Rocked the Rock n' Roll

Another one under our belts! Three years ago, for my first half marathon, I wasn't sure if I'd ever convince myself to do one again. But somewhere along the way, I got hit by the crazy stick and signed up for a full marathon. While I'd like to run another full sometime in my lifetime, I've realized that half marathons are a little more reasonable for everyday life - less of a time commitment and fewer sacrifices.

For this half - life got in the way (I'll blame it on this) and my training suffered a bit, but I didn't let it stress me out too much and got in runs when I could. I thought this would bite me in the butt at about mile 8, but boy was I wrong. We surprised ourselves with a solid run! Even sprinting up the last hill to cross the finish line. Sure, it wasn't my best time, but better than the Skagit Flats, for sure.

So my lessons learned: Don't stress yourself out if you don't get in a few of your weekday runs. Two hours of pain is worth feeling proud of your performance. A 13.1 mile piggy back from Maddie works wonders :)

Dash & Dine

To make running a little more fun, Maddie, Autumn and I sometimes plan something fun after a run - it makes us look forward to it a bit more. Last night, we decided to dash and dine. Go for a quick run along Lake Union, then warm up with some tomato soup and a sammie.

So if a runner's high isn't enough for you, you should try a turkey and prosciutto sandwich with white cheddar, arugula and lemon mayo. I guarantee you'll want to go running every night. 

Thanks for dinner, Mads!

Putting my running shoes back on.

It's that time of year again: training time. My running buddies and I have committed to another half marathon in June, so I've been lacing up my shoes and hitting the pavement. I'm not to the point where I think, "wait, the run is already over?!" but I'm getting back into the groove and that's what matters. My perpetual runner's high is just around the corner (I hope!).

P.S. I'm a little nervous that I still have to do another marathon in the next year and a half. My list has already committed me to it!

P.P.S. Picture from the Leavenworth Half Marathon.

A Hand-in-Hand Tradition

This is how we finish all of our races. We're that cool. Even though it was tough, I can see the sense of accomplishment in those raised arms. Thanks to Stephanie for sharing!

Ok, this will be the last Skagit Flats race post, I promise.

Half Effort for a Half Marathon

Yes, we're half crazy for doing this race. We have always told ourselves that we run races for the training, not for the actual race. The fact that half marathons and marathons take months of sweat and sacrifice to get into shape and our bodies love us for it - that's what inspires us. The Skagit Flats Half Marathon, well, that's another story. We started off on a good note, prioritizing runs over the summer fun that would happen around us. Then four weeks prior to the race (the most critical weeks of training), we fell off the wagon. I think I did maybe 6 runs in that last stretch, sprinkled with some nights at the gym. So it appears that now we were racing for the shiny medal at the end, not the training.

Was the race painful? Let's just say it wasn't pleasant.
Was my time really that much worse than normal? Umm, yeah. A good 30 minutes slower.
Do I regret choosing summer fun over running? Heck no!
Am I proud of this race? You betcha, I am. I still ran 13.1 frickin' miles!

So the morale of the story: Train for races. Don't do early fall races because they take away from summer fun. And most importantly, always ensure that you have race fans - they will literally be a jolt of energy to get you across that far, far-away finish line. Thanks to my Mom, Dad, Joe, Stephanie and Greg for cheering us on!

Half marathon, you say?

These lovely ladies and I are running the Skagit Flats Half Marathon on Sunday. I'm not going to lie to you, our training efforts have been (much) less than perfect. We only missed one long training run, but the weekday runs have been fairly scarce. Yeah, sure, I went to the gym instead, but gliding on the elliptical still does not prepare you for 13.1 miles of pounding on the pavement.

But it's weird - when you have a few halfs and a full marathon under your belt, you begin to have this lackadaisical view on training. The warm summer evening picnics, happy hours with friends and even sailing adventures ALWAYS trump running.

So I'm ready for a little running hiatus, which will happen the moment I cross that finish line. Gym, yoga, hip hop? I'm excited for a change. Wish me luck!

(picture from SeaFair race in July)

They call them a six, but I'd call them a ten

Get it, Asics? A six? :) But really, my new Asics Gel-3030 running shoes are a 10! (It helps that I got them for 25% off too.)

