I am officially a sub 4 hour marathoner!!!

For the last 18 weeks I have been running my buns off with one goal in mind: To break 4 hours on the marathon! As you may have guessed from the title of this post, Mission accomplished! : ) But I still thought I'd give you the details on how it all went down.

On Friday morning we farmed out Monty and the kids to some awesome friends for the weekend, then we hopped on a plane and headed to DC!

Once we landed we headed out for some quick sight seeing. We saw the national monument and hit a few Smithsonian museums then hopped on the metro to go to the expo.

We randomly happened to arrive at the exact same time as my sister Naomi and her running machine hubby Kevin, who had driven in from Chicago the night before. There were 24,000 runners filtering through the expo that weekend and somehow the stars aligned that we would bump into each other!

 We took advantage of an Elvis rock and roll photo op.

And I took a picture with my little sissy! It was seriously so cool running into them! 

At the expo we picked up our packets, signed up for the 3:55 pace group, bought some gu's and a headband, then went on the hunt for some carbs.

 On our way back to our hotel we spotted Bertucci's so we swung in and loaded up on pasta. We'd been carb loading all week but thought we should pack in a few more just to be safe. : )

When we got back to the hotel, we laid out all our stuff, watched the You vs. Them video to pump ourselves up, then we went to bed at 9pm to get a good night's sleep before our 5am wake up call.

 In the morning we popped out of bed at 5am. I geared up with my new bondiband from the expo and my neon green running tank for St. Paddy's day. We watched the You vs. Them video one more time (because it seriously gets your blood pumping!) Then headed to the metro.

 The trains were JAM PACKED with runners! We thought we were smashed in like sardines and then we'd get to another stop and more people would squeeze in. The train was groaning but we made it to the stadium and the wave of runners flooded up the steps towards the armory.

 With about an hour to go before race time we hit the port a potty's, secured our timing chips, gulped down some bananas and oatmeal and chugged some chia seeds.

We took one last pic with Kevin and his cousin Eric, then packed up our camera's and phones and checked our bags. With 30 minutes to start time we went outside for one more round of port a potties.

When the race started we were still in the port a pot line so as soon as we finished we got a great warm up trying to catch up with our corral before they crossed the timing mats. We made it just in time!  Taber and I were in corral 8 (out of 26) so we could run with the 3:55 pace group. I figured if we stuck with them, even if we fell behind a little, we'd still have a 5 minute buffer to reach my goal. 

Once we were over the mats I tuned everything else out around me and just focused on the pace group leaders. There were 3 of them and I figured as long as I kept them in sight I would be doing pretty good. The first mile was hectic as we tried to get through the sea of runners and establish our pace. There was a lot of elbowing and surging and I had to scramble to stay with the group. Finally after mile 2 we settled into a rhythm. That's when I relaxed a little and was able to take in more of what was going on around me. 

The first half of the course was awesome. We ran by the national monument, the smithsonian, the white house and the capital. There were bands playing every few miles and plenty of great spectators to cheer us on. We were keeping a really solid pace just under 9 min mile and I felt awesome. This was definitely not a flat course but the hills weren't too steep or too long.  

We knew it was going to be a warm day so we made sure to drink up at every water station and pour cups of water over our heads and on our bodies to stay cool. At mile 7 we took our first Gu which gave me a huge burst of energy and I started clapping with the bands, cheering loudly for our pace group and pumping them up with motivational sound bites every few minutes. I'm sure I was driving them crazy but I seriously felt euphoric between miles 7-10.

At mile 13 the half marathoners (nearly 16,000 of them) pealed off to finish their race and the course became much roomier and a lot quieter too. I took another Gu at mile 13.5 and happily chirped something to the group like, "Oh yeah! We're just warming up guys! The race doesn't start till mile 20!" A guy looked at me like I was out of my mind but at that point I still felt great.

As the morning wore on, the temperature began to rise into the low 70's. The back half of the marathon severely lacked shade and the sun started to take its toll. I continued to drink up at every water station and tried to repeat things like, You vs. Can't! You vs. Excuses! in my head. But by mile 17 my quads started getting heavy and I was struggling to keep my head in the game. I pulled out my iPod shuffle and plugged into some tunes hoping to get back into it. 

