The Lowdown

I literally sighed before I started writing this.  I feel like so much has been happening, but it's all been the same boring stuff and I just didn't feel like writing about it.  So, to recap, I've still been watching what I eat and trying to work out more than I was before.  Last week was a bit of a slip-up, but that was mostly due to work factors beyond my control than anything else and this week I'm back on the bandwagon.  See? 

That's a screen shot of my Daily Burn calendar listing my exercise calories (calories out) and eating calories (calories in).  I've still been losing weight and I've got less than 10 pounds to go now until I reach my "goal weight".  It seems to be a slow, but steady, process, but I'm thrilled to see the scale keep going in the right direction.

So, if you look closely at Monday, February 7, you'll see that I only burned 36 calories.  That's because I've started something new!  A Hundred Push-Up plan!  Which is crazy to me.  In the initial test, I did 10 push-ups.  Drew estimated that I'd be able to get 4 and when I got to 6, he announced that he was officially surprised.  I kind-of wanted to die after those first 10 and it made me think that there is no way that I'll be able to do 100 all in one sitting.  However, I know that every time I've ever followed a plan, I've made it to the finish line, so I'm hoping that this will be just like that.  I even downloaded the fancy iPhone app to record my progress.  Yesterday I did 35 push-ups (in 5 sets), so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll get there.

I also found out on Monday that I got a spot to the NYC Half-Marathon on March 20!  Which is soon, but I'm not too worried.  Somehow all these races seem a lot less daunting now that I've done them once already.  I've figured out a fairly loose training plan that will ensure that I get my long runs in and I'll sort-of wing the rest of it.  I'm not an injury-prone runner, so I don't forsee any issues with upping my mileage although now I can really see a new pair of shoes in my future.

Last Saturday Drew and I did a challenge that his trainer, Billy, gave to him.  It was to run one mile on the treadmill at an incline of 10.  Which doesn't sound too hard until you're actually doing it.  Drew finished his mile in about 10:30 and I finished mine in 12:57.  I did a mix of jogging and walking because I knew that there was no way I'd ever be able to run the whole thing and stay on the treadmill, so I alternated back and forth.  I was a sweaty disaster by the time I finished.  I'm hopeful that the next time I try it that I can get a little bit faster.

I've also been going to Pilates on Thursdays with Nicole.  I decided this morning that it's getting easier and harder at the same time.  Harder in the sense that I feel like Nicole keeps pushing me to do more difficult exercises, but easier because I'm getting the hang of things now.  I'm also 100% sure that the Pilates that I've been doing helped me with my push-up quest.  So, in that regard, I don't imagine giving up on Pilates any time soon!

I know I've been a bad blogger recently.  I'm struggling with the monotony of going to the gym all the time.  I either need to toughen up and get outside or the weather needs to get better.  Or maybe both would be ideal.  I just haven't felt like writing about going to the gym.  I think it's boring.  Mostly because it seems like when I'm outside, I notice something interesting to mention or have a conversation with a stranger.  I've realized that no one talks at the gym.  Ever.  It's a world of headphones, which is sort-of sad, in a way.  The weather is looking up for weekend, so I'm hoping that means that I can get outside again!

One-Legged Jumping Super Star!

This morning I went to the gymnasium with Drew.  We had a lot of stuff to get accomplished today, so we got to the gym pretty much right when they opened at 8.  I started off on the Elliptical as a warm-up.  After that, we went to the weight room and did some weight lifting. 

I wanted to try to redeem myself after last week when I dropped the bar on the bench press and my trusty spotter saved the day.  I think I definitely did that today.  I even managed to go up 5 pounds from last week.  The 1.5 reps is because I did the first one all on my own and then Drew said that he thought I could get one more.  I brought the bar about half-way down and realized that there was no way, so I pushed it back up on my own, so it was really only half a rep.  Anything is better than dropping the bar, right? 


Bench press
10 @ 65 lbs
5 @ 75 lbs
1.5 @ 90 lbs

Butterfly
10 @ 60 lbs
6 @ 60 lbs
8 @ 70 lbs

Stand up shoulder presses
3 x 10 @ 12.5 lbs per arm

Arm curls
3 x 10 @ 12.5 lbs per arm

Jumps
10 x 3 (short box)

I actually did the jumps while alternating the arm curls.  It was a really good way to keep my heart rate up.  However, as I've mentioned before, I'm really NOT a good jumper.  Or, more specifically, I'm not a good two-legged jumper.  As Drew said, "You're a one-legged jumping super star!".  Which is sort-of true.  I'm just missing some sort of balance or something that makes me able to be good at jumping with two legs, but I gave it my best effort!

After that I finished up with a run on the treadmill.  Between the frigid temperatures and the snow we keep getting here, it seems almost impossible to run outdoors (at least to me).  My hat is off to those of you who are doing it!  I decided that in the spirit of keeping up with this speedy 5K plan, I should do some pick-ups during today's run.

I ran the first half-mile at 5.4 (11 minute pace) and then bumped it up to 7.5 (8 minute pace) for the next 0.25 miles.  I then went back to my slower pace to recover.  I ended up doing a total of 4 pick-ups throughout the run.  Two of them were at 7.5 (8 minute pace) and two were at 8.5 (7 minute pace).  All four pick-ups were for 0.25 miles.  It wasn't always easy, but I'm pretty proud of myself for hanging in there!  I ended up doing the 3.1 miles in 29:20 and then walked for another minute to cool down. 

I know I need to get some longer runs in, too, but the thought of doing them on the treadmill is slightly daunting/boring/annoying, so I'm holding out for better weather...


Elliptical
Time: 33:59
Distance: 2.80 miles
Calories: 269

Weight Lifting
Time: 26:43
Calories: 148

Running
Time: 30:58
Distance: 3.20 miles
Calories: 307

A New Max

This morning Drew and I went to the gym together and that meant that I'd have a spotter in order to try to test out my bench pressing abilities.  The last time I tried, I felt like I maxed out at 80 pounds.   A couple days ago I was able to do 90 pounds on the chest press machine, so I was hoping for something around there.  But I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it, since I always think the machines are easier. 