Nearly two years ago, I bought these new running shoes. I loved them. Fast forward a half marathon, a full marathon, hundreds of training miles and a sprinkle of 5ks, my shoes were on their last leg (and perhaps a little stinky?). Since I was a little out of running shape when we first got back on the training bandwagon, I blamed every bad run on my, well, out-of-running-shapeness.

But now I realize that it may have also been due to the complete lack of support that my shoes had. I felt like every step forward created a jolt of pain in the ball of my foot and heel. While I really want to embrace this minimalist, barefoot running craze that everyone claims to say is "natural and the way humans were built", I think I am a product of evolution and like the support that running shoes provide. Plus, there's nothing natural about the concrete that we all run on anyway.

So, I caved and got a new pair of running shoes this weekend. And now I feel like I'm running on fluffy clouds of cotton candy that are laid upon a giant trampoline, making each stride a giant leap into the next! (That might be stretching it, but they are com-FY!)

Back in the groove of things

But I must admit, it hasn't been easy. The long runs feel long, even if they are half the length of my training runs last year. But, I guess that's why they call it training. Less than two months until my next half marathon!

via/Pinterest

Pepper spray

Thanks to this dude and other recent attacks on women runners, I don't quite feel comfortable running at night. Granted, I never run alone in the dark, but even if there are two of us, there's an element of scaredy cat in me.

So I bought some pepper spray. The packaging suggests that you test it out so you don't have a faulty product, so I did and it appeared to work perfectly.

Fast forward one day.

I'm driving to Green Lake to meet Autumn for a run. I bring along my new, potentially life-saving device. I made sure that the spray nozzle was locked just to be safe, then set it back down on my seat.

Driving along. Rub my itchy eye. AHHHHHHHHH!

Turns out that even the residue left on the bottle can get on your hands and then transferred to your eye. It's a painful lesson to learn, but now I know it works VERY WELL.

Ouch.

pic/via

My first marathon.

Look at those shiny medals!

I like shiny things after running 26.2 MILES! The finisher's medal wasn't even the best part of the race. No, no, no. The best part was the euphoric feeling of accomplishment. I, Erika Peterson, was able to push through the pain and suffering and finish my first full marathon. (Holy cow!)

But as they say, pain is temporary, but pride is forever. As expected, there were moments when I thought to myself, "what kind of crazy person voluntarily does this?" But then to get up the hill, I thought back, "bad asses do this." And I continued to truck along.

There is such camaraderie among runners – I love it. The encouragement from the Team in Training (TNT) coaches to more than just TNT runners, the occasional yelps exclaiming "we can DO this", the quiet words of encouragement as you pass someone who is obviously at a rough patch. We were all in it together – all 26.2 miles of it.

In addition to fellow runners, having friends and family cheer you on from the sidelines and finish line is priceless. Seeing Kathryn and Pat waving their sign and shouting our names at mile 17 or giving a big, stinky hug to a certain someone at mile 20. It helped me get to the finish line to see even more proud, smiling faces - Dad, Stephanie, the Dohertys, James, RyRy. Thank you all for your support on marathon day, and for the MONTHS leading up to it. (And Mom, no worries, you'll be able to make it to the next one!)

So, what's next? Well, probably a half marathon this summer or fall. Another full marathon is probably in my future, but I think a break from intense training sounds rather nice – especially if the sun ever shows up! In the meantime, I'll keep looking at my shiny medal.

little letters

dear legs,
thanks for carrying me through 22.7 miles of running yesterday. i really appreciate that you didn't let me collapse.

dear fork in the trail,
please don't ever confuse me again. that added mileage due to a wrong turn was not appreciated. i curse you.

dear friendly runners,
thanks for your words of encouragement as we passed you along the burke gilman trail. you felt our pain as much as we felt yours.

dear water,
i'd die without you. (literally. i'm not even being dramatic.)

dear cookies and cream powerbar,
you taste like heaven after 10 miles.

dear seattle weather,
thank you for holding off until the last mile or two to start dumping rain on us. at that point, it was welcomed to cool us off and wash off the salt. (yes, you become rather salty when you run long distances.)

