So I went down to the Breezy Point Triathlon last weekend and . . . (drumroll please) . . . I finished all three events! I rode to victory on my brand new fancy front tire. (And by victory, I mean I finishing 39/63 in my age group and 440/593 overall with a time of 1:43:07:30.) My favorite part of this tri (besides NOT panicking in the swim and NOT getting a flat tire on the bike) was wearing my new DC Tri Club uniform. People who don't even know me would yell things like "Go DC Tri!" It's so much more fun when you have people to cheer you on.
My swim time was 20:49:80, which actually is a vast improvment from my 19:38 time at Luray. The swim course there was only a 1/2 mile (750m), while this one was a full 1K. According to this swim pace calculator, my time for a half mile would have been about 16:00 minutes. Additionally, I paced myself and sited properly this time so I didn't panic and actually felt good when emerging from the water.
In my age group, I finished 30th on the swim, and was ranked 40th on the bike and 47th on the run. Since my final rank was 39, only 9 fellow female 25-29 year olds passed me once I got out of the water. I guess that's not too shabby.
I remember chatting with a woman I worked with briefly in Corpus Christi right before I did my first race in Austin last year. She was a hard core triathlete -- she started doing ironmans on a whim and didn't take long before she qualified for Hawai'i. Anyway, she coached swimming before going to law school, so the swim was obviously her best event. She totally cracked me up when she was telling me that during her first ironman, as she was starting the bike ride everyone who passed her would yell "Nice swim!" She said that she must have been really slow on the bike ride (well, comparatively) because at Mile 75 people were still yelling out "Nice swim!" I always think of that when the usual hordes of people pass me as soon as I get on my bike. So whenever someone whizzes by me at mile 8, I think to myself, "Wow, I must have really kicked your ass on the swim if you're just now passing me!"
Small world report -- this hardcore ironwoman triathlete, Heather, worked for one of the magistrate judges in CC and left around the same time as I did because her husband was in the service and was transferred to somewhere on the East coast. Anyway, when I checked the results for Breezy Point, I noticed that she was there and won the open women's division!
Next race: Sunset in New Jersey on July 22, 2006.
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Sunday, May 14, 2006
See Emma Tri
This morning I competed in my first triathlon of the season, which was kind of a bust (literally) but definitely still good fun.
I registered for the Luray Sprint Triathlon, a race nestled in the heart of the Shenandoah, about a month and a half ago on the suggestion of my co-worker Kristi. Despite our original grand plan to spend the weekend camping and hiking before the race on Sunday, we ended up just driving down there for the day, departing DC at 4:45am.
I've been really busy at work lately, and only finally decided to go yesterday afternoon. On the drive down, I was reflecting on the difference between doing this race and my first triathlon last June. When I did the Austin Danskin, I made sure to go to bed early two nights before the race, I spent the day prior carb-loading and hydrating, and even took Monday off of work so I wouldn't have to drive the three and a half hours back to Corpus Christi following the race. This time it was just like, can I squeeze in a triathlon to my schedule this weekend if I work 11 hours on Saturday and go straight to work after the race on Sunday? I also didn't really have much riding on this triathlon, nor had I really been gearing up for it. (Apologies for the cycling puns.) Rather, I thought of this race as a beginning of the season diagnostic.
See Emma Swim
Swimming is definitely my strongest of the three events, but I was a little disappointed in my performance this time. I started out swimming way too fast and got tired before I even swam past the first buoy. In other races I've done, it was difficult to swim quickly at the outset because tons of other bodies are around you and on top of you. This race was not as crowded and I easily pushed ahead. Not only did I swim too fast, but I also got disoriented and had to swim extra to get back on the right course. Because of this, I spent a significant portion of the first quarter mile in panic mode and had to stop frequently to do an easy breast stroke. Luckily I calmed down and pulled it together in the second half. I think my time was about 18 minutes, which is about 2-3 minutes slower than my usual half-mile open water time. I am a little disappointed, but at least I learned the value of pacing myself.
See Emma Bike
My bike got a flat a couple weeks ago when the innertube in the front tire randomly exploded when my bike was in the back seat of my car. (A friend suggested this was likely due to the tire's rapid change in temperature when I put it in the hot car.) When I replaced the innertube last night, I noticed a small tear in the tread of the tire itself. I read on the internet that you can prevent a puncture in the tube by placing a piece of fabric or a dollar bill in between the tube and the tread. I did this, using some left over fabric from IKEA, but I was definitely nervous about my tire holding up during the race.
