Maine-tastic

This last weekend, I had the opportunity to run a marathon relay in gorgeous Bar Harbor/Mount Desert Island, Maine.

It wouldn't have happened without my sweet friends Sarah and Danielle. We had an out of control great time in Boston, and I knew this trip would be no different.

I was right--it was a blast! We had super yum food, an amazing course, too much laughter, lots of singing, and lots of fun!
The bridge crossing onto the Island.
Tourist ahoy!

As promised, I led us in a sing along that consisted of Les Mis, Phantom, The Sound of Music and Brigadoon.
"Christine, that's all I ask of youuuuuuu!"/"One day moooorrrrrree!"/"Do re mi"/"Go home with bonnie Jean".
I have mad curling iron singing skillz, yo.


The Royal Sisters! I don't know if you can really see, but, the shirts have crowns on them. Brought them back from Buckingham Palace. Oh yes I did.
Oh ya know, Danielle's just painting her nails before the race. Team Green!
What up, mile 7. Supposedly, there is nothing between me and Europe at this point, except water. Which brings me to: GET ME A BOAT!
Danielle and I ready to run.
My Maine Girls! Love them so much!
Mmmhmm. I ran 13.1 miles with THIS as my scenery. And by "ran" I mean stopped every five seconds to take pictures, duh.
Start line!
Danielle's hot legs.
Look, fall!
View from the top of Cadillac Mountain--the first place in the continental U.S to see the sunrise.
Bar Harbor view from Cadillac Mountain.
Duh.
Somes Sound, the only fjord in the northeast U.S. You know I love me a good fjord.
Bar Harbor sunset.



I know!
If this doesn't scream New England fall, I don't know what does!
Driving the course--AFTER the race! It was hilly as all get out, so, uh, probably a good thing that I didn't know what I was getting into.
Traditional post race ice cream.
Danielle basking in her 26.2 glow.


Pre dinner photos.
Standard.
Clearly, I think I'm still in London.
That's my girl, Sarah KILLING IT. She had an amazing race and I'm so proud of her.

I can't tell you how good the salt air was. Therapeutic for this beach baby for sure!


Our first post race photo. I had the best time and would never had the chance if it wasn't for these two. Love you both to the moon and back!
I had an amazing time and can't wait for next year! Thank you, Maine for being so.much.fun!

Updates. Because that's all I've got.

Yes, I am a bad blogger--sorry! I blame work. I mean, I gotta blame someone, this can't possibly be my fault. Or can it? Hm. Something to ponder.

1. I took off a week after Cowtown, which was dumb, and now I'm faced with 18 miles on Saturday. HA! That is a funny, funny story. My hip begs to differ, as does the fact that I'm hosting a baby shower at my house, sooooo, I'll be cutting the run short so I can zip home and make myself pretty before the guests arrive. See also: Why do I do the things I do? It's a mystery folks.

2. Last year, I was getting ready to run the Catalina Marathon. I'm more than a bit pissy that I'm not doing that this weekend. It was so.much.FUN!

3. I'm also more than a bit pissy that I might have to work an event in New Jersey instead of you know, watch the royal wedding and such and also miss out on running the Oklahoma City Marathon. Priorities people, priorities.

4. I shouldn't be so bitter and pissy. Our receptionist bought us caffeine free Diet Coke. Obviously, there's a correlation.

5. My home decor projects are coming together! Hopefully they'll be finished by the time this girl comes to visit me in April. Otherwise, I apologize in advance and I'll pay for your room at the Hilton.

6. It's a really nice day here today. I should be eating chips and queso on a restaurant patio or something. I'm not, obviously.

7. I haven't cooked an actual meal in like a week. Again, I blame work.

8. I had lunch with this sweet mama to be yesterday. It took everything I had not to slap her for being so dang cute. I have no babies and am going gray. She on the other hand, is pregnant and looks younger. I'm gonna need to know her secret....