We started out with 30 minutes on the stair mill before hitting the weights.  I was pretty nervous, but we started out at 65 pounds and that was fine.  Then I moved up to 75 pounds and it was definitely getting harder and my right pectoral muscle was a tiny bit tired.  I decided that we should just go for it and try 85 pounds.  I did one really easily.  The second one I managed to get up and then that was it.  My right pectoral muscle had had enough.  I can't say I really blame it.  And, um, as a result, I dropped the bar.  Right into Drew's hands.  Lucky thing I have such a great spotter, huh?  It's not quite as bad as it sounds.  I kept my left hand on the bar the entire time and I'm sure I just surprised Drew more than anything else.  Thanks to him, I was never in any real danger.   

After that, we finished up with some more weight lifting, which looked a lot like this: 

Bench Press
5 @ 65 lbs
5 @ 75 lbs
2 @ 85 lbs

Skull Crushers
3 x 10 @ 25 lbs

Butterfly
6 @ 60 lbs
8 @ 60 lbs
7 @ 60 lbs

Shoulder Press
2 x 10 @ 12.5 lbs (per arm)

I have to say that I'm pretty proud that I beat my previous best.  Especially since I really haven't been lifting weights all that consistently (or at all) recently. 

We finished up our day with some time on the Arc Trainer.  I still don't understand the appeal of that machine.  Drew loves it, probably with a capital L.  And I think it's super boring.  His response?  "Yeah, but I go faster and push myself more than you."  After thinking about that for a while, it's probably the reason I love the stair mill so much.  Because the machine pushes you automatically.  Plus, it's really easy to read a book on the stair mill.  Which probably makes it the best machine of all time.  Maybe I don't like the arc trainer because I don't automatically get pushed in the same way? 

Stair Mill
Time: 30:00
Distance: 2.95 miles
Calories: 275

Weight Lifting
Time: 32:05
Calories: 144

Arc Trainer
Time: 30:00
Distance: 0.70 miles
Calories: 248

Being Hardcore

I might not have been keeping you perfectly up-to-date on my workouts, but I can assure you that they're getting done and I'm actually glad to be back at it.  I'm sticking with my plan of working out 6 days a week and having one rest day.  I've also been working on keeping my eating in check, which is a little bit easier when you're not on an extended vacation at Drew's mom and dad's house where they keep feeding you delicious food all the time! 

I've decided to try to keep up my new (and slightly improved) eating habits until April.  My goal between now and then is to lose 15 pounds.  Or, technically, 12, since I think I'm already down 3.  In April we're going to San Francisco and going to the Giants opening day and then on to wine country for 5 days and I want to be able to do wine tastings and eat yummy vacation food without worrying about anything else! 

I'm eating probably 85-90% of what I was eating a week ago, but this time I'm counting calories (using Daily Burn).  I've used a couple of Basal Metabolic Calculators to figure out that my BMR is probably somewhere around 1475 calories a day, so my calorie goal is to eat more than that and is somewhere in the 1500-1700 range each day.  I've successfully done this for the past 4 days and I have no reason to think that today would be any different.  I don't feel like I've denied myself anything, I just don't need to eat as often as I was when I was training for a marathon and I got sort-of used to the extra food! 

The good news for me is that I eat pretty well no matter what.  Now I'll just be a bit more tempted to cook at home (which, if you saw our counter space, you'd wonder how anything was possible) and have leftovers for lunch than I will to go grab something at the myriad of options within a 2 minute range from my desk.  But, that will be good for my wallet as well! 

Drew and I have called what we're doing (because he's in on this, too) until April "being hardcore".  This involves me actually getting up and going to the gym, which is a huge change of pace for me over the last month or so.  I think I'm doing pretty well so far.  Here's the quick breakdowns of all the workouts:

Saturday, January 8
Drew and I went to our "old" gym.  It's the one I was used to going to and it has a pool, which is nice, since not all gyms in NYC have one.  However, it's been undergoing renovations for the past couple months, so we haven't been going there (or, really, I should say that Drew hasn't been going there).  I wanted to go and see how everything looked.  It seems like they're still about a month away from being completely done, but it's looking pretty nice so far.  Of course, I should mention that the equipment hasn't changed and Drew managed to break a treadmill while we were there, so it looks fancier, but I'm not entirely sure it is fancier. 

I started out on the elliptical to warm-up before heading to the treadmill.  I only did two miles on the treadmill before going to do some weight-lifting.  I feel like these gym workouts are a little scattered because I don't do any one thing for very long, but if this is what it's going to take to get me to keep going, so be it.  I finished up the weight lifting with some ab work before going back to the treadmill for another round of cardio.  I was going to try to do some intervals on the treadmill the second time around, but after the first one, I felt really pukey.  I could have lived through that if I hadn't gotten a big side stitch.  I took that as a sign that I should ease back into this whole thing and so I spent 15 minutes doing some stretching and more ab work.  All in all, a pretty good workout for the first day of being "hardcore". 

Sunday, January 9
In my original plan, I had wanted to run three days a week, so I figured I might as well start now!  I've got this Speedy 5K plan in my head for March and I thought that I'd try to incorporate a little speed work into my run today since it hadn't worked out so well the day before.  I put on lots of warm clothes and a hat and gloves and my new Garmin and headed out the door to the Westside Path.

Wow.  It's cold out there in January.  Luckily, it didn't take me too long to warm-up.  I ran two miles down to Chelsea Piers and then turned around and headed back home.  I figured that my muscles were probably warmer now so I could try to run a faster mile for mile three.  And I totally did!  It was pretty hard, though.  I also think I need to change some of the settings on my Garmin because right now I have the auto pause feature for when I'm totally stopped.  I had to stop a couple times today to blow my nose and I noticed that each time, it took at least 10 seconds to register that I'd stopped.  I can't really blame it, I'll just change some setting and then I'll feel better about my times not being skewed by nose blowing or stopping for a traffic light.  But, I can include these fancy mile splits for the very first time:

Mile 1:         10:17
Mile 2:         10:28
Mile 3:           9:36
Mile 4:         11:02
Mile 4-4.10:  1:14

Monday, January 10
Rest day!  Mondays are going to be my "normal" rest day, so I figured I should just go ahead and get into the routine early! 

Tuesday, January 11
This morning I managed to get up and out of bed, even though Drew said "you could just go after work", but I wanted to make sure my workout was done and over with.  My left calf muscle has been a little sore, which I'm sure is the result of running too fast (oops).  That meant that I wouldn't be doing any running today.  Instead, I did 30 minutes on the stair mill and 30 minutes on the elliptical.  Not a riveting workout, but a workout nonetheless.  And I feel great about it.  Mostly I felt great that I'm still sticking with it.  It's a lot easier to get up and go to the gym at 9 or 10 on the weekend than it is before 6 on a weekday! 