At mile 18 my shoelace came untied and when I jerked to a stop to tie it my legs screamed in protest. I fumbled around with the laces for almost a minute till they were tied.  When I finally got going again our pace group was way ahead of us. I tried to catch up but there was a hill at mile 20 and they pulled away. By mile 21 I couldn't see them anymore and my heart sunk. I was so out of it at mile 21 that I forgot to take my last Gu and the next water station wasn't for almost 3 miles.

Those were the worst miles of the marathon for me. It was hot, my legs were aching, and our pace group was out of sight.  We saw a runner pull to the side and break down in tears. We saw another guy drop on the grass and just lay there. Every step was so exhausting, every minute my protesting legs screamed louder. Finally half way through mile 22 I stopped in defeat and with tears clouding my eyes I told Taber to go on without me. He said, "no." I shook my head and said, "I can't. Just go." And he said, "I'm not finishing without you." I looked at him, saw the pleading in eyes for me too keep going, and reached as deep as I could for the strength to move my legs. I decided I might not break 4 hours but I wasn't going to walk. I might have to shuffle and limp jog but I was going to keep pushing to the end.

At mile 23.5 we finally reached another water station and I was able to take my last Gu. It gave me a much needed boost of energy and I saddled up my will power and said to myself, "LETS" DO THIS!" The last 3 miles had several daunting hills but I stayed focused and plowed up them.  There was a down hill at the end of mile 24 and I used it to pick up some speed. Taber dropped back a little so I slowed down to wait for him and he said, "No go! if you feel it you've gotta go! It's gonna be close!" I wasn't running with a watch so I didn't realize I could still break 4 hours. When Taber told me I was close, something just clicked inside me and I started barreling towards the finish line. At mile 25 I saw my brother in law Kevin who had been sidelined with excruciating muscle cramps.  When he saw me he jumped back on the course and with Taber just behind us we willed ourselves through that final mile. My sister jumped out at mile 26 to run with Kevin and I let them surge ahead while I fought for the last .2.

I honestly didn't see anything around me at that point but the finish line. When I crossed the mat I finally became aware of my surroundings and as the moment hit me I started to cry. Tears of exhaustion, tears of gratitude that it was over! Tears of disbelief that I actually finished! I turned around and saw Taber and he pointed to his watch and said, "You did it! You're a sub 4 marathoner!"

 Funny how quickly the pain of those last 5 miles faded away when Taber told me that! I laughed and shouted and cried again. Happy tears! Happy happy tears!

We did it! With just 63 seconds to spare! Official time: 3:58:56! If Taber had let me walk just a few more seconds I would't have that beautiful number 3 in front of my finish time. I finished 53 out of 263 for my age division and 244 out of 1414 for my gender divsion. Not too shabby!!!

We met up with Naomi and Kevin and Eric and took some pics of the proud finishers.

Just don't ask us to bend down or climb stairs. : )

 We did it!!

 It was so great having my sister there to celebrate with me. Her and Kevin are the ones who got us into running so it was the best having them there.

The rest of the day was pretty low key. We soaked in the post race party for a little then changed our clothes and went searching for some fat juicy burgers.  After eating we went back to the hotel, showered, and slept for a few hours. Then we woke up, went in search of more food, ate till our bellies were stuffed, then crashed again. : )

 The next morning I limped around DC for a little sight seeing with the Tabester. My quads, calves, hamstrings, feet and IT bands were HASHED!!

 I loved the Lincoln memorial but the stairs! OH those stairs!

We also got a peek at the White House (aka Mitt Romney's future pad ; )

If you look closely on the roof you can see the snipers up there ready to take out anyone who makes a threat on the prez. I think they had their eye on Taber with his suspicious looking beard ; )

Taber also really wanted to see the National Air and Space Museum but my legs just couldn't keep up with him.  I ended up sending him ahead and then I hailed a pedicab and met him there : ) 

When we got back to NH we collected Monty and the kids and headed home. At the house we were greeted with posters and signs on our doors and garage from our friends who had watched the kids. When we got inside there was another huge congratulations banner left by our friends from Savior of the World who had gotten the whole cast to sign them for us. It was seriously the most heartwarming homecoming and the perfect way to end an awesome weekend!

