Tuesday, January 15, 2008

LOVED IT!!!!! And Shot Blocks are a Gift from God

First of all, I need to send a HUGE Thank You!!! to Lisa for putting up with me all weekend long and letting me invade her life and home. A big thanks to Javadad, too, for putting up with it! She was the best host ever and I completely feel like I have known her my whole life. It was awesome. And to finally, after nearly 4 years, to get to meet Marcy was just awesome! And she really is just as *gangsta* as you would all think ;) LOL

I had such a great time with Lisa, Marcy, David, Mendy and Karen and could have stayed so much longer. They are everything you read, completely amazing people :)

I think I will do a separate post about the weekend in general, but just wanted to talk a bit about the race first.

I was seriously, disgustingly undertained for this run. Last week I went through tons of doubts and by Friday morning I realized that I hadn't even had a run long enough to require me to try any kind of nutrition or even have to drink water :X Needless to say, I was soooooo nervous and had no expectations of any kind....well, maybe not to die on the course :P So, to help allievate most of my major concerns, Lisa and I decided to do a run 5, walk 1 at a pretty easy pace. This helped calm me down so much and I finally just decided that whatever happened, happened. No point in stressing.

Karen got us to the race perfectly Sunday morning. It was seriously timed so well and I don't think things could have gone smoother between the lot we parked in and the shuttle we rode to the start. I felt great, the weather was cool before the start, but it was going to be a great day to run with great friends. The only thing that was not cool were the nasty porta-johns before we started :X We all changed our corrals to 16 so we could be together. Taryn was there with us, too! And people, she is such a sweet girl! I am so glad we found her and got to run with her for a bit. We finally got running roughly 32 minutes after the race officially started.

Once we got underway, I felt great and could not believe how fast 5 minutes had passed. I was all about keeping running, but the overall consensus was to stick to the plan and not burn out too fast. I should add, too, that I had a package of Cliffs shot blocks and some sport beans with me. The sport beans decided to jump out of my pocket about a mile and a half into the race :P But those shot blocks were safe in my hand for the duration. The package recommended taking 3 - 6 an hour, but since I only had about 6 of them, I decided to just use them sparingly. I had one at the start and then waited until maybe mile 4 or 5 to have 2 more. We had a couple of bathroom breaks during the first 4-5 miles that ate up a lot of time, but everyone was doing well. Taryn left us after maybe 2 miles or so. She was feeling awesome and rocking it, so she kept moving to run her own race and Karen fell back somewhere in that mile 4-5, I think (but could be off in my estimation...sorry Karen). She really pushed through some major leg pain and did an awesome job! So, it was Lisa, Mendy, Marcy and I until mile 8.5 or so. At that point Mendy and Marcy needed to use the bathroom again and I knew to get Lisa a PR, she and I really needed to keep moving. So we kept moving and pushed on to get her a PR!!!

Back to the shot blocks. I know I had the last one (or two??) right around mile 9 and I just cannot believe how those suckers kick in! I felt so good those last couple of miles, just wish I would have had a few more ;) Miles 10 - 13 were a bit more rolling than the rest of the race had been and Lisa probably didn't like me very much when I made her keep running, especially at the pace I was forcing her to go :X I think most of the time we were running in those last 5 miles I was pushing her to between 9 and 10 minute mile paces. She is now to refer to me as Jillian from the Biggest Loser. I think most of the people we were running around in those final 2 miles probably thought I was one of the meanest people on the course :X But even as much as she was bonking, she never stopped smiling!

I am so lucky to get to run my first half with such AMAZING people! I am so proud of Lisa for putting up with my bossiness and pushing through even though she would have rather pushed me off the bridge and kept walking ;), so proud of Mendy for pushing through even though she was feeling horrible the entire race and of Karen for fighting through her pain and still getting a PR for herself! YAY!!! Taryn really rocked her race and David and Clay both killed it!

This was an awesome experience and I think I just may be in love with both the distance and definitely with the shot blocks! Would it be wrong to just use them daily for extra boost?? LOL My only complaint two days later is some wicked arch pain in my right foot. I am hoping that it will be gone here soon and then I can just blame it on overuse. New shoes are definitely in the plans soon!

20 comments:

Vickie said...

Great job! I was looking forward to your report. And it sounds like you did better than you thought you would!

Mendy said...

Lori!!!!! So glad to hear from you. You impressed me so much!!!! Especially all that talk of undertraining, etc. I'm so proud of you for doing what you did, the pace you held and the pushing Lisa for her PR!

I'm so happy for everyone!! It was so much fun, and a great time with some fantastic people!

