Good to be Wrong?

How was everyone's Mothers Day? Good, I hope?!

Mine was fantastico!

I even got a present:



Do you love it?





It's a HORRIBLE picture of me considering this was at mile 26, and I was completely DYING. But, it was also a great moment, and I love the date and time at the bottom! J made me one of these for my 1st half marathon, so they are now side by side in our living room.

We met my folks for a late lunch at the Waterstreet Grille downtown. It was ok, the food was nothing spectacular, but it was nice to hang with my parents.

Serious:





Silly:

  



I love my little guy.....

When we got home I relaxed and rotted my brain by watched a Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane marathon (love her!) while J and C put this together:





I think Diddy wanted to play!!

Baseball season starts in 2 weeks - time to practice, as C is "playing up" this year. I'm still on the fence about this, but J is convinced he's ready. Hmmmmm, I'm not so sure. And for one time in my life I really think it would be good if I were wrong......

Have you ever wished you were wrong?

How Far She's Come

This post is dedicated to my Mom.



Doesn't she look so young?

I can't say that we have always had the perfect relationship, or were best friends as I was growing up, but today we are probably the closest we have ever been. I'm so proud of her for how far she has come the past few years.

Here is a picture of us from 2005:



And 2006:



Now, check us both out in 2007:



And I'm sure you can see the difference in the picture above from my wedding in 2008!!

What a journey she has had. She lost 100 pounds, and did it without any gimmicks, pills, shakes, etc. Pure will power and determination. Though, I think a lot of it had to do with this guy:



She is 100%, without a doubt, the BEST grandmother a kid could ask for. Now that she is healthy, and taking care of herself, she is the most active grandma, too!

I mean, I love my grandparents, but I never had the relationship that C has with my mom. He is the luckiest kid in the world. She is there for every concert, school event, soccer game, baseball game, and basketball game. They go to cooking classes, movies, you name it, they do it. It's pretty cool, actually.

She's an inspiration, and I'm proud to call her my mom!!

Love you, Kath!

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there. Take the day to do something for yourself - you deserve it!

Run for the Border

For Cinco de Mayo, J and I decided to tackle the "Run for the Border" race held in downtown Cleveland. Here's a description of the race from the website:

"This is a 3 to 3.5 mile run with no set course! Beginning at 5:00pm, you will be given a map of the area and the locations of the checkpoints. You will then determine the quickest route to each checkpoint. At 6:30pm, the race will begin with teams starting every 10 seconds. Each team will receive a green card that must be stamped as you reach each checkpoint. Partners must run together and pass each checkpoint as a team. Teams not reaching all checkpoints will be disqualified.

Pretty sweet, right?

J was ready:



Just let me tell you how excited I was that he wanted to run this. He's not much of a runner, so anytime he says he'll run with me I make sure to lock him in so he can't back out!! Ha!

The race started at the Blind Pig on West 6th Street:

  

Wait, no headband? Who am I??? :)

Anyways, the 3 checkpoints were Carney's, McCarthy's, and Zocalo. J mapped out our course ahead of time, and we were off!

Our first stop was Carney's, where we were given a sombrero to wear and maraca to carry for the rest of the race. Everyone else must have had the same idea because we ran into this line when we got there:

  

Some random guy at the bar offered to take our picture, but this is what we ended up with instead:



Hahahaha!!! So funny!

This is much better:



We then headed to McCarthy's, which was luckily only a few blocks away. Here one team member had to throw 3 limes into a bucket that the other team member held on his or her head.



(sorry for the blurry picture, but we were in a hurry!!)

We were then off to Zocalo. Well, J thought he found a "shortcut" (I cringe anytime I hear that word, how bout you???) and took me a different route than anyone else. Well, he had me climbing fences!!!!



It got us there, but I'm not quite sure it was any faster? Anyways, at Zocalo we had to sit down and take a shot of tequila!



Blech.

Then we headed to the finish line. J did a great job of running the whole race, and Steve gave me a final distance of 3.19 miles.



Of course it was raining. I seem to have this bad luck with rain and races. Let's hope my bad luck wears out before next weekend!!

Hope you all had a fun Cinco de Mayo!!!!



Any other city have a fun race like this?

What now?

Thank you for all the well wishes about the marathon!! They are really mean so much and are helping me through my "post marathon letdown".

