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Cue the training montage

Running makes me feel more like myself than anything else. I forgot how much that’s true until I took a long break and came back.

Late last month I started training again for my next big race, The Love Run half marathon in April. And it feels so so good.

After running my first marathon in 2013, I took 2014 as a “step back” year to mix it up, focus on dancing and burlesque, and plan our upcoming wedding. I needed a break from being competitive with myself.

2015 was supposed to be a return to marathon training, and with hope, my first ultra with the Rocky 50k. Obviously that didn’t happen. My daughter was born two days after that race, and I only managed to clock 124 total miles of running last year.

Still, it seems hard to believe that the last half marathon I did was almost two years ago, when I paced Mikey in his first half. He’s done four more since then (shaving off a full half hour from his PR) plus his first full this last November. But as he keeps insisting, this is my marathon year. (We’ll just keep switching off, maybe, until we can do one together or we get bored of marathons.) I’m naturally such a competitive person that it was rough sitting last year out from racing, even though I was proud to watch my husband reach his goals.

It’s a little more difficult to train these days, but we’re making it work. My schedule looks like this:

Twice a week I go out for runs in the evenings while Mikey stays with the baby; even now, with the weird sleep schedule, I’m a much happier nighttime exercise person rather than an early riser. Cora is not into bottles or the idea of anyone who is, uh, not mom, so any time I go out requires planning and coordination. Feed her, pass her off, run out the door, get back quick. At least for now. She’s getting easier.

Weekdays started with three miles and are now up to five miles during the week. Saturday (or Sunday) is a long run that started with four miles and progressively adds a mile each week until race day. I’m up to six now. Thanks to some gentle urging, I’ve done all but one of the runs on the training plan and hope to keep that up. I even went out during the blizzard.

It’s not a very aggressive schedule, but that’s by design. Coming back from pregnancy is hard, and the act of running feels very different. I’m slower, for one. And constantly trying not to pee myself. But the catharsis is the same.

I had high hopes of going hard and hitting a new PR for this half marathon, but I think a new goal is just to get in fighting shape for it and to have a good time. Everything after having a baby seems like a new thing anyway. This is not the same body I had before and it never will be. A freaking person came out.

Every single week I think I can’t add a mile and then it happens. Every week I think I can’t do it and I’ve ruined my body, but then I manage to run again.

This picture is from two weeks ago after we had a huge blizzard in Philly. Once it all started to melt two days later I went out for four slippery miles and got the chance to run in the middle of the still-unplowed streets. So silly, so much fun.

P.S. Feel like joining me in April? I’ve got you. Use the code “ALLIELOVE” to get a discount on registration.

#love run #cgi racing #half marathon #philadelphia running #mother runner

2014 Rutgers Unite Half Marathon Recap

It's been well over a month since I finished half marathons number Two and Three and I still haven't written about them. I'm not sure why I'm so far behind with number Three, but I've been avoiding number Two for good reason. Number Two was awful to me. Since the Rutgers Unite Half Marathon was only two weeks before the Nike Woman's Half Marathon, instead of having a nice 8 mile taper run with my Team in Training crew in Maryland, I set out for 13.1 in New Jersey. I signed up for the Rutgers Half in early October, about a week before my first 10k in Atlantic City. That meant I had two half marathons already lined up, before I even did 6.2 miles? Seems a little crazy, but I'm typically an all or nothing kind of person, if I was going to do this running thing, then I was ALL in. I really wanted to do the Rutgers Half since it would take me on a tour of my alma mater. I was already training for the Princess Half and about to reach my fundraising goal for St. Jude, so I figured, whats another 13.1, especially with no fundraising goal? Signed up, and then completed my Atlantic City 10k. About a week after the AC10K, I was scrolling through the Instagram #TeamSparkle pictures when I saw an awful lot of sparkle skirt wearing ladies holding blue Tiffany boxes, and many of them sporting purple shirts. It was October 20th, the day of the Nike Woman's Half Marathon in San Fransico. It looked awesome, I wanted in, a quick google search later and I found that Nike also puts on a race in Washington DC in the spring. How perfect, I'd only have to wait six months and NOT fly across the country. Sign. Me. Up. I couldn't find the sign up anywhere, and I had assumed that I missed it. I stumbled onto the Team in Training Page and saw they had spaces available. Another $1800 fundraising goal? I just met my goal with St. Jude, surely I could do it again... And for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, another noble cause. PLUS it would give me a chance to meet other runners in the area. After a year in Maryland, I was still very much lacking in the friendship department, so it couldn't hurt. I'm in. I signed up without hesitation, and then realized the scheduling mistep I had just made. Two half marathons with only one weekend off in between... Well, I signed up, no backing out now. Fast forward six months through the COLDEST, SNOWIEST most MISERABLE winter I have ever experienced. I ran outside in snow and ice, even pulled 10 miles out in a downpour. I was one of those CRAZY people on the side of the road being splashed by cars. The weekend before the Rutgers Half was the Team in Training statewide practice. An 11 mile run around BWI airport. I finshed much faster than I thought I would and had high hopes for an excellent half marathon the following weekend. My sister was running her first 8k at Rutgers race weekend, that I so kindly signed her up for, without her really agreeing to it. I bought us matching black shirts and red sparkle skirts to get us in the Rutgers spirit. As I was lining up in the starting chute infront of Werblin, I stayed to the side and chatted with my sister. I was starting to get nervous and decided that this race would just be a warm up for the Nike Half. I decided then and there that my only goal was to beat my 2:57:50 finish time from the Princess Half.