Tomorrow it will likely have to be after work unless we end up with another huge snow accumulation in NYC tonight/tomorrow morning.  I am planning on a dentist appointment at 8 am before work and since the gym doesn't open until 6 and there should be a lot of snow on the ground, which would make working out outdoors dangerous, I think I'll stick with the after work option! 

Saturday
Elliptical: 15:25 / 1.25 miles / 145 calories / 179 max HR (84%) / 172 avg HR (81%)
Running (Treadmill): 20:49 / 2.00 miles / 200 calories / 198 max HR (93%) / 180 avg HR (85%)
Weight Lifting: 22:24 / 155 calories / 166 max HR (78%) / 143 avg HR (67%)
Running (Treadmill) 2: 10:00 / 1.00 mile / 93 calories / 181 max HR (85%) / 172 avg HR (81%)

Sunday
Running: 42:37 / 10:23 pace / 481 calories / 192 max HR / 173 avg HR

Tuesday
Stair Mill: 30:48 / 2.53 miles / 245 calories / 166 max HR (78%) / 155 avg HR (73%)
Elliptical: 31:40 / 2.75 miles / 270 calories / 172 max HR (81%) / 162 avg HR (76%)

Philadelphia Marathon Race Report

This post could have easily alternatively been titled "I Only Heard 'Eye Of The Tiger' Once".


I really have to start this with Friday night.  I had packed my bag for Philly on Friday night so that I wouldn't be running around forgetting something on Saturday morning.  I had a dream that night that I forgot to put my wetsuit and my bike helmet in the bag.  When I woke up on Saturday morning I was relieved to realize that I hadn't forgotten to pack anything.  I wasn't going to be swimming or biking before this marathon!

Saturday morning Drew and I took the train down to Philadelphia and got in around 10:30.  We took a cab to the hotel and dropped off our bags.  The room wasn't ready and they told us we should check back later in the afternoon.  We then walked over to the Convention Center to the Expo where I picked up my race number and stood in a ridiculously long line to buy a new running hat with the Philly marathon logo on it.

After that we went next door to the Reading Terminal Market for lunch.  We did some walking around before heading back to the hotel around 3, where we were told that our original room wasn't ready, but we were being upgraded to a room on the 12th floor (original room was on the 5th floor).  I'm not sure it was a huge upgrade, but I was glad to have a room.  We also found out that the hotel offered late check-out at 3 PM for a fee of $35, which I was ecstatic to find out.  It meant that I'd be able to take a shower after the race on Sunday!

We had an early dinner at Olive Garden (go ahead and judge if you must, but I dare you to say that you don't think the salad is good...).  That was nice because it meant that I was in bed and asleep by 10.  I woke up once, at 2:37, but fell right back asleep until my alarm went off at 5:15.  I also found out in the morning that there was some sort of party going on on our floor around 2:30, so I'm sure that was what woke me up.  It was the most restful sleep I think I've ever had before a big race like this.  And probably just further proof that I really wasn't all that nervous about the race.

I got up when my alarm went off at 5:15 and started getting dressed and getting ready.  I was really excited to see that at 5:15 it was 41 degrees, so it was well above freezing!  I ate two Clif bars as my pre-race breakfast.  I wasn't all that hungry, so getting it all choked down wasn't as easy as it sounds.  I also had some water to chase it down.  I was all ready to go and left the hotel at 6.  I got into the elevator with another woman who was running the marathon and we walked to the race start together.  It was nice to have someone to chat with on the way there.  It was her 8th marathon, 2nd time at Philly, and she said that it was a great race.

I made my way to the port-a-potty line and had to wait in line for a while (which I had anticipated).  And then when I got to take my turn, there was no toilet paper (another thing I'd anticipated).  I'd just like to suggest that perhaps they could plan for this?  I mean, it's not like 20,000 people just showed up randomly to use the bathrooms!  After that I made my way over to my corral, which wasn't clearly marked or anything.  I think that organization and information on this race weren't that high.

I had only been standing in my corral for about a minute or two before I heard someone yell "Amy!".  I looked around because I knew that Meggan was going to be in my corral and I thought it was her.  But then the person yelled my last name and I turned around and it was Laura!  She had come down from New York to cheer for me!  We talked for a few minutes and she told me that she was planning on seeing me again at Miles 6.5, 14 and 25.  It was really nice to know where to look for her!

Finally, it was 7:00 and the Elite athletes were off and running.  And I thought the rest of us would be soon, too.  I had taken off my sweatpants at 6:55 and took off my fleece when the Elites started running.  That was a mistake.  Because what wasn't in the informational e-mail that they sent out was that this was a wave start and it took my corral 25 minutes to cross the start line.  Luckily, I had kept my hat, gloves and hand-warmers, so I wasn't freezing, but I was definitely cooling off waiting for us to get to the front! 

And then it was our turn!  Within the first quarter mile, I could just tell that it was going to be a good day for a run, and I was ecstatic about that prospect.  After about a half-mile, I took off my hat and gloves.  I put everything inside my hat and carried it until I saw Drew around Mile 1.5.  I threw it to him and I think it ended up working out well since he was able to use the hand-warmers throughout the rest of the day.  I guess he didn't want to wear the Hello Kitty hat.  Which was too bad since I only wore it running for a very short time and got a lot of compliments on it.  Maybe it's a good thing to hold onto?

I crossed Mile 2 at 21:05.  In my race plan I wanted to cross Mile 2 no sooner than 21:00, so I laughed that it was only 5 seconds after that.  Either way, everything was going according to the plan.  Also around Mile 2 was when I ran into what I'll call "Loudest Runner Ever Girl".  It was insane.  I mean, I'm running with at least 50 other people in a nearby vicinity and she was the only person I could hear clip-clopping along.  Of course, she was listening to an iPod, so she couldn't tell how loud she was.  I decided that I couldn't take it so I'd either have to speed up or slow down.  I chose the former.  I was not going to make it listening to her run for another 24 miles. 

I followed my strategy of taking water at all the water stops and walking through them so that I didn't spill water on myself.  It was working out really well and lots of other people were stopping as well at the early stations, so I didn't feel out of place.  At Mile 5, I had my first Gu just as planned.  I saw Drew again shortly after that around Mile 5.5 and then Laura was there at Mile 6.5!  (I should really give Laura credit as Drew got the top picture and Laura the bottom one.  It's obvious who was the better photographer). 

