, picking up several more bruises on the way.)

At this point, the race was all down hill.  Literally.  This means that I could run, but I needed to make sure I wasn't going to slide, trip, and/or fall on my way down. ( I gingerly picked my way down the mountainside)

5. Cliffhanger:  More wading through giant, muddy, puddles.  Luckily, this one only went up to my ankles(over my knees).  Then, use a rope to climb up a large wooden wall.  Thank goodness I took a rock climbing class!(In my humble opinion, this was one of the easiest obstacles, who needs a rock climbing class, when you are a mom)
6. Deadman's Drop: Climb up a wooden wall to find a straight drop down another wooden wall on the other side.  The straight side had a little lip that I lowered myself onto and jumped off of (me too, just scrapping skin off the inside of my elbow).  The guy next to me said, "Well that's not safe."  Trust me, I know!
7. Rubber Ricochet:  This can best be described as a bunch of tire swings hanging that you need to get through.  I also think it was the weakest obstacle.  If you don't hit the tires, they can't swing back at you.  It's just that easy!  So, I just zig-zagged my way through them. (being short, it was easy to duck through the tires)
8. Cargo Climb:  Definitely a bigger cargo net than last year!  Last year the was also a platform on top so you could easily lower yourself down onto the other side.  Not this time!  It was straight up and straight down.  The only problem that was I somehow picked the spot where two ladies were freaking out about going over.  Yes, I know, that's not nice.  But, they had come to a dead stop at the top.  So I was stuck too!  I couldn't move over because a steady stream of people were using the net next to me.  Finally, one woman's husband came to the rescue, and off I went! (I had men come to a dead stop at the top.  Finally an obstacle I could easily manage and I had to wait at the top as well.  It seems obstacles were a bit easier further into the race.  I was just dead tired from the 1.5 mile uphill hike)

9. Chaotic Crossover:  More cargo nets, but this time parallel to the ground like a spider web.  The hardest part about this was that people were getting backed up so you had to be patient about moving forward (which I obviously wasn't doing so good with that day).  I had a nice little pattern worked out. I'd sit on my tush on the wooden beam, stand and put my hands down to walk, and repeat until the end. (no sitting for me, I bent over and used my hands on the cross beams to balance as I picked my way across the ropes)
10. Petrifying Plunge (aka the giant slip-n-slide): I heart this obstacle.  It's so much fun that I'd run the whole race to do it again... okay, maybe not. (I whole heartedly agree) But it's the best part of the whole thing!  You lay down on your belly and WHOOOOOOOOSH!  You fly down into a mud puddle!  Plus it feels super great after all that sweaty hard work you've been doing.  I did, however, lose my sunglasses.(kept my sunglasses the whole time, even when I got dunked.)  They were on the top of my head and went flying off as I went flying down the hill.  Duh.  Go figure, right?  Good thing they were cheap and old!
11. Warrior Roast: Leap over two sets of fire!  I had some sweet momentum here, so I really did leap.  It felt like I was flying!  This is where I heard my uncle, aunt, cousins, and grandma cheering for me.  I gave them a thumbs up and leaped again!  After I was done with the race, I watched other people cartwheel and somersault over the fire.  Also very cool. (I heard the cheering too and this is only spot I actually ran, playing to the camera of course.)
12. Muddy Mayhem: Scramble through the mud under barbed wire.  I got stuck here last year because I tried to swim my way through.  That's why my boyfriend beat me by mere seconds last year.  I kept expecting him to catch up to me again this year.  Really though, you just have to crawl.  Much quicker and easier and great for beating your boyfriend this year by almost a minute (really, I'm not competitive...I just have to poke at him a little).

And that brings us to the finish line!  I finished in 45:51.75, (1:27:08.45)which was 168 out of 1050 in my age division (133 out of 146) and 2667 of 9292 (8691 of 9292) overall.  This put me way in front of the man dressed like Wonder Woman (and me way, way behind).  Not too shabby!  And yes, I was worried about my mom for a bit.  Those obstacles were tough and my mom is a good half foot shorter than me.  I had used my height to help me through a lot of the course plus I had seen a few game ending injuries along the way.  But, as my grandma had said, "Of course she'll finish.  She's my daughter!"  And she did (right behind those Catholic school girls we'd been with at the beginning of the race)!