dear fellas (joe, ryry and james),
thanks for welcoming us stinky girls as we made it to redhook brewery from BALLARD. i hope you enjoyed your bonding time since we were late. (damn fork in the trail.) and joe, thanks for making us medals. that's why you're awesome.

dear redhook brewery,
thanks for having the most amazing nachos on this planet. it may have been the severe lack of calories in my body, but they blew my mind. so did the guacamole.

dear autumn and maddie,
we're crazy. but at least we're crazy together. thanks for being the best running buddies.

dear marathon,
three more weeks and i'll be done with you and resume a life that might resemble normal.

and finally...

dear monday,
how much would it cost to convince you to magically become friday? i'm willing to pay big bucks.

oops.

I thought I had found the perfect 15 mile run for us today.

Turns out I was wrong.

I found the perfect 16.6 mile run.

Oops.

(Autumn and Maddie are going to ban me from mapping future runs.)

I did a good thing

Did I save the world, Jack Bauer style? No. (But how cool would that be?!)

Did I save millions from malaria by providing mosquito nets to everyone who needs them? No.

Did I help an elderly woman cross the street? No.

Did I donate to Haiti Relief? Yes, but that's not what I'm getting to here.

I RAN THIS MORNING. If you remember, I made this a goal to run in the AM, but haven't been too good about it recently. Because, if you also remember, I have a problem with my snooze alarm.

Mornings are not my cup of tea. Yet, often times they require a cup of tea or cup of joe, for that matter. (The beverage, not the bf. But, I guess I'd take both.)

How can so many people actually make the commitment to work out in the morning? I mean, geez, Frances was telling me yesterday that she gyms-it-up 4-5 days a week at her gym downtown. Olita goes to classes at her gym at like 5am. My dad even goes to school early to play basketball at like 4am, plus he has a 40+ minute commute! (I guess I didn't get his early bird gene.)

And once again, the run felt great. Plus, it's done for the day so I can do whatever my little heart desires tonight. Like, for instance, make something out of this little gem.

flickr

This is where I ran today. The wobbly feel of the picture appropriately shows the world through my tired eyes this morning.

A spring in my step

I am not a big fan of mornings.

I am a big fan of being social and hanging out with friends.

Add training for a marathon in the mix and it looks like I have a choice to make. Sleep an extra hour in the morning and bail on friends at night for my run? Or get my lazy butt out of bed in the morning so I can actually have time for the people in my life?

My choice: Run in the morning.

I won't say it was easy this morning. Definitely not. There was that moment when I laid in bed and thought to myself, 'do I really need to run today?' I didn't let the devil win. I threw on my running gear and headed out the door. After only 50 yards, I was feelin' good. I even picked up my normal pace. Good moooooorning, Seattle!

There were several runners on the trail and let me say – morning runners are a different breed. It's like they are more efficient. As if they are getting more bang for their buck in the day. I mean, yes, I do get in my runs according to schedule, but morning runners seem to be just a bit more hardcore. Adding a little spring in their step right from the get-go. I salute you, morning runners. And now, I would like to join you.

May this post be proof that I, Erika Peterson, will commit to running in the morning two days a week while training for this marathon.

Wish me luck. I'll keep you posted, unless I'm taking a nap…

(And yes, I repurposed this post from the PI blog. Creative juices to switch it up aren't really flowing, people... Maybe it was from the early morning?)

Goodbye, normal life

Hello, running 24/7.

My "official" training program starts this week.

Holy cow. What am I thinking? Family and friends, my apologies for seeming completely unavailable for the next four months.

By the time June 26th rolls along, I will have run 461.2 miles. That's starting today, not even including the last few weeks.

I just have to keep telling myself that normal people do these and still keep their lives balanced. Case in point: Olita. While I do recall her dreading some of the runs where the mileage was in the teens or higher, she made it seem doable. (Olita - You're my inspiration for this one!)