 

It was nice to know that I'd be seeing them again later on, too.  I continued on my way and it was pretty uneventful until Mile 8.  That was when someone must have stepped on a full Gu packet because I heard the noise of it exploding and then felt it all over my right leg.  One thing you don't really want is a packet of Gu running down your leg.  I can tell you that.  Luckily, there happened to be a discarded t-shirt on the side of the road shortly after that, so I wiped it off as quickly and as best I could and continued on.

I had made my own marathon pace bracelet.  I had done it for a 5 hour marathon and it was nice to see that as the miles passed by, I was slowly gaining on the times posted on the bracelet.  It went from one minute to two minutes and kept growing from there.  I felt really comfortable running and knew it was a pace where I could really sustain it in the long run.  I'm also glad that I didn't go any lower on the pace bracelet that I wrote down because it was my ultimate goal to finish in less than 5 hours and I never really felt any pressure to make up time since I had so much leeway.  

Miles 11 to 13 were a bit hard for me.  Not physically, but we were running directly into the sun and I wasn't wearing sunglasses or a hat.  I felt like I was squinting and so I tried running in the shadiest parts whenever possible.  If I had to re-do this exact race again, knowing what I know now, I think I would have done two things differently: (1) worn a cheap pair of sunglasses and thrown them away at the half-marathon point and (2) picked up a pair of the Philly marathon gloves I saw (I saw at least 5 complete pairs, but just didn't feel like stopping to pick them up).  I really just wanted them as a memento because they looked so nice.  Not because I actually wanted to be wearing gloves. 

Just before reaching the point where the half-marathon split from the full marathon, I heard someone cheering for me (louder than the other cheering I had heard) and I looked and saw that it was Krista!  I knew she would be there somewhere and I was so glad that I got to see her!  It was a nice extra boost!  I saw her husband running later on and cheered for him.  He probably thought I was crazy, but I felt like I had to do it!  I saw Drew again after the half-marathon point.  I was shocked to discover that I beat my previous stand-alone half-marathon time by at least a minute and a half (real results unknown thanks to ridiculous split times from Active.com).  I also had a much easier half-marathon in Philadelphia than I did in Atlanta.  Guess all that extra running paid off!

I saw Laura again somewhere between 14 and 15 and then headed off for a long stretch of running.  The second half of the marathon course is a mostly out-and-back course that takes the runners out to the town of Manayunk.  It was pretty quiet on the run out there.  Once the half-marathoners left the course, you're sort-of left wondering where everyone went.  It was pretty much right then that I decided that my next marathon will either be a marathon only event or one where the half-marathoners split from the full marathoners a lot sooner.

I had kept going with my strategy of taking Gu every 5 miles and had them at Miles 10 and 15 as planned.  I still kept having water at every aid station along the way.  They were handing out Gu packets just before Mile 10 and I saw that the flavor was Vanilla Bean (my preferred flavor) and I grabbed one and tucked it into my pocket just in case.  I also cut my finger on this same free Gu packet around Mile 18, so in the end, I'm not sure it was worth the trouble.  Especially since I didn't need it!

It was probably because of this cut on my thumb (actually under my thumb nail) that I noticed that my hands were really swollen.  I couldn't even move the ring I had on my right ring finger, which is normally easy to move around.  I was sure that this meant I didn't have enough salt, but my hands didn't hurt, they just looked like clown hands.  I guess I know what they'll look like if I get really fat.

I thought it would be until I got back to Mile 25 that I would see anyone that I knew again, but it turned out I got really lucky and saw Katie at Mile 20!  She had told me that she had made a neon-yellow sign that said "Go Runners - Kick Asphalt".  Knowing in advance what the sign was going to say made it really easy to spot her!  Believe me, I had just spent the last 20 miles looking for that sign!  We exchanged high-fives and I continued on my way back out of Manayunk and into Philadelphia. 


To my marathon brain, my swollen hands meant that I should eat more Gu.  To my Monday post-marathon brain that actually bothered to look at the nutritional stats on Gu, I realize that there is very little sodium in a Gu packet.  So, even though I ended up having all 6 Gu packets that I had originally brought with me, I don't know that it did my hands any favors.  Somewhere around Mile 21 there was a guy handing out soft pretzels.  I decided to take one, not to eat, but to lick the salt off.  Boy oh boy was that tasty.  I felt a little bad wasting the pretzel, but I did get what I wanted out of it.

When I passed the mile marker at Mile 20, I just felt like screaming to everyone, "this is further than I've ever run before".  And, truthfully, I wanted to scream that after every single step.  I was so excited that I was that far along in the race and that I was still running and feeling great!  

Somewhere on the way back into Philadelphia, another girl came up to me and asked what pace I was running.  I told her I didn't really know, but something faster than a 5 hour marathon.  She said that she had been behind me for the entire race and that I had been amazingly consistent in my running (which was awesome to hear).  She said that she thought she was on pace for a 4:35:00 marathon.  I hope she made it.  She ran ahead of me at the next aid station when I stopped for water.  Either way, it was nice to think I was being consistent from mile to mile. 

It wasn't long after this that I heard "Eye of the Tiger" for the very first time.  Frankly, I had expected to hear it all the time.  I was actually a little bit disappointed that I only heard it the one time!  Don't worry, though, I totally sang along to myself even after I couldn't hear it anymore.  As a total aside, I've loved this song since I first heard it in after-school care when I was about 8.  If I had known then that it'd be played during my first marathon, I'd never have believed it to be true. 

When I saw Laura again at Mile 25, she got up and ran with me for a minute or so.  She said I was looking great.  I still felt really good, which was encouraging.  I was actually shocked by the number of walkers out there on the course.  And, truthfully, I was really glad that I wasn't one of them.  I never ever felt like I wanted to stop and walk (other than at an aid station) and I never had to convince myself to start running again after drinking my water.  It was what I wanted to do.

I saw Drew one last time at Mile 26-ish before I crossed the finish line.  I definitely tried to pick it up toward the end for the finish.  I finished the race with the exact same look on my face as I had when I started - a smile.  It was awesome.  I loved, loved, loved the marathon.  I want to do another one.  I'd sign up today (provided it was a few weeks away). 