I mean, what do I do now? What comes next? Hmmmmm......

Anyways, after we all headed back to the hotel, showered, and stretched after the race, we went to Primanti Bros for a post-race lunch. If you are a Clevelander, and have eaten at Panini's, Primanti Bros is the Pittsburgh version. You know, the huge sandwiches on white bread with the french fries and coleslaw stacked nice and high?? OMG, drool.........

Here's the crew:



See Kris? She's the 1st girl on the bench on the right (in green). She ran the marathon in 3:55!!! Talk about speedy. This was her 13th marathon, and she's only 27! Inspirational.



This group started "Team Journey" a few years ago in an effort to complete a marathon in every state. Not all of them are runners, but the cheerleaders count just as much!! Not sure I can run 50 marathons, but maybe I can do a handful? We'll see...

I'm still a little sore from Sunday, but it's nothing I can't handle. I'd be able to handle my sore hips/quads if my darn feet didn't hurt so much! These blisters need to heal asap. I was even able to teach my regular Group Step and Group Power classes yesterday without too much of a problem. Not too bad.

So, what's next for Heatha?? Well, the Cleveland Marathon is on May 16th (less than 2 weeks away!) and as long as I'm back to 100% I'm going to try to run it (call me crazy!).   

Say your prayers for me at night that the rain stays away that day!!!

Tonight J and I did something super fun.........here's a little preview:



Did I actually run another race 3 days after the marathon???? Stay tuned......

Marathon Post

The title of this post has a dual meaning: 1. the marathon recap (duh) and 2. it's going to be a long post, so put your feet up and settle in!

I was lucky enough to sleep ok the night before the race. It took me a long time to fall asleep, but once I was asleep I was OUT until the wakeup call woke me up at 5:30.

I rolled out of bed, got dressed (easy peasy since I already had everything laid out ahead of time), and made my regular oatmeal breakfast so that I would have enough time to digest before the 7:30 start time.

I met my friends from home in the lobby at 6:30 so we could walk the 10 blocks over to the start line. I think I look pretty calm in these pictures, but my stomach was already doing flips at this point. I knew the weather said it was supposed to rain, and be 78 degrees, my 2 worst nightmares (rain AND heat!).



As we walked over to the start we felt a few rain drops, but nothing to worry about (yet).

The starting line was craziness. Once we got close, I gave J and Mandy kisses goodbye, and Lauren and Danielle and I made our way to the 4:20 pace group, and Alisa (on the Left) made her was to the 5:00 pace group.

Right away I had a bad feeling about our pacer. She wasn't very friendly, and only seemed to talk to the people surrounding her even though we introduced ourselves and asked questions, etc. Plus, Steve (my Garmin) would NOT pick up a signal.

Soon after, the race started, and we didn't cross the start line until 7:40 minutes in!





The first 2 miles were exciting, though very congested. People were elbowing and tripping their way through - it was really hard to get into a groove. Then at mile 2.5, the rain just started coming down. And I mean it DOWN POURED. I remember thinking it was kind of funny at the time, but I had no idea how much I was going to despise the rain soon enough. This was about the time Steve finally caught a signal, but by then it was too late. I was so bummed after running with him during all my training and then he blew it on the big day. *Sigh.........*

I thought the crowd would thin out by mile 5, but no such luck. Right around mile 4 or so I ended up losing Lauren and Danielle because we were dodging around people and when I looked around they were gone! I couldn't even see them behind me anywhere! I made a split second decision to try and stay with the pace group, as I was feeling pretty great at this point still. However, I could tell the pacer was running much faster than the 9:55 minute miles that would put us at a finishing time of 4:20. Steve said miles 7 and 8 were 9:15 and 9:17!

Here I am around mile 7, about to give my sis a high five, and still feeling good (even though I look a little crazy!):



We crossed over a few bridges, and the half marathoners split off around mile 10 or so. This is when the crowds finally died down and we were able to spread out. It was also around the time I stopped at a water stop and totally lost the pace group. I knew there was no way I could catch up to them, as the hills were really starting to take their toll on me by now, and my shoes and socks were soaked through enough that they were squishing. It felt like each foot weighed 10 lbs each. I was starting to get down on myself at this point, but I knew my friends and J and Mandy were up at mile 14 so I kept on. I was so excited to see them and J even hopped in to run with me to the top of the hill I was on (thanks, Babe!). I had started walking the hills at this point, as there was no way my body was having it anymore.