9. I fully intend an Anthro shopping spree this weekend. I have a sore throat, that will help right? Like vitamin C for the soul?

10. My niece has gone to like 500 doctors in the past month--poor girl, they can't figure out what's wrong with her. My sister is about to lose her mind. I wish I lived closer!

11. It's almost Spring!

12. It's almost Friday!

What's new with you?

xoxo,
SP

Back In The Game

I had this race over the weekend. It was a half marathon. I had signed up for the ultra marathon because a) I wanted redemption from my failed attempt and b) one of my friends signed up for it, so, I figured "hey, instant training buddy".

But, life got in the way. I was super busy with work. Sick. A lot. Tired, and just plain burnt out.

Running wasn't fun anymore. It was a chore to get up before the sun to get in a few miles. It was a chore to attempt to race home from work and get in a few miles before having to cook dinner and settle in for the evening. It was just too much.

So, I wasn't running. A secret I hopefully was able to keep from you all, but, I wouldn't be surprised if you figured it out either. I wasn't exactly spouting off about my awesomely wonderful 15 mile runs.

I knew that if I didn't run on Sunday, I would regret it. I would kick myself and I'd be annoyed.

I also knew that it could end very, very badly, but, at least I'd have a shiny new medal and a few miles under my belt so gosh darn it, let's do it.

So, I did. 13.1 miles, done and done.

It was a strange race.

My Garmin decided to die minutes before the start, we were almost late to the start and the course changed so much to become flatter, that instead of being hilly but at least scenic and interesting, it was flat and boring as all get out.

I was bored out of my ever loving mind. My iPod was handy, but, I couldn't see my pace so I had no mental games to play with myself, so, it was just "keep a'movin'" until I couldn't.

Luckily, by mile 8, the miles started ticking off faster and after a hell of a hill climb at mile 9, I was on the downhill (literally) stretch home.

Today, I'm sore, go figure, but, I managed to pull out another race.

Two massive blisters, a swollen ankle and exhaustion, but, I'm still so glad I'm a runner. It's who I am, after all.

Here's hoping I'm back in the game!

(in case you're wondering, my knee and IT Band held up amazingly! I'm hopeful this is a sign of good things to come)

Proudest Day of My Life

If you follow me on Twitter, you know that there was a lot of talk about registration for the Marine Corps Marathon yesterday. Registration opened at 11AM central time yesterday and you can bet your bottom dollar I was hitting "refresh" on that website every five minutes starting at 10:30.

I got myself a spot in my most favoritest marathon ever and did a happy little jig around the office. My office mates were not amused.

Then, on my post marathon registration high, I remembered that my mother in law had told everyone at Christmas that running a marathon was on her bucket list (no, really, she did. I have witnesses). She had been to my first marathon and was really inspired.

I told her that Marine Corps would be the perfect race to do because it's the end of October, which gives her plenty of time to train, and it's such a unique experience.

So, I started harassing her via text, g chat and email. I didn't hear back so I assumed the answer was no.

Well, on my way home yesterday, she agreed to go for it! She's registered for the 2011 Marine Corps Marathon! Y'all, I want to cry I'm so excited. She's not a runner. Like, at all. Even a little bit. We're starting from scratch, but, I know she can do it.

I'm workin' up a training plan and cannot wait to cross that finish line with her. I am going to be by her side the entire way. If that means we walk/run, that's fine with me.

If y'all thought I was emotional about Marine Corps last year, just wait until I recap running a race with my favorite lady in world. It.will.be.AWESOME.

In other news.... my freaking IT band sucks booty and I'm totally gonna have to basically walk this damn half marathon this weekend (yeah, remember when I signed up for the ultra? Yeah, janky hip puts a hitch in that plan. 13.1 it is. Although this bad ass chick is running the ultra). But, I gotta do it. I gotta do it!

Can't wait to tell y'all about my momma's marathon progress!

Marine Corps Marathon

It's taken me forever to get this race recap posted, but, I thought in honor of Veteran's Day, I would post it.