Things I learned:
1.  Having my name on my shirt made a big difference in the amount of cheers I got, even though everyone had their names on their bibs.  I would 100% recommend this and do it again myself.
2.  For my next marathon, I'll only run 3 days a week.  Keeping the same rough mileage, but fewer days running.  And also maybe mix in some cross-training in there.  It would have been nice to feel like I had to do some biking instead of feeling like it was an optional rest day.
3.  I loved it.  I know I'm not fast, but I think something about these longer distances I'm just suited for.  I finished running and immediately thought that I can't wait to do another one.
4.  I want my next marathon to be a marathon only so I can experience that without feeling the loss of the half-marathoners. 
5.  I trusted my training and it carried me to the finish line.  I am so proud of myself to have finished my first marathon well ahead of my goal time.  It was better than my wildest expectations.

I ended up seeing people I knew a total of 9 times throughout the race, which was awesome.  Couldn't have asked for anything better.  Even though it probably would have been more fun for Laura and Drew to hang out together and cheer for me that way, it was a lot more fun for me to know that it would be two separate events.

My post-marathon legs were slow.  After getting my medal and mylar blanket (which was a lot warmer than I would have ever given it credit for), Drew and I made our way back to the hotel.  The curbs were definitely the biggest challenge for me on the walk home.  When I finally stopped moving and was standing still, my legs felt like they had just gotten off a treadmill and I should keep my forward motion. 

Moving from a standing to a seated position seems to be the hardest thing for me (both after the marathon and today, Monday).  I could feel my quads getting tired somewhere around Mile 23, so I'm not surprised that they're taking the brunt of this the day after.  I'm quite proud that I actually walked to work today, instead of taking the subway, but I think it's good for my legs to keep them moving whenever possible.

The best part about it?  I think I'm now 100% officially a runner!

Running
Time: 4:41:28
Distance: 26.20 miles
Pace: 10:44/mile
Calories: 2689
Maximum HR: 188
Average HR: 173

Splits
10K: 1:06:26
Half-Marathon: 2:46:59
30K (18.6 Miles): 3:46:10

These split times cannot be correct.  At least the last two must take into account the 25 minute difference between when I crossed the start line and the total clock time.  I mean, I don't think I really ran the last 7.6 miles of the race in 55 minutes (which would be 7 minute miles).  I'm beyond disappointed that I don't actually know my half-marathon time because I'd really love to know how much I slowed down for the second half. 

Forgetting

I find it really interesting that it's taken all this time during marathon training for two things to happen:
1.  To go for a run with Drew
2.  To realize that running is hard

Those two things may or may not be related.  And to be totally fair, the last time I did run with Drew was in August and technically I was marathon training, but those were the early days!  I'm actually not even sure I was officially signed up the last time we went running together.

So, the two of us went for a 4 mile run last night, which was Drew's idea.  I have a good 3-mile loop in the Park, plus running back and forth from our apartment makes it right around 4 miles.  Drew works out a lot, but he doesn't actually run all that often from what I understand (I don't actually know.  To be honest, I don't love the gym, as you may have gathered, and that is where he likes to do the vast majority of his working out). 

We started out running from our apartment to the Park and then off on my little route.  There were a couple times where Drew asked if he was running too fast for me, but I felt like we were going along at a pretty decent pace.  I must have sighed one times too many because he kept asking if I was okay, which I really appreciated, but also sort-of made me feel like I was a bad runner.  I have to tell you, this is not a feeling that you really want to have leading up to a marathon. 

However, it really seemed like the tides turned when we were getting closer to finishing the Park portion of our run. I could tell that Drew was definitely getting tired (and maybe tired isn't the right word, but just tired of running).  The funny thing to me was that I was just starting to feel warmed up and like I could actually pick up the pace by a good bit and he was slowing down.  Then, of course, I started asking him if he was okay.  I realize now that it might have made him feel like a bad runner.  Oops.

It's taken me all this time to realize that running is hard work.  I don't consider myself a runner.  I don't even really consider myself particularly good at running (there will be an upcoming post on these things).  It just really made me take a step back and realize that running even one mile is a lot.  Running four miles is really a lot.  Especially when you don't do it that often.

I am really glad that Drew suggested running last night.  I had a great time.  I mostly wanted to go running because I got a new tank for running that I'm going to use in Philly (stay tuned) and I wanted to test it out prior to the race.  I'm glad to say that it works amazingly well and I fully plan on wearing it.  The weather was 52 when we were running last night and I wore shorts, a lightweight long-sleeved shirt and the new tank and was just about perfect.  I didn't even wear a watch, because at this point there isn't anything I can do to help my marathon training.  All those miles are in the bag.  Now I'm just running to keep myself from going crazy waiting for race day!

Running
Distance: 4.20 miles

Washington, D.C. Weekend Recap

I'd been alluding to being away this past weekend, but I couldn't reveal where I was going at the time.  Drew and I took the train down to our nation's capital on Saturday morning to spend the weekend there.  We were hoping to do some touristy stuff, but we had two real purposes:

1.  Meet Kristin on Saturday
2.  Surprise Laura as she competed at Nation's Triathlon on Sunday

After checking into our hotel and getting some lunch, we went to the Triathlon Expo to see if we could get any free swag.  I actually ended up getting a tri top on a really good sale.  Our real mission was to score some free poster board in order to make signs for Laura on Sunday morning.  After dropping our swag off at the hotel, we started out on a tourist trip. We walked from our hotel at Dupont Circle down to the White House and Washington Memorial.

From there, we headed to the American History Smithsonian.  I really wanted to see Julia Child's kitchen, which has been moved to the museum.  After all that walking around, I was exhausted and Drew had some work to do, so we headed back to the hotel to take a nap and Drew did his work. 

It turned out that it was a good thing that we rested for a bit because we met up with Kristin and her husband Curtis for dinner.

This is my first time meeting a blogger in real life.  Of course I was worried that even though we've been reading each others blogs since March 2009 (read her first comment here), that somehow I'd be wrong and maybe we wouldn't hit it off.  Totally turned out the other way around.  We ended up staying out after dinner getting a few drinks and just generally having a fun time!  Of course, that meant that Drew and I didn't get a lot of sleep before having to get up early on Sunday morning for the triathlon.