Sure enough, the front tire blew out around Mile 3. I didn't have an extra innertube (I had used my last one the night before), and assumed that the problem was with the tire itself and replacing the tube wouldn't do much to prevent another flat. I started to walk my bike back to the transition area, but stopped at Mile 2 where another woman had stopped and was fixing a flat on her bike. Shortly after this, a woman rode by and declared that the she was too tired from the swim to finish the bike ride, and offered to help us with our tires. The three of us pooled our resources and did our best to fix the two tires. The woman who stopped to help was really fun -- a lawyer who works in Reston and a fellow member of the California bar. She was cracking me up the entire time. We used her patch kit to mend my tube and tire, but to no avail. The tire deflated immediately after it was inflated. The other woman wasn't able to fix her tire either. I finally hitched a ride back to the transition area with a friendly local in a pick-up truck.
Going back to my earlier comparison between this tri and the Austin Danskin: if I had gotten a flat during my first triathlon, I would have been devasted! But since I was doing this race just to do it and the preciousness of my first race was not at stake, I wasn't too disappointed by the turn of events. Even though I didn't finish the bike ride, I actually had fun attempting to fix my tire with my new friends. And, at least I got some exercise and got to spend time outdoors (in the Shenandoah, no less!) I also learned that in the future, it's probably best to carefully inspect my bike sooner than 7pm the night before a race.
See Emma Run
Even though I didn't finish the bike, I decided to pick up with the run. I was most likely DQ-ed for failing to complete the bike, but the race volunteers let me keep my chip so I could still get my split for the 5k. The run course was actually really pretty -- around Lake Arrowhead, through the woods, with the mountains in the background.
When I was training for the marathon, I had to slow my pace way down in order to handle the distance. I'm worried that in doing so I some how programmed my body to always go that slow, regardless of the distance I'm running. I'm eager to see what my time is and will be ecstatic if I was able to get back into my usual 10 minute mile-ish pace.
Work permitting, I'm going to San Francisco to run Bay to Breakers next weekend (yay!), so I'll probably devote my work-outs this week to running and work on improving my speed.
My next triathlon is in Norfolk on June 4.
If at first you don't succeed, tri, tri again. :)
UPDATE
The results are in. My swim time was 19:38, my "bike" time was 1:29:40, and my run was 33:07, meaning a 10:37 pace per mile, and an overal "time" of 2:28:42. Even though I should have been DQed, I ranked 11/15 in my age group, and 55/71 overall. (Had I actually completed the bike, my time probably would have been a little faster, but not much.)
Kristi suspects that the run course was actually longer than 5k, given how many people's run split was just around 30 minutes (unusual). Similarly, I'm wondering if the swim course was also a little longer than a half mile. In other races I've done, the top swimmers all clocked in at around 11 minutes. Here, however, although one woman finished in 11:47, the other top swimmers' times ranged between 14 and 17 minutes. Heh! Blaming the course instead of my own performance is fun!
I registered for the Luray Sprint Triathlon, a race nestled in the heart of the Shenandoah, about a month and a half ago on the suggestion of my co-worker Kristi. Despite our original grand plan to spend the weekend camping and hiking before the race on Sunday, we ended up just driving down there for the day, departing DC at 4:45am.
I've been really busy at work lately, and only finally decided to go yesterday afternoon. On the drive down, I was reflecting on the difference between doing this race and my first triathlon last June. When I did the Austin Danskin, I made sure to go to bed early two nights before the race, I spent the day prior carb-loading and hydrating, and even took Monday off of work so I wouldn't have to drive the three and a half hours back to Corpus Christi following the race. This time it was just like, can I squeeze in a triathlon to my schedule this weekend if I work 11 hours on Saturday and go straight to work after the race on Sunday? I also didn't really have much riding on this triathlon, nor had I really been gearing up for it. (Apologies for the cycling puns.) Rather, I thought of this race as a beginning of the season diagnostic.
See Emma Swim
Swimming is definitely my strongest of the three events, but I was a little disappointed in my performance this time. I started out swimming way too fast and got tired before I even swam past the first buoy. In other races I've done, it was difficult to swim quickly at the outset because tons of other bodies are around you and on top of you. This race was not as crowded and I easily pushed ahead. Not only did I swim too fast, but I also got disoriented and had to swim extra to get back on the right course. Because of this, I spent a significant portion of the first quarter mile in panic mode and had to stop frequently to do an easy breast stroke. Luckily I calmed down and pulled it together in the second half. I think my time was about 18 minutes, which is about 2-3 minutes slower than my usual half-mile open water time. I am a little disappointed, but at least I learned the value of pacing myself.