My legs may be hurting right now, but that sub 4 is mine forever! All the hard work, the months of training, those dreaded last 5 miles, were all worth it to remind me that I can do hard things!! That knowledge helps me in every aspect of my life. When I'm up to my neck in laundry, when the kids are sick or melting down, when I'm trying to balance a full and demanding schedule, I look back on my marathon and think, if I could do that, I can do anything! : )

Taber conquers the Hartford Marathon

Hello blogosphere. I have missed you : ) 

Things have been a little crazy but they're starting to settle down so prepare yourself for a picture overload as I crank out the posts over the next few days to get caught up. 

First up: Taber the dominator kills the Hartford Marathon.

 Hartford is just a 2 hour drive from us so the night before the big race we drove down to get settled in. The city was bustling with marathon fever and it was fun to see signs everywhere welcoming the runners.

 We hit the expo and Taber picked up his bib number and timing chip.
 He looks so excited : )

One of the booths was giving out Larabar samples. They had a sign that said, "Just take two please" But when Taber told them he worked for General Mills (GMills owns Larabar) The lady gave him this giant bag with at least 100 bars. SCORE!

The kids did great at the expo, they scored free glasses and suckered Daddy into buying them some sporty little headbands. : )

 After the expo we went over to the park for the Pasta feed so Taber could get in a good carb load before race day. 

Then it was back to the hotel to attempt to get some rest. Attempt definitely being the key word here. We were all crammed in one small room with Cam in his pack and play and the girls on a blow up bed that wouldn't stay inflated. They replaced it around 9pm and then had to come in again at 3am to fill the replacement back up with air.  Also our toilet flooded and maintenance had to come up and deal with that. It was a rough night but with pre-race nerves I'm not sure how much Taber would've slept anyway.

Despite the lack of sleep Taber was up early and ready to roll. We were only a 5 minute walk to the starting line so he hung out and stayed warm until the last minute.

This is the view of the start and finish line from our hotel room. Once we sent Taber on his way we hunkered down in the room and alternated between watching the live broadcast on TV and watching out the window. 

I had signed up to receive text message alerts when Taber hit the 10K, half marathon, and 20 mile mark so I would have an idea of where he was. For some reason I never got the text for the 10K and I was freaking out wondering what had happened to him and if he was okay! Luckily I got the half marathon update an hour and 49 minutes into the race and after that I was able to calm down knowing that he was okay and cruising at an awesome pace.

I was very grateful for the hotel room to corral the kids and keep them entertained. Especially because it was chilly and very windy that day.

Before long I received a text that Taber had crossed the 20 mile mark in 2:51:05. That was my cue to load up the troops and head down to the finish line with our cow bells and posters.

We met up with our my friend Darby whose husband was also running it and anxiously kept our eyes out for our runners.

Soon we saw Taber coming around the corner. He was well under his goal of sub 4 hours and crossed the finish line in 3:54:00.  Here are his thoughts he posted on Runkeeper after it was over:

 "Wow what an experience. New PR by a good 45 minutes. Going into the marathon my main goal was to break 4 hours and I'm happy to see my time starting with a "3" in front of it. I felt like I might be able to push for a 3:40-3:45 so I decided to start the race with the 3:40 pace group. I couldn't find the 3:40 pace group so I just started off on my own. Mile 1 felt great. Found the 3:40 pace group at mile 2 and decided to hang with them. This was probably my biggest mistake because the pace group was running a very fast 1st half to bank a lot of time for the 2nd half. I clocked a ridiculous fast mile 2 and 3 (7:42 and 7:48 pace) before I realized that this group was not the right pace for me. Once I clocked 8:03 for mile 4 I knew I was going to be hurting later in the race. I started to let up and eventually settled into my own groove of 8:20-35 splits. I took a gu after mile 8, 17 and then again around mile 22. Those fast miles early on really wore on me during the last 6 miles. I ended up getting through the first 18-20 miles at a decent clip, but the last 6 miles I hit a wall. At that point I was glad I had banked enough time to start running 9-10+ min/miles because that's all I had in me. The last 4 miles were especially tough with the wind (20-30mph) coming head on. I finished at 3:54 and was spent! It was so awesome having the family there to catch me. The marathon was put on really well and had a ton of water stops. Also the finish shoot was really impressive and there was a ton of loud screaming fans. Overall a huge success and a very memorable weekend with the fam."