I was near the back of the corral by the 11:30 min/mile pacer and glanced around. I saw a guy dressed as a ninja turtle with neon pink knee socks. I leaned in and whispered to my sister "I need to beat that guy there." I don't know why, but I made him my mark. On top of beating my last half time, I had to beat that guy. Turtle Guy.

The start went off, and I crossed the starting line about 2 minutes later. We headed towards Silvers apartments where I spent a lot of time hanging out with Matt my Freshman year, and called home my Junior and Senior years. We ran the back road that was always closed when I was in school, for no apparent reason. Past the Busch freshman doors, towards the dining hall, and then off towards Livingston campus. I kept with my three minute run, one minute walk routine. On my walk breaks, Turtle Guy would pass me, and then I would run past him again. I was feeling pretty good, and already three miles in. I had a Strawberry Clif Shot Blok. I was determined to fuel properly for this race and hopefully not lose all my steam like I did at Princess. I had been training with the Shot Bloks and had no problems. A quarter of a mile later my stomach decided it wasn't having it. Maybe it was the Shot Blok. Maybe it was the 8pm birthday dinner for my Dad we had the night before consisting of steak, aspargus, macaroni salad and my award winning strawberry shortcake roll. Maybe it was the fact that the temperature was suddenly 80 degrees after months of much cooler weather. I don't know what it was, and at that moment, it didn't matter. I had to go to the bathroom. A mile ticked by and not a SINGLE port-a-potty. I was starting to panic. I ran off course and tried to get into the Livingston Student Center, but it was before 9am on a Sunday, the doors were LOCKED. Finally at mile 5, I saw some port-a-potties that weren't even part of the race, they were for some contruction... Didn't care, took off running a good way off the course to a dirty, toiletpaper-less port a potty. I will spare all details except for the fact that I had ONE tissue in my SPIbelt. At least there was that. My stomach was pretty beat up. I had lost Turtle Guy and all hope. I was headed back over the hill towards Busch again, and thought about quitting. What was the point? I'd have another shot in two weeks, and I felt awful. Then a lady coming up behind me shouted "I really like your skirt! You got this!" I was back in. I ran back to Busch. Back down the back road, around the apartments, back through the start line, past Werblin. I tried to forget about my stomach. As I was headed down towards Allison Road Classroom for a turn around point, there he was! TURTLE GUY! On the other side of the road, headed back. I could catch him right? Where the heck is the turn around? ...Oh its pretty far down there. I knew I was hot on his tail. My run/walk intervals were shot, so I was doing whatever felt right. We headed back towards the Stadium, and then up onto the Route 18 bridge. Soon we were headed into Johnson Park and approaching mile 9. Still no Turtle Guy. I kept on trucking through the park, and again spotted him headed back towards me after a turn around. I finally caught him at a water stop near mile 10. He stopped for some reason, and I kept on going. I passed him and didn't see him again. I headed out of Johnson Park and up to Landing Lane. As I weaved through Buccleuh Park, I was feeling ridiculously dehydrated. My water bottle (which I refilled once in Johnson Park) was empty again and the next water stop was far away. I decided from then on out, I would walk a tenth of a mile, then run a tenth of a mile. We were already to mile 12, so the finish line was within my reach. Mile 13 was hell. I was so thirsty. So tired. So hot. My stomach felt terrible and my hands were starting to swell up. When I finally emerged from the park and turned a corner onto College Ave, I could see the finish. I took off running with everything I had in me. To everyone cheering at the finish line, it looked like I had had an excellent race with a strong finish. I saw my family on the sidelines, my sister with her 8K medal hanging around my neck. I heard the annoucer say "Where's Jessica at?!" And I threw up my hands in victory. He then asked if he could borrow my skirt for a party he was going to later. I crossed the finish line looking triumphant, but feeling much worse. I looked down at my watch, and while it said 2:53, I had paused it for my potty break. I offically crossed at 2:59:05. I hadn't beaten my Princess time, but I did beat Turtle Guy.

I headed down the road to the finisher tent to grab my snack bag and a bottle of water and then headed back to the finish area to find my family. Thats when I saw Turtle Guy finish. I looked at my sister and said, I beat him! That silly little goal kept me going at least to finish the race. When I got back to my parents house, I took a shower and the swelling in my hands started to go down. I was feeling a lot better and we went out for subs at Tastee Subs. I laid around their house for a bit, and then hit the road to drive back to Maryland. In two weeks, I'd be running again, and I was so afraid of another bad race.