See Emma Bike
My bike got a flat a couple weeks ago when the innertube in the front tire randomly exploded when my bike was in the back seat of my car. (A friend suggested this was likely due to the tire's rapid change in temperature when I put it in the hot car.) When I replaced the innertube last night, I noticed a small tear in the tread of the tire itself. I read on the internet that you can prevent a puncture in the tube by placing a piece of fabric or a dollar bill in between the tube and the tread. I did this, using some left over fabric from IKEA, but I was definitely nervous about my tire holding up during the race.
Sure enough, the front tire blew out around Mile 3. I didn't have an extra innertube (I had used my last one the night before), and assumed that the problem was with the tire itself and replacing the tube wouldn't do much to prevent another flat. I started to walk my bike back to the transition area, but stopped at Mile 2 where another woman had stopped and was fixing a flat on her bike. Shortly after this, a woman rode by and declared that the she was too tired from the swim to finish the bike ride, and offered to help us with our tires. The three of us pooled our resources and did our best to fix the two tires. The woman who stopped to help was really fun -- a lawyer who works in Reston and a fellow member of the California bar. She was cracking me up the entire time. We used her patch kit to mend my tube and tire, but to no avail. The tire deflated immediately after it was inflated. The other woman wasn't able to fix her tire either. I finally hitched a ride back to the transition area with a friendly local in a pick-up truck.
Going back to my earlier comparison between this tri and the Austin Danskin: if I had gotten a flat during my first triathlon, I would have been devasted! But since I was doing this race just to do it and the preciousness of my first race was not at stake, I wasn't too disappointed by the turn of events. Even though I didn't finish the bike ride, I actually had fun attempting to fix my tire with my new friends. And, at least I got some exercise and got to spend time outdoors (in the Shenandoah, no less!) I also learned that in the future, it's probably best to carefully inspect my bike sooner than 7pm the night before a race.
See Emma Run
Even though I didn't finish the bike, I decided to pick up with the run. I was most likely DQ-ed for failing to complete the bike, but the race volunteers let me keep my chip so I could still get my split for the 5k. The run course was actually really pretty -- around Lake Arrowhead, through the woods, with the mountains in the background.
When I was training for the marathon, I had to slow my pace way down in order to handle the distance. I'm worried that in doing so I some how programmed my body to always go that slow, regardless of the distance I'm running. I'm eager to see what my time is and will be ecstatic if I was able to get back into my usual 10 minute mile-ish pace.
Work permitting, I'm going to San Francisco to run Bay to Breakers next weekend (yay!), so I'll probably devote my work-outs this week to running and work on improving my speed.
My next triathlon is in Norfolk on June 4.
If at first you don't succeed, tri, tri again. :)
UPDATE
The results are in. My swim time was 19:38, my "bike" time was 1:29:40, and my run was 33:07, meaning a 10:37 pace per mile, and an overal "time" of 2:28:42. Even though I should have been DQed, I ranked 11/15 in my age group, and 55/71 overall. (Had I actually completed the bike, my time probably would have been a little faster, but not much.)
Kristi suspects that the run course was actually longer than 5k, given how many people's run split was just around 30 minutes (unusual). Similarly, I'm wondering if the swim course was also a little longer than a half mile. In other races I've done, the top swimmers all clocked in at around 11 minutes. Here, however, although one woman finished in 11:47, the other top swimmers' times ranged between 14 and 17 minutes. Heh! Blaming the course instead of my own performance is fun!
Saturday, April 08, 2006
I'm a "Friend"
Well, I at least look like one.
I was watching Best Week Ever this morning and learned all about myheritage.com, a site where you upload a photo and it tells you what celebrities you look like. Intrigued, I submitted a picture of me and Eva from a few years ago.
As it turns out, the celebrity whose features are most similar to mine is Courtney Cox. Other close matches included Martina McBride, Kate Beckinsale, the O.C.'s Rachel Bilson, Halle Berry, Anne Hathaway, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicky Hilton, Cindy Crawford, and Cheryl Tweedy.
The celebrity recognition process was not limited by gender, and determined that Eva looked most like Annette Bening, Mariah Carey, Harry Houdini(!?!), Nina Hagen, Jake Gyllenhaal, Grace Kelly, Missy Elliott, Douglas Fairbanks, Primoz Peterka, and Harrison Ford.
Click here to see our results complete with side-by-side comparison of the celebrity photos. You may have to register, but it's free and definitely worth it if you're dying to upload your own photo for celebrity recognition, or, you know, if it's rainy outside and you're bored.