It took awhile to find him after he finished but when we finally did we made sure to let him know how proud we were.

Marathon Dad!

We took some pics and then dropped him off at the massage tent.

While we were waiting for him to get his massage the girls kept themselves entertained by digging up an impressive collection of earth worms. I know it's disgusting but it kept them busy so I wasn't about to stop them.

When it was all over we took our runner boy to Five Guys for a victory burger.  

I guess spectating a marathon is almost as exhausting as running one if you're a 3 year old.

 Brinley literally stayed passed out through the entire meal. 

We're very proud of our Marathon man for training so hard and pushing past the pain to reach his goal on race day. He really is such a great example to our kids and a huge inspiration to me. WTG Taber!!

Applefest Half Marathon 2011: Post-baby comeback race!

For the last 6 months I've been slowly but surely working my way back into shape after taking a 9 month break from exercise and responsible eating while I was pregnant . : ) I signed up for the Applefest half marathon back in April to give myself some extra motivation to get out there and run. 

Last year I came with "big baby" (AKA my prego belly) to cheer on Taber, my sister and a bunch of friends that were running it. This year it was pretty awesome to be pinning on a number too.

 After watching everyone run it last year I knew the course was insanely hilly with the worst of the hills coming in the back half. Those hills really freaked me out and I was hesitant to set a time goal for myself. But then my running buddy Kendall told me that every time her sister races, no matter what, she always goes after a PR.  I was inspired by that and it made me think of that quote, "It's better to aim high and miss than aim low and hit your target." So I decided to aim high and set my sights on finishing under 2 hours, which means I would need to sustain at least a 9:10 pace for 13.1 miles.

To prepare for race day I ran the Applefest course twice in training so I could get a feel for those hills. Both times I pushed pretty hard but couldn't get it under 2 hours.  I was nervous, but hoped that with good weather and race adrenaline I could get there.

Then the day before the race Taber did something unbelievably awesome. He told me he was going to forget about his own time goal and run as my pacer to make sure I got my goal. I seriously could not believe it. I was literally jumping up and down and squealing with excitment. It was like being handed a secret weapon with superpowers. Once he told me that I was like, "Bring it on you big scary hills! I'm running with The Taber! You got nothin'!" 

Seriously though, knowing that Taber would be running with me was the best confidence booster I could've asked for.  He also volunteered to run with the fuel belt so I could stay hydrated (water stops are only every 2 miles at the Applefest.) I was so pumped to have my own personal one man entourage. Pacer, water boy, motivational coach and even camera man. With Taber by my side it was going to be a good race.

We woke up that morning to cool weather with drizzling rain. Perfect running weather. I ate some toast with peanut butter and banana then we loaded up the girls and drove over to the high school. Taber and Joseph dropped me off with Teya, Brinley and Brielle and went to park the car. We had only 30 minutes before it started and I still had to drop off my bag, find my friend who was watching the girls to do a kid pass off, meet up with a running blogger friend for some pre-race pics, stretch, and most importantly, do my port-a-potty routine.  Navigating the crowd with 3 little girls who walk slower than worms crawl was going to be a problem. Luckily I bumped into Taber's training buddy Rob and he offered to watch the girls so I could drop off my bag. 

I ran up to the gym and checked my bag, met up with my blogger buddy Lauren for a quick picture and good luck wishes on the race (I'll post more about our meet up on my running blog) and squeezed in a trip to the port-a-potty with not a minute to spare. Taber got the girls situated with the babysitter, we took a quick picture and then we lined up with Rob, Ricky and Joseph near the front.

The race director said "GO" and we took off with the crowd.  Rob, Ricky and Joseph pulled away from us pretty quickly. I could see Rob and Ricky in the distance but Joseph was long gone. I worried that we might be going too slow but Taber told me to hold back and stay with him. We finished our first mile in 8:11, well under our goal pace. Mile 2 brought us to Merrill hill which we plowed up no problem and clocked an 8:30 pace for the 2nd mile. We saw the girls at that point and they were screaming and cheering and reaching out for high fives. We slapped them some skin and the lady next to me said, "Aw! How motivating!"