I’ve never loved saying “Oorah!” more than I did on Sunday, October 31, 2010. Y’all. Y’all. Y’ALL. There are no words. But, I’m going to try to find some.

I knew that going into this race it would be emotional, I knew that. I got all emotional when we drove past The Mall arriving the other night, I mean, I knew I’d lose it at the race. Well. Well.

We had VIP passes, so, we got to park at Ft. Meyer and walk up to the race, which was really close. As we’re walking to the start, we look off to our right and the sun is just starting to peak out, and you can see the rolling hills of Arlington National Cemetery. The tears started! I mean, these are people who sacrificed and served for our country. Ohhhh the tears.

We checked into VIP and you know, hung out with the Chairman of the Armed Forces Committee and you know, Jill Biden!!!! Holy jeezus. Remind me of this day if I ever complain about my job, k? (don't have a pic of the husband and the VP's wife because he didn't want to bother her. His words: "She's a heck of a lot prettier in real life! And a lot smaller!")

I have a picture of my husband and the Commandant of the Marines. Um. With his arm around my husband like they’re old friends. Um?!

The Marine Corps band and the color guard lined the route to the start line, the USMC emblem was everywhere. Marines were shaking our hands and encouraging us. They were cheering us on. Me. Little ol’ me. Ummm, backwards much?

Marines manned the water stops and aid stations, they oorah’ed me the whole way! They high fived me. They encouraged me.

They cheered each other. They saw friends they’d served with. I saw fathers running for lost sons, I saw mothers running for lost sons, I saw brothers running for theirs lost in service, I saw so many moving things.

I finished my 26.2 mile trek at the Iwo Jima Memorial and the tears started again! I’m such a chick!

I ran past the White House, The Capital, The Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, The Jefferson Memorial—it was a once in a lifetime experience and I’m so lucky and grateful to have run it.

Seriously amazing. Hello, a race put on by the military?! These are my people! Organized like whoa.

I saw Marines carrying 70 year old women across the finish line. I saw Marines hoisting little boys in wheelchairs onto the bleachers to watch the race—to which, I started getting emotional and my husband goes “Oh, I’ve seen things like that all day”. Even he, boring ol’ cynical man, admitted that it was the best race he’d ever been to.

As we ran up the final hill to the finish line, it was filled with Marines cheering us on (yeah, cause, you know, they were sparse the rest of the way—kidding!) and high fiving us and they were genuinely happy to be there.

We finished, and Marines were handing us water and blankets and telling us where to go. We lined up to get our finisher medals and a young Marine put a medal around my neck and said “Oorah, congratulations, babe!”. And I wanted to hug him. But, I didn’t. Because I didn’t want to you know, get taken down by snipers or anything (yes, there were snipers).

As you know, my IT band has been giving me fits lately and I felt good going into the race. I was optimistic (which was stupid). I can usually tell by mile 4 how the day is going to play out. At mile 4, I felt great. At mile 5, I felt great. Mile 6, 7, 8? Awesome. Awesome. More awesome.

Then, around mile 9, we were rounding a corner on a downhill and it happened. Blinding, puke inducing pain. My vision got blurry and I could hardly walk, let alone run. Awesome. So, I started limp running. You know, that run where you basically jump on one foot and run? You don’t know what I’m talking about? Consider yourself lucky.

And then I had to move to power walking. For reals. And then I could run with little spurts for a few minutes until my eyes would go blurry from the pain. So I started power walking. And stretching. And whining. I’d forgotten my iPod and let me tell you, 16 miles is a long ass way to go with no music and just your thoughts. Turns out? I don’t have that many thoughts!

And I’m thinking if I can get halfway, I can totally do this. I’m not going to quit. My husband texted me to ask if I wanted to quit (since he and my family were tracking me and could see that I'd slowed down). Heck no! If our men and women in uniform don't quit, I don't quit!