I was watching Best Week Ever this morning and learned all about myheritage.com, a site where you upload a photo and it tells you what celebrities you look like. Intrigued, I submitted a picture of me and Eva from a few years ago.
As it turns out, the celebrity whose features are most similar to mine is Courtney Cox. Other close matches included Martina McBride, Kate Beckinsale, the O.C.'s Rachel Bilson, Halle Berry, Anne Hathaway, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicky Hilton, Cindy Crawford, and Cheryl Tweedy.
The celebrity recognition process was not limited by gender, and determined that Eva looked most like Annette Bening, Mariah Carey, Harry Houdini(!?!), Nina Hagen, Jake Gyllenhaal, Grace Kelly, Missy Elliott, Douglas Fairbanks, Primoz Peterka, and Harrison Ford.
Click here to see our results complete with side-by-side comparison of the celebrity photos. You may have to register, but it's free and definitely worth it if you're dying to upload your own photo for celebrity recognition, or, you know, if it's rainy outside and you're bored.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
I Heart LA
I just wanted to report that I had tons of fun in LA last weekend and also managed to cross an item off my life's to do list by completing the 21st Annual Los Angeles Marathon. Here's my best shot at summarizing the 5 hours 27 minutes and 53 seconds spent on the course in addition to the days, hours, and months leading up to the big day. (Sorry so long!)
Marathon Striptease
Although I carefully picked out my race day outfit a couple weeks before boarding the plane and brought back up clothing in case the weather was cold, there was an aspect of dressing properly that I had not prepared for. LA has been having a bit of a cold snap lately, meaning that it dropped below 70 degrees and has been raining some. But on race day, the weather was perfect sunny and around 65 degrees. However, this was still a little chilly for shorts and a tank top and I would likely be too cold while waiting for the race to begin and when running the first few miles. Deborah, who has run two marathons, suggested wearing extra clothes at the beginning and ditching them during the race. It's a common enough phenomenon that the clean up crews collect and donate the cast-off clothing. So we went to Goodwill the day before and I bought a "disposable" warm-up outfit for around nine dollars. (The pants and top were even the same brand and looked pretty darn cute even though I picked them exclusively based on functionality and cost.) I ditched the pants right before the start line (I almost tripped taking them off, but not quite) and I lost the long-sleeved shirt around mile three. I wonder if they'll end up back at the same Goodwill from whence I bought them . . .
Strength in Numbers
The Marathon Expo the day before had lots of exciting booths with free samples, demonstrations, race gear, etc. And, it was LA so the Expo included a contest to win plastic surgery and a Scientology consultation table. Although I didn't win free implants or learn the ways of L. Ron Hubbard, I did chat with the people at the Clif Bar Pace Team booth. I talked to Sharona woman who said she would be leading a group that planned on finishing the Marathon in 5:30and she seemed really cool and encouraging. I had trained alone and planned to race alone, but after talking to her, I figured I might as well meet up with the group at the starting line and give it a try. Even though I decided to join the group on a whim, I'm so glad I did!
The Big Day
The night before, we met up with Karen for a relaxing carb-loading meal at an Italian place in Pasadena, stopping off for some yummy frozen yogurt before heading to bed early. I didn't get much sleep that night, but more than I usually do before big events like these. (I didn't sleep a wink the night before the first day of the bar exam or the night before my first triathlon.) I at least slept long enough to have a really dorky dream wherein Chief Justice Roberts yelled at me for buying clothes from Goodwill with the intention of throwing them away during the race.
We got to the start of the race in plenty of time, I didn't forget anything (except to put sunscreen on my legs), and I found my Pace group after only a slight detour through the group of runners in the sub-4 category (hard core!). The other people in my pace group seemed nice and the crowd was pumped up with opening words by Cruz Bustamante (I guess Arnold was booked) and continued blasting of the song, I Love LA (which is still in my head.)
The race started out fine. The group was to keep about a 12:30 minute / mile pace and take two walk breaks every mile. (I didn't train this way, but it actually ended up being a really good way to do it.) Sharon ran while holding up red and yellow balloons so we could always find the group in case we fell behind.