We finished mile 3 in 8:32 and took advantage of a nice long downhill to pick up a fast 8:08 pace on mile 4. I felt strong, energetic and awesome during those first miles. Taber had his phone and was taking little videos while we ran. He would tell me when to speed up or slow down and do form checks every once in awhile.  He also told me I looked awesome and made it look so easy. I was like, "Man I should run all my races with this guy! I'm lovin' this!"

Here we are at mile 4 all smiles and thumbs up.

We hit a good hill at mile 5 but luckily there was a guy there playing the bagpipes for some motivation. We finished that mile in 8:38 and stretched out our legs to pick up some speed on the downhill at mile 6. Since the worse hills are in the second half our strategy was to run the first half under pace and pick up as much time as we could on the downhills so we'd have a buffer when we got to the big hills from miles 8-11.

We saw our friend Kemper cheering at mile 6 and then we saw Rob's wife Darby a half a mile later with personalized signs for us! We clocked an 8:22 pace for that mile and felt good as we got close to the halfway point. Mile 7 was mostly flat and we were well under pace so didn't push hard and kept it steady at 8:47. After mile 7 we downed our chocolate GU's and geared up for the long stretch of hills I call the gauntlet.

The gauntlet is brutal but I had run it in my training and knew what I was up against.  We jogged, we shuffled, but we never stopped to walk. It started raining pretty hard right as we were heading into the first hill but I didn't mind because it kept us cool. At mile 8 we caught up with Rob and Joseph and ran with them for awhile. Joseph hadn't been able to train since he started MBA school at the end of August and even though he flew through the first 8 miles, the hills started to take their toll and he fell behind. Rob fell back too but I knew we had to keep going because if I stopped I wouldn't be able to start again.

The rain made my feet wet and soggy and my legs felt heavy going up the hills. Taber told me to dig deep and started talking about all the people and things that motivate us to run. I blocked out everything but his voice and forced my legs to keep moving. Our splits through the hills were 8:59 for mile 8, 8:40 for mile 9, and 9:35 for mile 10.

When we got to the top of the last hill in the gauntlet Taber was celebrating but I was spent. He was ready to pick up the pace and coast in for the last 2 miles but I was starting to break down.  Mile 11 was 9:15. My legs were so tired and even though Taber said run, all I wanted to do was walk.

"Come on babe, you got this! Just stay with me and you're going to PR!" 

"This is all I got." I told him.  "It's all I can do not to walk right now." 

"15 more minutes of hard running and you're done. Think of why we run. Think about Cam. Don't stop."

That must've done it when he told me to think about Cam because I picked up my legs again and finished mile 12 in 9:02. Then we were back to Merrill hill. The cruelest part of this course is a 75 foot climb on the last mile. I wanted to cry. Taber started to pull away from me and I finally gave into my screaming legs and stopped to walk. Taber was having none of that though. "Stay with me and you're going to like what you see at the finish line, we're almost there, just stay with me!" I grabbed his arm and told him to pull me but he said, "no, you're going to do this yourself." I knew he was right, so I summoned every last ounce of will power and commanded my legs to run. I got to the top and it was all downhill from there. I ran as hard as I could. I heard Taber shouting, "Yeah! you're doing it! YEAH!"

 We rounded the corner back to the high school and saw all our friends and our girls shouting and cheering for us. Someone was holding Cam and ran him out to give me high five as I was passing. Darby took this picture right then. I could see the finish line and knew I was going to PR, I saw my girls and my sweet baby boy, my friends were there cheering for me and I had Taber by my side. It was an amazing moment.

 My official time was 1:56:15. Smashed my 2 hour goal and set a new personal record. My average pace was 8:53 min/mile and I placed 19 out 70 in my age division.  Not bad for my post-baby comeback!

Huge congrats to Kendall my running buddy for a strong finish on her first postbaby race. She had her baby a week before Cam so it was awesome training together with so much in common.

Also congrats to Joseph for finishing his first half marathon ever in an unbelievable time for a guy who literally has not run since August!

Many thanks to Darby, Melinda and Teresa for braving the rain to cheer us on and helping out with the kids during the race. 

 And many thanks to Taber for being the best pacer, water boy, coach, motivational speaker and friend I could ask for. He is my real secret weapon. So grateful to him and the kids for all their support (even though Cam and Brinley don't look super supportive in this picture ; ) I couldn't have done it without them!

And I'll end with a little video of the clips my personal camera man took while we were running. : )