For the 20-miler, Autumn, Maddie and I have already decided that we're running the Burke-Gilman up to Redhook Brewery from Gasworks - a perfect 20 miles. At Redhook we will be greeted by giant cheeseburgers, beer and lots and lots of water. Oh, and Joe, James and Ry Ry. Then they'll drive our stinky butts home. (Thanks in advance guys!)

We didn't die!

Though at times, I thought I might have, I survived the 13.1 miles.

Autumn, Maddie and I successfully completed the Leavenworth Oktoberfest Half Marathon on Saturday and let me tell you, 2 mile ascents are rough! Actually, overall very hilly terrain is no easy feat. But aside from that, the course was beautiful! It passed by crystal clear rivers, adorable cottages and through the woods on trails. I would highly recommend the race for anyone who might be thinking about a half in their future.

In an unfortunate twist of fate, I was visited with the little flu bug on Friday which nearly brought me to tears because I had been training for sooo long! Luckily, come Saturday morning, I was feeling well enough to run, but definitely not at 100%. Even if I added 12 minutes to my last time, I'm extremely happy because, well, I didn't even know if I'd be able to race!

Autumn had a similar story. She came down with a bad case of the flu earlier in the week, but pushed through the pain like a rock star.

Maddie, in general, is just a bad ass and rocked the race.

Now I am going to take a little hiatus from running. Start up yoga again and throw in a little hip hop class or two. I think mixing it up a bit will be refreshing.

Maddie, Erika and Autumn

{good job ladies; we did it again!}

I want one of these right about now

Delicious!

I guess I'll have to wait until Saturday night;

it will be much-needed after running 10 miles and celebrating the Husky victory.

I'm optimistic.

Goal Project: Run

Less than 3 weeks into my next half marathon and let me tell you, I've been struggling on the movitation side of things. But I must do it.

Goal: Get my butt into gear and stick to my training schedule!

My motivation will be to not get injured on the race because the reality is, if I don't continue to run, I'm going to hurt myself and then not be able to do anything after the race. (Even if that sounds magical right now, I still am quite excited to start up yoga again post-race!)

Last night I went for 6+ mile run and it felt surprisingly good. I could have gone longer if I didn't have dinner waiting on the table at Stephanie's.... which, by the way, was fabulous. And so was Gossip Girl. I'm excited for all of the dinner exchanges and TV programs that fall brings!

It truly is the World Wide Web

As I mentioned before, I set up a Google Analytics account for my blog awhile back. It's so interesting to browse through the various categories - visitors, traffic sources, etc.

I've jumped to 148 unique visitors. Whoa.

However, what I find most intriguing right now is where some of my readers have come from - 12 different countries!

1. United States
2. Canada
3. Malaysia
4. Australia
5. Mexico
6. Japan
7. Colombia
8. Jordan
9. Czech Republic
10. United Kingdom
11. Saudi Arabia
12. Germany

I seriously wondered what they googled in order to stumble upon this random blog. What do you think?

On another note, I got my first "fan email" from my SeattlePIRun blog! This person is moving to Seattle and wants to join a running club, but she is intimidated because she doesn't run at the fastest pace. Must be why she emailed me vs. the 50 marathon man who also contributes to the blog... The thing is, I don't run in a running club, so I don't quite know how to respond. Eh, I'll think of something.

I can't stop sweating

I begrudgingly woke up this morning to go for a run... A run that I have been putting off for days because I can't make myself run in this intense heat. But I figured my next half marathon is only 9.5 weeks away, so I need to pick up the pace.

It wasn't unbearable during the run, but post-run, I could not stop sweating. I even took a cold shower to try to cool off, but being in my hot apartment combined with blow drying and flat ironing my hair, you would have thought that I just finished a marathon. As a matter of fact, I don't think I even was that sweaty after the half. There was no way I was cooling off... so I did what I had to do. I cooled off using poor man's AC: leaning my body into the fridge and face into the freezer. Ahhhh....

What I really wanted to do was go jump in the lake like last night. Steph and I hit up Greenlake with this Fred Meyer Clearance Special: a Hannah Montana Raft. I'm pretty sure we got a few looks of jealousy by the pre-teens that walked by. And from bus friend Scott who joined us, although I think he would prefer a Jonas Brothers raft or water wings. I think he could rock them.