The first bit of drama I endured during the Marathon was, as always, the result of my worst enemy during events like thesemy bladder. I figured that it would just get more annoying the longer I waited, so I left the group around Mile 2 to wait in line for a port-a-potty. Unfortunately, this took at least 15 minutes! After leaving the bathrooms, I was worried that I was too far behind to catch up with Sharon, but I decided that I should at least try. I ran at a faster pace with no walk breaks, peering frantically into the distance for the red and yellow balloons. When I hadn't found them by Mile 5, I started to panic a little. I knew that at some point I would have to slow down and settle into a steadier pace, and I started to stress myself out trying to figure out when to give up on finding my group. I managed to calm down once I starting thinking about what I had just done. I had just run five miles like it was no big deal! This in itself was a huge accomplishment from where I was a year ago.
I kept running and soon enough I passed a group holding a sign for a 13-minute mile pace, which meant that I couldn't be too far behind my group. I finally found them somewhere between Mile 5 and the 10k marker. When I spotted those balloons, it literally felt like I was six years old and had just found my mother in the supermarket after losing her in the cereal aisle. It was such a relief! I'm sure I could have finished the race without the group, but having someone else in charge of the pace made the mental aspect so much easier.
Overall, I thought the first half of the marathon was very enjoyable and doable. I chatted with people, enjoyed running through LA's various neighborhoods, and engaged in my favorite pastime of people-watching the spectators and other runners. I high-fived the pom-poms of a local cheerleading squad and ran through a tent that was blasting the theme song from Chariots of Fire. I wouldn't say that it was easy, but the first half was well within my comfort zone.
Finishing Strong
It started to get harder around mile 14-15, partially because of some uphills and partially because the reality of what I was actually doing started to sink in. Jason and Aura live around the Mile 16 marker and they stood outside their house to cheer me on. I stopped long enough to give Jason (from my small section first year of law school) a big sweaty hug, and then kept on going.
I felt a second wind around Miles 18 and 19, which were breezy and partly downhill, but I started to panic again around Mile 20. At first I was like, "Oh, 20 down, 6 to go, no problem." But then I started to freak out when I realized that 6 more miles meant more than an hour left of running. How could I possibly run for another hour? I also started feeling weird, sharp twitches in my calf muscles, which made me worried that I was going to hit "the wall." I thought eating might help, but every banana, pretzel, or balance bar I took a bite of just made me feel like I wanted to puke.
Jessie, Julian, and Deborah were standing and cheering at Mile 22 and, when I passed by, Julian joined me for a bit. I kept telling him that I was doing fine with my Pace group and he didn't have to run with me, but every time he tried to leave I was like, "Julian, don't go!" He cheered me up, telling me a few stories and instructing me to just listen and pant and I finally released him around Mile 23.
Shortly after this, I was worried that I might start balling at any minute for no reason other than I just felt so overwhelmed by everything. But I held it together, smiled for the cameras, and kept putting one foot in front of the other. I started to see the light at the end of the tunnel once we finished Mile 24, and during Miles 25 and 26 I was in a state of total disbelief. Even though intellectually I thought I would be able to finish, I don't think I really believed it or appreciated it until those last few miles. I took it pretty easy during Mile 26, but after passing that last mile marker, my legs just started moving independently from my body. I surged ahead of my group and finished with a chip time of 5:27:53.
All in all, it was a fun race and it was so nice to have friends cheering me on along the way. My parents followed my progress from Austin over the internet and when I called them afterwards, they seemed even more excited than I was.
Final Thoughts
I feel some obligation to wax philosophical on what these six months of training and five hours of running have taught me. Of course there's the cheesy and the obvious: trust in yourself you can achieve anything and when times are tough, just take a deep breath and put one foot in front of the other. More importantly, this experience has taught me to not be ashamed of mediocrity and that doing something is better than doing nothing.
I'm not a fast runner. I never have been. Even though I work out a lot, even though I do triathlons, I suck at running and I'm slow. When I started training in October, I thought maybe that I would work up to running the marathon at a 10-minute mile pace (which is my typical 5k pace). It didn't take me long to realize, however, that this was an unrealistic goal. It was very discouraging to read books about marathons (even those aimed at beginners) that would casually describe an 8-minute mile as taking it easy. But these books also had very helpful advice: when running your first marathon, finishing should be your only goal . I kept training and pledged to finish, even if I had to walk the last ten miles of the race, per my Mom's suggestion.
I decided internally that finishing was my only goal, but I still avoided telling people my actual anticipated race pace. I just downplayed it and said that I was going to run really slow. And, I figured that after the race I would similarly avoid revealing my slow time and focus only on the fact that I finished. But, you know what, I ran the LA marathon in 5 hours, 27 minutes, and 53 seconds, and I am proud! I hereby proclaim to the world that I ran 26.2 miles at a steady pace of 12 and a half minutes per mile! (By "world," I mean my two loyal readers who wouldn't care if it took me ten hours to finish.)