However, we did get up early.  And we woke up to rain.  Ick.  We got dressed and got in a cab and headed down to the transition area.  I was hoping that we'd get there early enough that we could find Laura before she got in the water.  As it turned out, we actually saw a former co-worker of ours there!  She was there to cheer her husband on in his first Olympic-distance triathlon.  Not long after that, someone called out "Amy?".  I turned around and it was Laura, who was standing there with her mouth hanging open in disbelief.  Honestly, I think Laura describes it best from her own race report:

"At one point as I was waiting around, I saw this guy from behind who looked exactly like my friend Drew.  So much so that I started to call out his name.  But I didn't get past "Dr--" before checking myself, because obviously my friend Drew lives in NYC, so that guy couldn't be him.  Except that he was standing next to a woman who, from behind, looked like my friend Amy (Drew's girlfriend).  But, again, it couldn't be them, because even though Amy is a triathlete too, she wasn't doing this race.  But it looked exactly like them from behind...so I finally called out, "Amy?"  And they both turned - it was them!  They had come all the way down from NYC just to surprise me!  I was more than surprised - and SO happy to see them - it was the best surprise I could have asked for!"

I was so glad that we actually pulled off the surprise.  We'd been planning on going down to DC since July, so there was a really good chance that one of us would have spilled the beans before we got down there, but Laura had NO idea!  Despite the less than ideal weather conditions, Laura managed to have an awesome race and even set a PR! 

The other really funny part is that after we had been chatting with Laura and some of her other TNT friends, there was someone there who looked just like our friend Lisa.  I asked Drew if it was her and he said that he didn't think that was possible.  Except for the fact that she is a triathlete, so it definitely was possible.  And, it was her!  Very small world in D.C. this weekend! 

After chatting for a while more, Drew and I decided that we should walk around and sort-of scope out where we'd watch the race.  We ended up getting a really good spot on the bank of the Potomac River about 100 meters from the start of the swim.  We watched a few waves before Laura and Lisa (they were in back-to-back waves) went off.  It was really hard for me to watch the swim.  It was almost excruciating in some cases.  I've actually never watched the swim part of a triathlon in real life before. 

I actually wanted to close my eyes.  Or yell at the kayakers.  I'm not sure which.  Watching the leaders and the middle-of-the-packers was totally fine.  Watching the back-of-the-packers was hard.  Cringe inducing.  I saw more than one person swimming kayak to kayak, which I did not think was okay.  I saw one girl get out of the water (twice) and then get back in again both times to try to keep swimming.  I saw people hanging onto the buoys (which were every 100 meters).  I know that I'm a good swimmer, so it's hard for me to understand how horrifying it must be for some people, but I was concerned that those people weren't going to make it and probably had no business doing this sort of a swim. 

I don't know how you go about fixing that, but I guess you can't underestimate the importance of knowing how to swim and feeling comfortable in the water.  It's also a lot different to touch a wall every 25 yards or meters than it is to swim a mile straight without being able to hold on or stand up to rest. 

I was able to pick out both Laura and Lisa in the water, which was pretty cool.  Lisa was closer to the shore side than Laura was when I saw her, so we yelled out to Lisa while she was swimming.  I don't know if she heard us, but we had fun cheering!  After Lisa passed us, we went to stake out a spot to see Laura come out of the water and run into T1.  Once we saw her do that, we ran across a field and waited for her to pass us as she rode by on her bike. 

We actually ended up leaving after Laura headed out for the bike.  The weather had sort-of taken a turn for the worst and the race had also started late, so we had to head back to our hotel in order to make sure we could check out on time.  We took showers, had brunch and then did some more museum-going before Drew had to buckle down and do some more work.  So, before we got on the train to go home to NY, we went to a Starbucks and hung out for a while so Drew could use the Wi-Fi there. 

Even though Drew had to work a little bit, it was an awesome weekend!  We had a fantastic time in our nation's capital!  I always think triathlons are fun to watch and this weekend was no exception.  Although I might steer clear of watching the swim in the future!  It's too hard for me, I think.  I sort-of wanted to jump in and help some of those people!

So, Drew and I debated before we left New York whether or not we should bring workout gear.  We ended up not doing it and I'm glad we made that decision.  We were on our feet so much as it was that my legs definitely got a workout even without running.  That makes last week a really small marathon training week, but I'm okay with that.  Just means I've got to make this week a good one!

Labor Day Weekend Recap

I've realized over the past few days that marathon training has now taken a turn and gotten more interesting.  Mainly because my work schedule isn't going to be quite as 9:30 to 5:30 as it usually is.  I'll be working more overtime, including weekends, which can put a wrinkle into training.  This Saturday I had to work, so I knew that it would be in my best interest to push my long run to Sunday.

So, Sunday I woke up not so bright and early, which was fine since the weather here is much more comfortable now!  I had decided not to run loops in the Park, but instead would head to the Westside Path for my run.  I discovered that running from our apartment to the base of the George Washington Bridge and back is exactly 14 miles.  I've realized that running as far away from home and then having to run back seems to work out pretty well for me so far.

I took along my Fuel Belt (three bottles Gatorade / one water) and two mini Luna bars and set off on my trek.  I had barely started running when a guy came up to me and said, "Hey!  Same pace!"  I wasn't quite sure how I felt about this at first.  We started chatting a little bit and it turned out that he was only running to 90th Street, so we ran together for just under 2 miles.

I wasn't sure I liked it at first, running with this guy Todd, but it actually turned out okay.  It was clear that he was hitting on me a little bit, but that was not the worst thing in the world.  Especially when you're running, sweaty, and wearing a Fuel Belt!  I think because I didn't know him, it was almost easier to run at my own pace, especially since he had started off the whole thing by saying that we were running at the same pace.  I probably sped up a little bit, but it ended up being totally fine.

We parted ways on the Upper West Side and I continued on with my run.  After that, I decided that I would start taking a drink of Gatorade every 10 minutes and see how that worked out.  It worked pretty well for the next hour.  Somewhere around the 1:30:00 mark, I started to get more thirsty.  I then decided that I'd take a drink of water every 5 minutes, so I'd be alternating Gatorade and water every 5 minutes.

I got to the turn-around point at 1:12:22, which I was really happy with and meant that I was running faster than 11-minute-miles, which seemed good.  I stopped running at the turn-around point and took a two-minute (timed) walking break.  I tried to eat one of the mini Luna bars that I had brought with me, but the first bite made me feel gaggy and the second bite even worse.  I quickly ditched the idea of forcing it down and then just testing to see how far I can get on Gatorade and water alone.

I was actually really lucky because not long after the turn-around, Drew had agreed to meet me and run the last 4.5 miles back home with me.  Right after we met, I ended up filling up my water bottles to keep up with my drinking every five minutes strategy.  I actually felt bad while running with Drew because I was drinking so frequently, but he wasn't at all.  I figure if he had been dying he either could have asked me for a drink or we could have stopped at a drinking fountain.