At mile 17, I saw everyone again, and our friend, Chris hopped in to run with me. I was so grateful to have him. We didn't even say very much (I was completely dying at this point), but it was SO NICE just having someone next to me. I owe him big time. Here I am coming around the corner at mile 17 and meeting up with Chris:



I felt bad for him because I was so down on myself at this point. I couldn't understand why my training went so well, but that this race was so horrible. I know that my 10 lb shoes, the rain (it was still raining!), and hills were huge factors, but it didn't matter at this point. It was all a mental game, and I was losing. Plus, I was having trouble breathing. I've never had trouble before, but the only way I can describe it is like asthma. My breath was real short and quick, I couldn't seem to catch my breath at any time from here on out. I'm not sure if it was the humidity, or anxiety, or what, but it totally sucked.

Around mile 22, I noticed a girl come up next to me and I screamed! It was Danielle!!!! She was so funny, this was her quote "OMG, Heather, I could totally make out with you right now! I'm so happy to see you!" Haha! Love her. She had lost Lauren early in the race because Lauren's right knee started hurting and she had to walk/run almost the entire race.

We kept walking the hills, but at least the rain had stopped at this point. My body was spent. Those last 3 miles were the longest , hardest 3 miles of my life.   

As we were coming down the home stretch, I could barely run anymore. I had blisters from my soaking socks and shoes, chaffing from my wet pants, and my quads were on fire from all the stupid hills. But we were determined to bring it home.



Can you see the pain on our faces?? It was so nice to see everyone near the finish line, but it was hard to smile! Danielle and I crossed the finish line together with our arms in the air with a time of 4:38:13. Not ideal, but pretty good considering it was our first marathon, and the challenges we were given.





This was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. Honestly. I have never faced something so mentally and physically challenging as this. Marathons are NOT easy, and I am so proud to say I conquered these 26.2 miles.

I couldn't have finished this race without my husband and sister. I dedicate this race to them, as they were my guardian angels and life savers. I love you both!!! (bottle it up!)

Pre-race Day

Ahhhhh, so where do I start??

I guess I'll start at the beginning.....



I made sure we were all up bright and early Saturday morning for the 2+ hour drive to Pittsburgh (my sis may have said I was being a little overbearing, controlling). :)



We made it there in great time, checked into the Hilton, and started our walk to the expo. We saw some fun sites along our walk. We got to walk right along the river!



The expo was held at the Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh:



It was a little overwhelming, but very well organized. I was able to find my bib number quickly, and we head to the packet pickup center.



Check this out. They had everyone's name who was registered for the race on this board:





After some browsing around, and just taking it all in, we headed out to lunch. It was already 2:00 and I was HANGRY! We walked across the Roberto Clemente bridge (towards PNC Park) to find some grub. We found some cute outdoor seating restaurants and just chose one.



It was so nice just to relax and enjoy the weather (and try to calm my nerves!).



(took this photo with my iPhone - love the app "hipstamatic"!)

Afterwards we just toured the city some and picked up some last minute supplies. I was so glad we had gotten into the city when we did because the traffic at this point was ridiculous!

At this point we just decided to head back to the hotel for some relaxing, as we had dinner plans with friends at 6:45 at The Spaghetti Warehouse.

Dinner was fun! It was nice to meet some new people, and catch up with old friends (there were 18 of us!), but I have to say, the food wasn't that fantastic. It definitely wasn't what I remember when we used to have a Spaghetti Warehouse in downtown Cleveland! In any case, it served it's purpose.

Then we headed back to the hotel. I met up with my other friends who had gotten into the city a little later to discuss meeting times, strategy, etc. Laid out my gear for the next morning, popped some Advil PM, and hit the hay:



You can't see it, but I'm totally freaking out right here. It took me over an hour to fall asleep!

Little did I know that my strategy was not in the cards for me the next day........I had no idea what I was in for........

Stay tuned!!!

26.2 - check!

I did it!



It wasn't pretty, but I finished!

Just got home from Pittsburgh, so I'm gonna relax tonight and STRETCH.

Recap to come.....hope you had a nice weekend!!!