The point is that I ran my own race, I did my very best, and there is nothing to be ashamed of because all I can be is myself. I could have shrugged and said, "I'm not a very good runner, so why bother," but I didn't. I could have spent the last 24 Sundays sitting on my ass instead of braving the cold for a long run, but I didn't. Emma, you ran 26.2 miles in 5:27:53. This is hardly an occasion that requires wearing a bag over your head!
Thanks to everyone for their support and good wishes! Hopefully, I'll post pictures soon!
Marathon Striptease
Although I carefully picked out my race day outfit a couple weeks before boarding the plane and brought back up clothing in case the weather was cold, there was an aspect of dressing properly that I had not prepared for. LA has been having a bit of a cold snap lately, meaning that it dropped below 70 degrees and has been raining some. But on race day, the weather was perfect sunny and around 65 degrees. However, this was still a little chilly for shorts and a tank top and I would likely be too cold while waiting for the race to begin and when running the first few miles. Deborah, who has run two marathons, suggested wearing extra clothes at the beginning and ditching them during the race. It's a common enough phenomenon that the clean up crews collect and donate the cast-off clothing. So we went to Goodwill the day before and I bought a "disposable" warm-up outfit for around nine dollars. (The pants and top were even the same brand and looked pretty darn cute even though I picked them exclusively based on functionality and cost.) I ditched the pants right before the start line (I almost tripped taking them off, but not quite) and I lost the long-sleeved shirt around mile three. I wonder if they'll end up back at the same Goodwill from whence I bought them . . .
Strength in Numbers
The Marathon Expo the day before had lots of exciting booths with free samples, demonstrations, race gear, etc. And, it was LA so the Expo included a contest to win plastic surgery and a Scientology consultation table. Although I didn't win free implants or learn the ways of L. Ron Hubbard, I did chat with the people at the Clif Bar Pace Team booth. I talked to Sharona woman who said she would be leading a group that planned on finishing the Marathon in 5:30and she seemed really cool and encouraging. I had trained alone and planned to race alone, but after talking to her, I figured I might as well meet up with the group at the starting line and give it a try. Even though I decided to join the group on a whim, I'm so glad I did!
The Big Day
The night before, we met up with Karen for a relaxing carb-loading meal at an Italian place in Pasadena, stopping off for some yummy frozen yogurt before heading to bed early. I didn't get much sleep that night, but more than I usually do before big events like these. (I didn't sleep a wink the night before the first day of the bar exam or the night before my first triathlon.) I at least slept long enough to have a really dorky dream wherein Chief Justice Roberts yelled at me for buying clothes from Goodwill with the intention of throwing them away during the race.
We got to the start of the race in plenty of time, I didn't forget anything (except to put sunscreen on my legs), and I found my Pace group after only a slight detour through the group of runners in the sub-4 category (hard core!). The other people in my pace group seemed nice and the crowd was pumped up with opening words by Cruz Bustamante (I guess Arnold was booked) and continued blasting of the song, I Love LA (which is still in my head.)
The race started out fine. The group was to keep about a 12:30 minute / mile pace and take two walk breaks every mile. (I didn't train this way, but it actually ended up being a really good way to do it.) Sharon ran while holding up red and yellow balloons so we could always find the group in case we fell behind.
The first bit of drama I endured during the Marathon was, as always, the result of my worst enemy during events like thesemy bladder. I figured that it would just get more annoying the longer I waited, so I left the group around Mile 2 to wait in line for a port-a-potty. Unfortunately, this took at least 15 minutes! After leaving the bathrooms, I was worried that I was too far behind to catch up with Sharon, but I decided that I should at least try. I ran at a faster pace with no walk breaks, peering frantically into the distance for the red and yellow balloons. When I hadn't found them by Mile 5, I started to panic a little. I knew that at some point I would have to slow down and settle into a steadier pace, and I started to stress myself out trying to figure out when to give up on finding my group. I managed to calm down once I starting thinking about what I had just done. I had just run five miles like it was no big deal! This in itself was a huge accomplishment from where I was a year ago.
I kept running and soon enough I passed a group holding a sign for a 13-minute mile pace, which meant that I couldn't be too far behind my group. I finally found them somewhere between Mile 5 and the 10k marker. When I spotted those balloons, it literally felt like I was six years old and had just found my mother in the supermarket after losing her in the cereal aisle. It was such a relief! I'm sure I could have finished the race without the group, but having someone else in charge of the pace made the mental aspect so much easier.