I sort-of wanted to stop at one point after running for about 2 hours.  It was the first time that my right knee actually hurt.  Mostly it's felt tired up to now on my long runs, but there was definitely something that was a little bit sharper this time around.  Luckily, it didn't last long.  Maybe I just landed a step or two funny, because about 3 minutes later, it felt back to normal. 

As soon as we finished up running on the Path, but still had to run on some city streets to get home, Drew said that I picked up the pace a bit.  I definitely had a time goal in mind for this run and I knew I couldn't beat my over-all half-marathon time, I thought I could have a faster pace than my half-marathon had been and I needed to push myself a little bit at the end to ensure that happened!

Turns out that my goal of 2:30:00 for 14 miles was totally realistic as I beat it by just over two minutes!  (Ha!  Soooo close!).  No matter what, I'm really happy with that time.  I only took one planned walking break, unlike the half-marathon where I took several unplanned walking breaks.  I thought that today was a lot easier than that race had been.  I don't know why.  Probably because even though I had a time goal, it wasn't a race and no one would ever know.

My legs were pretty tired after running these 14 miles, but we did get out and do some walking around for the rest of Sunday, so I think that probably helped.  I wore my compression sleeves Sunday evening and night and woke up feeling like I had regular legs on Monday.

I had been debating back and forth whether or not I should go running today or not.  Because of my upcoming weekend schedule, I don't think I'll be running 15 miles this weekend.  Which leaves sometime this week.  I figured if I didn't run Monday or Tuesday, then I'd have fresher legs to tackle 15 on Wednesday.  Then I could just try to make up the other miles after that.  And if I don't quite get to 30 miles this coming week, I don't quite get to 30 miles this coming week.  I'm trying to not overly stress about the totals and just worry most about long runs!

Running
Time: 2:27:58
Distance: 14.00 miles
Pace: 10:34/mile
Calories: 1488
Maximum HR: 191 (90%)
Average HR: 178 (84%)

The Great Urban Race

This morning was the Great Urban Race in New York City. The rules are pretty simple. Show up wearing matching outfits/costumes (there were some pretty good costumes there!), get your numbers, receive the clues and head out into the city for an adventure / scavenger hunt using only your feet and public transportation to get around. Here we are pre-race, showing off our matching Washtenaw Dairy t-shirts (here's a tip if you find yourself in Ann Arbor: good ice cream, great donuts!):

We milled about for a while after getting our numbers, but before they handed out the clues. We took a few minutes after getting the clues to take photos of the clue sheet and read over some of them. We had a "phone-a-friend", so we e-mailed the photos to Drew's friend, Jon, for his review and assistance! Luckily for us, Drew had been reading the clues pretty closely, because right as we were about to get on the subway, he spied someone with a skateboard and we needed to get a picture of us standing on a skateboard for a tic-tac-toe clue.

We first headed downtown from 79th Street to our neighborhood. That was very handy because in my efforts to clean my backpack before the race so I wasn't hauling around a bunch of junk, I took out the pens that were in my pack. Luckily, that meant that Drew was able to just run upstairs really quickly and grab a pen while I moved onto the first challenge. As we were walking from one clue to the next, we stopped and snapped this photo, which we needed for the tic-tac-toe clue.


We were sort-of surprised as to how much was in our neighborhood, but it was pretty handy since we needed to find a picture of a fountain (for the final tic-tac-toe) and I thought that there was one hiding about a half a block from where we were. Luckily, I was right and we asked a very nice lady to snap this photo for us (we had to be pretending to dive in).


After that, we jumped back on the subway and headed further downtown to Abracadabra (a costume shop) because we needed a photo of us in front of their body part display case. There was a line formed of other Urban Racers and luckily everyone was nice enough to take the photo of the person behind them.


We noticed pretty early on that some people were just sprinting from clue to clue. We decided that we'd rather hurry, but enjoy ourselves, so we mostly did brisk walking instead of running. The next stop was Rickshaw Dumpling Bar. We'd eaten here (both in the restaurant and from a street cart) and it's pretty tasty. We went to the back of the store, grabbed our sesame ball and headed outside. We noticed that a lot of people had something chocolate, but I thought we had gotten something different.

We had to take a photo of us both taking a bite at the same time and as soon as I sunk my teeth in, I heard this horrible squirting sound. Which meant that the chocolate on the inside of the ball mostly ended up all over the sidewalk. Oops. The sesame chocolate-filled ball was delicious, though! I'd definitely recommend it!


From there we jumped on the bus and headed to Chelsea Piers. We had finally figured out that Clue 10 meant that we needed to find a word with a double letter (thanks to Jon!). While we were on the bus, we took this (pretty bad) picture of us pointing at the word "door".



Drew wasn't sure that the picture from the bus would be the best, so I suggested that we take another photo pointing to access and businesses. Drew still wasn't convinced that we would get this clue correct since there were so many other words on the sign. He thought that we needed to find a sign with only one word showing. The search continued.


Once we got there, we had to do two things at Chelsea Piers. One person from the team was supposed to run a 200 meter dash and the other person was supposed to climb a bit of the smaller climbing wall that they have there. We decided I'd do the running and Drew would do the climbing. He's been wanting to take rock climbing lessons for a while now, I thought this would be a good thing for him. Because we didn't have to have a photo of the person running the 200 meter dash, a lot of people either didn't do it or sort-of clowned around and took fake running photos. I figured that I might as well follow the rules and really run! I ended up finishing in 41 seconds, which I think is pretty good (it would have been a 5:29 mile, in case you're wondering ... ha ha ha!).


After I was done running, we headed over to the rock climbing wall. Drew had to do this pose twice since the first time he jumped off (or maybe slipped) before I snapped the photo. I think being there confirmed the fact that he'd really like to take those lessons.



On our way back to the bus, we noticed this commissary sign. We decided that this would be the best picture for the double letter if we could find someone to take our photo with just that word and us in the photo. Luckily we happened across some tourists who snapped this for us!



After that, we headed over to the East Side to Dylan's Candy Bar. The clue said that we should take a picture of all teammates doing the action of the following French verb: oreilles de lapin. So, if you Google that phrase, this is the very first picture that pops up:


So, honestly, I'm thinking, "we have to make rabbit teeth in the photo?". That seemed weird to me. I then Googled oreilles de lapin translation and then it became clear that we actually had to make bunny ears. Which makes a lot more sense!