After the race, we hosed down, got some food, and turned our chips in for some beer.  My boyfriend and I also got these sweet Warrior Dash beer steins that hold 32 ounces of beer (after all, dad totally would have gotten one).  And no, I couldn't finish it myself.  I had to share with mom and my aunt.  I may be a warrior, but I can't drink like one.  

I can't wait for next year's race to be posted because I'm so in!  I hope mom is too!(maybe, I did notice registration is now open for next year)

Oh and I'm thinking about doing the Hartford Half Marathon as a tribute to dad.  I ran it in 2008 when dad did the Hartford Marathon for the first time.  I'm not ready for a marathon yet.  I'm technically training for it using a 10 week plan from Runner's World, which actually has me running less than usual at the beginning and forces me to take rest/ cross training days.  I've already cheated and run more than I'm supposed to and use my rest days for arms, abs, and elliptical.  I figure the cheating will stop once the mileage increases.  I'm pretty positive I'm going to do the half, especially since I saw that Al Roker had done the Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon. No offense to anyone that loves Al Roker, but I pretty much took that as my sign of "You can do it!"  (Go for it Stephanie, it will be a great one year tribute to your dad)

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Post race

This is a photo of Waldo, my mom Virginia, me, my daughter Stephanie and her boyfriend Jim.

Made it under the time limit imposed by my daughter

And I lived to tell about it.  So it took me 1:27:08.45 to finish  the grueling 3.2 miles,but I made in less than the 90 minutes my daughter set before she would panic. She panicked anyway, when medics brought a couple of people in from the course, but then I emerged from the trees slid down the giant slip n' slide, ran through fire, crawled through the mud under barbed wire and crossed the finish line, bruised, scrapped and covered in mud from head to toe.

What made the finish sweeter was when my daughter and her boyfriend said the course this year was much harder than last years.  I am a Warrior!

I will post photos as soon as my brother sends along.


Thursday, August 11, 2011

I am going to do this

In less than 48 hours I will be at the bottom of a ski slope getting ready to take that first step, then the next one and the one after that.  I will finish. 

My daughter and her boyfriend have given me 90 minutes before they start worrying about me.  They say that is twice the time it will take them to finish, so even walking I should be able to finish in under 90 minutes.  I am hope to do it in less than an hour, but will be happy with 90 minutes. 

My baby brother is coming along to photograph the event for us.  I hope the pictures are in focus, because I think there will be much laughing.  The photos will be posted as soon as we can get them uploaded. 

Stay tuned,

Kathy (a/k/a the Warriorwomen)

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Warrior Dash August 13th, 30 days to go, oh my!

I have been working to increase my endurance, so I can make up that f*****g ski slope to the obstacles.  Lots of uphill walking, but Rick would be proud that I am running (slowly) down the hills after walking up. Maybe I should sneek into a local ski slope to see if I can make it up the mountain.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Two months to the Warrior Dash

Ok, on Saturday at a fundraiser for a scholarship fund in Rick's memory(the school he worked for organized a wonderful bowling event), I verbally committed to doing the Warrior Dash on August 13th.  Now I just need to get moving so I am not the last person on the course.  To those of you that have seen the course at Wyndham ski area, the hill is extremely daunting.  If I can make it up the hill (it will be hard on these short legs of mine), the rest of the course maybe doable.  Feel free to offer me encouragement as I get ready for this trek.  I will try to keep you updated on my progress and there will be pictures of the dash for sure! 

Have a good run today and every day.  By the way, I am walking not running.

Kathy

Thursday, April 21, 2011

To all you Boston Marathon runners

I want to give everyone who was running in the Boston Marathon a shout out.  Being an accountant, April 18th was the last day of tax season, so I had other things on my mind. Patriot's day must have been later in 2010, or I would never have met Jill and Meg. Hope all went well for you and here's to your next adventure.   My daughter is still trying to convince me to take Rick's place in this year's Warrior Dash in New York.  He registered for it as soon as he could.  She says I can walk it if necessary.  Thinking seriously about it, now that I have a few months to get ready.