Overall, I thought the first half of the marathon was very enjoyable and doable. I chatted with people, enjoyed running through LA's various neighborhoods, and engaged in my favorite pastime of people-watching the spectators and other runners. I high-fived the pom-poms of a local cheerleading squad and ran through a tent that was blasting the theme song from Chariots of Fire. I wouldn't say that it was easy, but the first half was well within my comfort zone.
Finishing Strong
It started to get harder around mile 14-15, partially because of some uphills and partially because the reality of what I was actually doing started to sink in. Jason and Aura live around the Mile 16 marker and they stood outside their house to cheer me on. I stopped long enough to give Jason (from my small section first year of law school) a big sweaty hug, and then kept on going.
I felt a second wind around Miles 18 and 19, which were breezy and partly downhill, but I started to panic again around Mile 20. At first I was like, "Oh, 20 down, 6 to go, no problem." But then I started to freak out when I realized that 6 more miles meant more than an hour left of running. How could I possibly run for another hour? I also started feeling weird, sharp twitches in my calf muscles, which made me worried that I was going to hit "the wall." I thought eating might help, but every banana, pretzel, or balance bar I took a bite of just made me feel like I wanted to puke.
Jessie, Julian, and Deborah were standing and cheering at Mile 22 and, when I passed by, Julian joined me for a bit. I kept telling him that I was doing fine with my Pace group and he didn't have to run with me, but every time he tried to leave I was like, "Julian, don't go!" He cheered me up, telling me a few stories and instructing me to just listen and pant and I finally released him around Mile 23.
Shortly after this, I was worried that I might start balling at any minute for no reason other than I just felt so overwhelmed by everything. But I held it together, smiled for the cameras, and kept putting one foot in front of the other. I started to see the light at the end of the tunnel once we finished Mile 24, and during Miles 25 and 26 I was in a state of total disbelief. Even though intellectually I thought I would be able to finish, I don't think I really believed it or appreciated it until those last few miles. I took it pretty easy during Mile 26, but after passing that last mile marker, my legs just started moving independently from my body. I surged ahead of my group and finished with a chip time of 5:27:53.
All in all, it was a fun race and it was so nice to have friends cheering me on along the way. My parents followed my progress from Austin over the internet and when I called them afterwards, they seemed even more excited than I was.
Final Thoughts
I feel some obligation to wax philosophical on what these six months of training and five hours of running have taught me. Of course there's the cheesy and the obvious: trust in yourself you can achieve anything and when times are tough, just take a deep breath and put one foot in front of the other. More importantly, this experience has taught me to not be ashamed of mediocrity and that doing something is better than doing nothing.
I'm not a fast runner. I never have been. Even though I work out a lot, even though I do triathlons, I suck at running and I'm slow. When I started training in October, I thought maybe that I would work up to running the marathon at a 10-minute mile pace (which is my typical 5k pace). It didn't take me long to realize, however, that this was an unrealistic goal. It was very discouraging to read books about marathons (even those aimed at beginners) that would casually describe an 8-minute mile as taking it easy. But these books also had very helpful advice: when running your first marathon, finishing should be your only goal . I kept training and pledged to finish, even if I had to walk the last ten miles of the race, per my Mom's suggestion.
I decided internally that finishing was my only goal, but I still avoided telling people my actual anticipated race pace. I just downplayed it and said that I was going to run really slow. And, I figured that after the race I would similarly avoid revealing my slow time and focus only on the fact that I finished. But, you know what, I ran the LA marathon in 5 hours, 27 minutes, and 53 seconds, and I am proud! I hereby proclaim to the world that I ran 26.2 miles at a steady pace of 12 and a half minutes per mile! (By "world," I mean my two loyal readers who wouldn't care if it took me ten hours to finish.)
The point is that I ran my own race, I did my very best, and there is nothing to be ashamed of because all I can be is myself. I could have shrugged and said, "I'm not a very good runner, so why bother," but I didn't. I could have spent the last 24 Sundays sitting on my ass instead of braving the cold for a long run, but I didn't. Emma, you ran 26.2 miles in 5:27:53. This is hardly an occasion that requires wearing a bag over your head!
Thanks to everyone for their support and good wishes! Hopefully, I'll post pictures soon!
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Eighteen [Miles] and a Life to Go!
There's nothing like a Texas girl . . . who can actually adapt to her new surroundings. This time last year I could barely run three miles and I classified weather less than 50 degrees as "fucking freezing." Today, however, I ran 18 miles in "17 degrees feels like 1." Literally, my water bottles froze shut and I almost broke my tooth while eating my Snickers Marathon Energy Bar.
