Seattle Half to the Seattle Full Part 2 Recap!

Seattle Marathon 2012

I love the start of a race - when all the runners are facing the same direction in anticipation of a collective mission. But compared to the half marathons I've been to, these marathon runners mean serious business. I slid in somewhere between the 4:10 pacer and the 4:40 pacer and pretended to be serious too.
They played the star spangled banner and I felt un-derserving and inspired and ready to go.  I got my armband and iphone set and pressed play so Tina Fey could talk me through the next 5 hours of my life. The first 6 miles felt great - they flew by! My toes went numb but I tied my shoes a little tighter at the I-90 turnaround and it actually helped.  Good choice on the half size bigger for the new shoes I said to myself!
I remember looking at the water in the fog and zoning out except for the excitement of seeing mile markers.  And because we double back I remember these amazing "true" marathoners flying past us pretty early on and just staring in awe.  They are made from a different mould for sure.  It was pretty cold being right off the water.  I made it down Lake Washington blvd and heard that dang Ganghim style song blaring from Seward Park.  Dare I say I was invigorated!?  The 4:10 pacer passed me around the 12th mile and I stayed with a girl with striped socks that was running her FOURTH marathon in FOUR days.  Every time I felt tired, I would read the back of her leg which said FOUR marathons in FOUR days.  And I would think, well this is nothing.
I hit 13.1 miles at 2:15. I drank my Eric's Sport Ade and felt fantastic.  I remember the beautiful trees and fog and repeating, I love you.  I guess I was talking to myself.  I kept running.  I loved seeing the water stations, it was such a symbol of progression.  I kept trying to calculate my times since I didn't load the pacing app because I didn't want my phone to die.  But mostly I enjoyed the run until.... about mile 20.
And then the hills started, and the saying "what the hell are you doing!?" started and it was suddenly a different beast.  So instead of zoning out, I had to zone in to physically, consciously, mentally make myself run.   And if I didn't my body would just start walking and sometimes just stop.  Like really just stop!  I downed my last Eric's Sport Shot for some extra encouragement and was so thankful a friend met me at 21 miles to run with me.  It was still hard and at times my body was begging me to just walk but I pushed through.  I love running over the bridge and seeing downtown Seattle, but the last and longest 2 miles are still left.  Thankfully two friends that ran the half marathon caught me right over the bridge and cheered me through as I ran down the hills toward the last quarter mile.  Knowing my boys were waiting at the top of Mercer kept me running and I was so excited to see them all.  It was sunny and beautiful and I felt bright and shiny as I crossed that finish line running hard.  I had done it, and done it well.
I'm not sure what to say about the accomplishment.  I'm proud of how I did, but its not pride I feel.  I'm happy I did it, but its not joy I feel either.  I think it must be love.
I didn't cry after the race.  I wanted to, but just didn't.  I might have been in too much pain to get tears out.  But later, while laid up on the couch I saw a quote on a commercial:
be yourself
everyone else is already taken
and thats when the tears came.  Dear self - look what we did, I love you!

Seattle Half to the Seattle Full!! Part 1

Can I say it now, I am a marathoner!?
Feels like its stretching the truth a bit.  But I did do it, I completed a marathon.
26.2 miles, yeahhhhhhhhhhh!!

1 year ago I ran the Seattle half marathon - my very first half marathon.  Afterwards I said it was the hardest thing I had ever done (besides childbirth of course!)  It was rainy, wet and cold but I really felt good about it, how I pushed my body and pushed my soul.  And so when I signed up for the full marathon just 10 short days ago, I must have thought:
I'm ready to do that again, but to the next level.  And there is no 3/4 marathon to sign up for so 26.2 miles it was.
Or I had one beer too many and got a little overconfident in my abilities.
Or I was like, its only 30 more dollars for another 13.1 miles, thats the better deal, if I'm going to fork over some money, I should get my money's worth!!
Actually, it was a nice mix of all three of those things.  But I did sign up, and then promptly stayed up all night thinking, what have I done!

I was very nervous - probably from having an only 10 day training program that consisted of
1. drinking a lot of water, including hunniwater!
2. researching how not to chaff
3. finding/testing new shoes
4. develop a way to not lose my mind, or rather lose my mind so I could finish!

But my program went well, in those ten days I:
1. drank lots of hunniwater
2. bought a $1 stick of body glide at the Expo and some underarmor running pants
3. went to fred meyer to buy a new version and a half size bigger of the exact shoe I had been wearing for the last year (the night before the race, I don't recommend - although not many blisters!)
4. downloaded Tina Fey's BossyPants and the End of the Affair read by Colin Firth onto my iphone

And for all my extensive preparations I still had some serious nervousness!  Which could be from:
1. only preparing for 10 days
2. not following the crossfitendurance.com site very closely since I ran the Edmonds Half in September
3. Never having run over 13.1 miles in my life.
4. Really, new shoes right before a race!?

But I reminded myself
1. It's just like running two half marathons, and I've ran 3 already!
2. I will think of it as training for an ultra marathon
3. I am a badass and can do this!!!!
4. God help me!!  no really God help me.

Okay, check the next post for my marathon recap!
http://ericsfitmama.blogspot.com/2012/12/seattle-half-to-seattle-full-part-2.html

Blogging in the sauna - if I only had a hunniwater!

I'm in the sauna at the Y after getting in a quick workout. Well really I just used my workout as an excuse to hang out in the sauna. Still I did a quick Tabata on the bike (20 seconds on 10 seconds off) and then 3 rounds
21-15-9
dead lifts
pushups (it's supposed to be handstand pushups but I'm not there yet!)

And then I checked my weight 136.2!

I'm excited to report this only because I haven't been logging all my foods into myfitnesspal.com which means I have established some good habits with my eating and exercise - enough to count on those habits and still keep up this healthy lifestyle.  Like I said, I'm going to keep going, and I guess this is just my life now!! Hmmmm, feels good!

I'm enjoying this sauna writing though - will have to make this a habit. Although I should be spending this time relaxing, meditating and breathing like a yogi right?! I always try but what ends up happening is I shut my eyes, pretend like I'm relaxing while actually pondering how sweaty I'm getting or if those ladies can see my hoohah. But here, with the distraction of my beautiful iPhone, well this feels relaxing!! The only thing that would make this experience better is a delicious hunniwater!!

Yup, see how I worked our new product right into this blog post? No truly, hunni lime would be perfect right now. Naturally replenishing all my lost electrolytes, especially since blogging in the sauna has kept me in here much longer than usual!! Visit the site at hunniwater.com and like our facebook page!  Ok, well I better get out of here before I pass out, and you better pre-order your case of hunniwater so we can get this thing going. Cheers!!