I just wish I would have had the stomach to have some nutrition, the shot blocks sound great and I'm gonna start using them.

Talk to you later!!

Marathoner in Training said...

Lori,
Glad to have met you, and you did great on Sunday. I wish we would have had more time to get to know each other better. We will have to spend some more time together the next time you are in town.

J~Mom said...

Girl you rock!!!!!!! If that was running a half with little training then I can't even imagine how fast you are going to rock later on!!! It was soooo amazing to get to spend so much time together!!!!! I just can't wait to do it again!

Bob - BlogMYruns.com said...

woo hooo Congrats Lori...sounds like an awesome event. way to step it up and close it out at the end!!

Shot blocks are great & u sure can use a few during the day if u need a shot per say of some energy...

also u can have a few right before u go for a daily workout if u feel a little sluggish that day...one thing I would recommend is to eliminate them when u taper before a race, so when u use it during the race it works much better.

I am having arch issues also & whats been helping the past few days is to message it with a tennis ball...stand on it and roll back and forth a few times a day...work out the tightness & tenderness. New cushioned shoes will help also when u get back to it.

Happy recovering & Congrats again!

Marcy said...

I am so proud of both you and Lisa did AWESOME!!! It was an amazing race, and you're just what Lisa needed (a slave driver :P ;-) )

I had such a blast. I can't really articulate how much of an awesome time I had but I'm sooo glad we all got to spend time together ;D ;D

Nancy said...

Dang, girl, maybe you should personal train me. You know, bitch slap me around when I want to walk. hee hee

I'm so glad you went, had fun, and conquered the race with Java.

Viv said...

I am so glad you had a wonderful time! Way a way to complete you first 1/2 with great people.
I so need a Jillian like yourself around me all the time :-)
Awesome on your 1/2, that is such a wonderful milestone.

Wes said...

Ok, Jillan, let's get the incremenating evidence to me ASAP via the secret network we set up ;-)

I think you're the coolest for helping Javamom after being so "undertrained". You ROCK, girl!! Come to Atlanta and do a sub-2 with me when you have time for more training :-O

Jess said...

Sound slike it was a great race! You did fantastic!

David said...

You totally rocked that thing, and were so good for Lisa. Though I do hear she want's to get you a Marine Drill Instructor ("campaign") hat, like Lou Gossett Jr. in "Officer and a Gentlman".

Way to go, and very impressive for the amount of training. But most of all it was great spending time with you this weekend. Lots of great memories and bonding. I'm looking forward to the next one!

My Life said...

Ohhh Lori - I am so glad you had an awesome race! And you rock for pushing Lisa towards her goal while on your very first race - what a friend! Jillian... ;) So glad we got to meet - wish we all lived closer! Take care of that arch! xo-T

ws said...

congrats on the HM finish, Lori...great to hear that you had such an amazing time...

Unknown said...

Awesome job!! I'm so glad that you had such a great experience with the race. Your training couldn't have been too far off to do so well. Recover well!!

P.O.M. said...

Fantastic is the word of the day!

I LOVE shot bloks too - they are the ONLY thing that doesn't mess with my stomach and they taste good too :)

Shoes are a definate necessity when going any distance. Do you have a "Road Runner" in your area? They are awesome for helping you pick out what kind of shoe is best for your foot/gait/etc.

Pokey said...

I am scared stiff of what you will be able to do when you get a little training under your belt, Lori!!! You are one speedy mama!!!! Way to ROCK the RNR!

I'm so glad to have gotten the chance to hang out with you this past weekend....thanks for all the fun and support!

I may have to give those shot blocks another try ;)

When I need a slave-driver for a race, I'm definitely giving you a call! :)

jahowie said...

I keep getting more and more jealous from reading all of these reports. It sounds like so much fun!! Great job on the run. You should be really proud of yourself. :-)

Scott McMurtrey said...

congrats!! looks like everyone had a blast. i'm jealous. i shoveled snow over the weekend.

going through lots of doubts prior to the race is better than going through a lot of donuts. actually, donuts are better. sorry.

Pat said...

I'm glad you had a great time here in AZ. Yeah, you need to carry more fuel. I had 6-7 gu's in a fanny pack, one pack of beans, a tube of Nuun and a water bottle with me. I used almost all of it. Plus I got pretzels, twizzlers, grapes and lots of water on the course. Oh, and two salt packets. I may have over did my salt consumption.

Hope to see you in the valley for another race. Congrats!

Laurel said...

Yay!!! I am so glad you had such an awesome race, congratulations.