My last two long runs--both 16-milers--for lack of a better word, sucked. During those, I spent half the time walking and the other half wishing I would break my ankle so I would have a good excuse to quit. But this time I ran almost the entire time (not freezing to death is a good incentive to keep running) and I actually enjoyed myself. It took about a mile and a half for my toes and fingers to thaw and I was able to stay motivated almost the entire time. The last three miles were really hard, but I did it!
I ran the Capital Crescent Trail from Georgetown to Bethesda. I think it helped to run a trail with mileage marks rather than guestimating the distance and dodging tourists as usual when I start my runs from Captiol Hill.
Afterwards, I treated myself to a yummy sandwich from Dean & Deluca, a bubble bath with the Lush-icious grapefruit shower gel from Matt and Laura, and a viewing of Tivo-ed 12 Angry Men. Excellent flick.
I only have one more looooong training run next weekend (also 18 miles) and then I taper off before the real thing on March 19. Now to more important things. What does a girl wear when running a marathon down Rodeo Drive . . . ?
My last two long runs--both 16-milers--for lack of a better word, sucked. During those, I spent half the time walking and the other half wishing I would break my ankle so I would have a good excuse to quit. But this time I ran almost the entire time (not freezing to death is a good incentive to keep running) and I actually enjoyed myself. It took about a mile and a half for my toes and fingers to thaw and I was able to stay motivated almost the entire time. The last three miles were really hard, but I did it!
I ran the Capital Crescent Trail from Georgetown to Bethesda. I think it helped to run a trail with mileage marks rather than guestimating the distance and dodging tourists as usual when I start my runs from Captiol Hill.
Afterwards, I treated myself to a yummy sandwich from Dean & Deluca, a bubble bath with the Lush-icious grapefruit shower gel from Matt and Laura, and a viewing of Tivo-ed 12 Angry Men. Excellent flick.
I only have one more looooong training run next weekend (also 18 miles) and then I taper off before the real thing on March 19. Now to more important things. What does a girl wear when running a marathon down Rodeo Drive . . . ?
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Ready to Run!
If I were a savvier myspacer I would have the Dixie Chicks playing in the background...
As many of you know, I'm training for this. (I love the way I say that considering I only have 6 "friends" and I doubt any of them are reading this.) For the past month or so, however, I've been wondering to myself, "What have you gotten yourself into?!" In an effort to get the spring back in my step, I devoted part of my Amazon Christmas gift certificates to purchase this. (On a random side note, I got two gift certificates, one for $20, one for $30, and after selecting all my purchases, my total with shipping and tax came out to exactly $50. Cool, huh?)
Anyway, the book suggested running without wearing a watch and leaving the headphones at home. These are two crutches I've been very dependent on! But, for my shorter week-day run this evening, I decided to try it without music. I also couldn't find my watch, so I ran without that too. The results were amazing! I ran faster, I got annoyed whenever I had to stop for traffic lights, I enjoyed myself much more, and I when I got home I just wanted to keep running. Rather than running for a set amount of time, and counting down the minutes until I could stop, I just ran to the Lincoln Memorial and back home. That's five-point-six miles according to G-map Pedometer. (Google Maps is the best. True that! Double True!)
For the first time in awhile, I'm actually looking forward to my long run this Sunday. 16 miles this time!
As many of you know, I'm training for this. (I love the way I say that considering I only have 6 "friends" and I doubt any of them are reading this.) For the past month or so, however, I've been wondering to myself, "What have you gotten yourself into?!" In an effort to get the spring back in my step, I devoted part of my Amazon Christmas gift certificates to purchase this. (On a random side note, I got two gift certificates, one for $20, one for $30, and after selecting all my purchases, my total with shipping and tax came out to exactly $50. Cool, huh?)
Anyway, the book suggested running without wearing a watch and leaving the headphones at home. These are two crutches I've been very dependent on! But, for my shorter week-day run this evening, I decided to try it without music. I also couldn't find my watch, so I ran without that too. The results were amazing! I ran faster, I got annoyed whenever I had to stop for traffic lights, I enjoyed myself much more, and I when I got home I just wanted to keep running. Rather than running for a set amount of time, and counting down the minutes until I could stop, I just ran to the Lincoln Memorial and back home. That's five-point-six miles according to G-map Pedometer. (Google Maps is the best. True that! Double True!)
For the first time in awhile, I'm actually looking forward to my long run this Sunday. 16 miles this time!
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