Then, around mile 12 (?), I don’t remember, a Marine comes running up behind me, pats me on the shoulder and says “God bless Jack”, since, I was wearing an Operation Jack shirt and all--and I had a bib on my back that said "Going the Distance for Jack".

Whew. Well. My life doesn’t suck. It isn’t that bad. So, I start running. And I can only run for a few minutes at a time, but, I’m still running. And then walking. And I keep this up until about mile 17 where I get a burst of energy and manage to run for a few mile straight. This is through The Mall, behind the White House, in front of the Capital Building—pretty awesome.

Then we get to The Bridge (you have to cross The Bridge in a certain time so they can reopen it to traffic--wasn't an issue at all until I got hurt), which I was so nervous about because I was losing serious speed due to my IT band and my knee (which gave out right before “God bless Jack”) and I didn’t want to get pulled off the course, so, once I made it to the bridge, I didn’t even care what happened.

I really battled a lot of feeling sorry for myself thoughts once I was relegated to walking/run walking/power walking. Luckily, those were fleeting. I was being cheered on by the military. Dudes. My life isn’t that bad. And I smiled because I was running!! I was running a freaking marathon!

Remember, a year ago, I was scared to run one? Well. I’ve run five now! And I get to run outside and not be worried about my safety because these men and women protect us! Life doesn’t suck!

Around mile 21 I started to smile and remind myself that this is what I do. I run marathons.

My dad and my husband live in some weird fantasy world where they think this should be my last marathon. They are wrong. I will keep doing this until my legs fall off. Which, actually might be sooner than later at the rate I’m going, but, still!

Miles 20-24 were painfully long, through Crystal City which was really neat and packed with spectators, but, I just wanted to be done. I was sick of moving so slowly and wanted to run already.

I high fived the Marine Corps MC (Band of Brothers) around mile 24—they were out on their bikes cheering us on. For whatever reason, that totally cracked me up.

I picked it up and tried to run it in. I managed to run a bit of mile 25 and we were so, so close. You could hear the spectators. You could see where we started earlier that morning. I knew Arlington was coming up.

At mile 26, I buckled down and ran up that hill. Ran up to the finish lined with Marines. Lined with Americans. Lined with family.

It was by far, the best race of my life.

I would highly, highly recommend this race to anyone. Totally organized, so well put on, so emotional and moving. There’s a 10k too! Run the 10k! It’s so, so worth it.

I’m so grateful to the men and women who’ve served and sacrificed for me. I’m so moved by it all. So grateful to the wives of servicemen who sacrifice for us all. I’m so grateful to them all.

I wouldn’t be able to run a marathon in our nations capital if it wasn’t for them.
God bless the USA.

Semper Fi and Oorah!

Me and my bib in front of the course map at the expo. My lucky number is 8, so, I figured 2x2=4. 4x2=8. Awesome.
This was the photo above our bed in the hotel room. It was meant to be!

Finishing with a smile on my face.
The US Marines and Royal Marines at the expo. Um, hello, men in uniform with accents? Please and thank you.
Start line shot.
I love this photo.
Jefferson Memorial with the Washington Monument in the background. Awesome.
The United States Capital Building. Word.
My proud papa tracking me online all the way from California (note: this was also the day he discovered how to send me a picture via text. I'm a proud daughter!) (I don't look anything like him, do I?)
Finish line. (do you see the boy in the wheelchair in this picture? His dad is active duty and running the marathon and he is the little boy who the Marines hoisted up onto the bleachers to watch his dad start. And one of the many generals there, gave him a little lapel pin. Ohhh the tears!)

There I go! Crossing the finish line. You can kinda sorta see the bib on my back that I had made for Jack.

Me and my biggest fan after the race.

It.was.awesome. I cannot wait until next year!

Oh, also, off topic, but, whatever. Who watched the CMAs last night? Basically, I want to look like Carrie Underwood, hang out with Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert (how cute are they, seriously?) and run away with Dierks Bentley.