From there, we only had one clue left. To get to the Fuller Building at a quarter-hour and take our photo. We got there a bit before 3:15 and hung around with some other teams while we all waited for the clock to line up so we could snap photos and be on our way. Obviously, you can see some of those other teams in the background.


We rode the bus across town and north and then made our way to the finish line. Drew says that this picture is blurry because we were SOOOO fast!


I don't know our official results yet, but I think it was somewhere around 3:40:00. We knew we weren't going to win and we probably wouldn't come in last either. I had a great time and I'd definitely do this again. I think we could have been faster and if we had really strategized, I think we could have gotten around the city and the clues a little bit better than we did, but it was a lot of fun no matter what. Definitely a fun way to spend a sunny Saturday afternoon!

Two Hours Later

First, I need to start this by saying that vacation hasn't been exactly what we had been planning on and therefore it turned out that we didn't get to spend much time at the lake, therefore I hauled around my wetsuit for no good reason since I did no open water swimming! The changes in plans meant that everything was just a bit screwy, so I didn't really do as much as I thought I would (which always seems to be the way with vacations).

So, this morning I woke up at 7:53 and told myself that I'd go back to sleep for "ten more minutes". Two hours later, I actually woke up again! Vacation is sleepy business. Drew and I got up and donned our running gear and set out for a run. I was out to try to finish up my mileage for the week. Drew had agreed to do part of the run with me, but not all of it (as he's not a distance runner).

The first part of the run (4.2 miles) with Drew was fine. I made sure we didn't start off too speedy as sometimes running with Drew makes me run faster than I really should be. After we parted ways and I kept going and he headed back to the house, things started to go a bit awry.

I think I've learned that if I'm going to be running for more than 5 miles or so, I need to go to the bathroom before I leave the house. Otherwise, it's just bad news for me. After Drew left, I slowed down even more because I was fighting with my stomach. I ended up having to do some walking while I thought about my bathroom options.

I eventually saw a (handicapped) port-a-potty in a city park. As soon as I saw it, I told myself that I could not get excited about it because I was sure it'd be locked. When I got there and it wasn't locked, I told myself that I still shouldn't get excited because there probably wouldn't be any toilet paper. Except that there was a full roll! And it even smelled nice inside. Honestly, it was like hitting the $100M jackpot!

After that, I felt much better and continued on the rest of my run. Even though the second half of the run definitely dragged my average down, I'm not too upset with myself. All this long distance running is good practice for the big marathon day and it's all a learning experience. I'm just glad I had company for the fun half of the run!

This means that I did 23.25 miles for this week's marathon training. I thought I'd be done and over the 24 that I was supposed to do, but I somehow miscalculated (which, if you know me personally, is a pretty easy thing for me to do). I don't think that 0.75 miles will really be the make it or break it, though, so I'm fine with how things ended up.

Running
Time: 1:26:30
Distance: 7.10 miles
Pace: 12:10/mile
Calories: 732
Maximum HR: 182 (86%)
Average HR: 164 (77%)

Guest Post: Drew's Spartan Race Report

Yesterday, Drew went and competed in The Spartan Race. I tagged along as the photographer and general supporter. He's had to play that role for a lot of my races, I figured it was the very least I could do for him! I had a great time spectating and taking photos, but I'm quite glad that I didn't have to participate. I think I'll just stick to triathlons and running races! Here's his race report:


I didn't really know what to expect, but I knew I could run three miles and I figured I was either fit enough to make it over the obstacles or smart enough to weasel my way around them.

While I love not having a car, sometimes it's a hassle, and this was one of those times. Amy got a Zipcar membership and we rented a car for the day. We only made one wrong turn and got to the race start about 90 minutes before my wave. A couple of our friends, including Laura, had registered for the race and their wave went off just a few minutes after we got there. It was pretty hard to see much of the race, as they went up and over a small dirt hill, but they sure kicked up a lot of dust and sand.

After seeing Laura's wave start, I got in line. Where I stayed for a long time. Like an hour. I know this isn't a "regular" race, but it's pretty crazy that it took an hour to check in. And it seemed like there were no more than 30 people in front of me. My wave started at 11:30. I almost always work out in the morning, starting sometime around 6 or 6:30. I'm not used to starting so late, so nutrition was a bit of a question mark for me. I had a Clif bar when I work up, then a Balance bar in the car. I snagged a free Raw Revolution mini bar in line and Amy grabbed a Muscle Milk. I wasn't sure that would be enough, but I also knew that I didn't want to eat a lot before the race. I wasn't really worried about it though, as it was only three miles.

I lined up a few minutes before my wave and we all got the proper pre-battle speech from the head Spartan. I'm not sure how it worked in Sparta, but in Brooklyn it's sort of hard to hear when the microphone was cutting in and out. We all yelled "A-rooo" a couple of times the head Spartan flashed his sword and we were off.


I didn't really have much of a plan for the race, so I just took off toward the first obstacle. We had to go up and over a sand hill that was maybe 15 feet tall or so. I heard someone say that the best plan was to hit all the obstacles as fast as possible, so that's what I tried.


There were a bunch of people and they all slowed down when they hit the hill, which made it a little tough. I didn't really have much trouble getting up and over, but my heart rate spiked like crazy. It might have been the change from a dead stop just a few moments ago, but I'm guessing that I was well into the 95% heart rate range. I sort of scrambled down each of the hills, which probably wasn't the fastest method. I should have tried to run down, but I was a little uncertain of the people that were in front of me and I didn't want to tumble onto someone just 90 seconds into the race.


After snaking up and over the hill three or four times we turned to a series of a dozen or so low hurdles. They really weren't hard at all, but my heart was racing and I tried to focus on calming down and relaxing a bit. A lot of people were already walking and I decided right there that my goal was to finish the race without walking between the obstacles. We finished the hurdles and then started on a fairly long, straight run. About a third of the way into that stretch there was a trailer filled with hay and covered by a blue tarp. We had to climb onto and scramble over the hay and underneath the tarp. Not too tough, but I did get slowed down a bit by the guys in front of me.

After that I really focused on slowing my heart and finding a good pace. There were a couple firefighters in front of me that I used for pacing. We reached a turn and a pair of walls that were about five feet tall. I'm 6-3, so the walls weren't too high for me, though I did get my foot caught on one for half a second. One of the firefighters hopped it really easily, though. I chalked it up to firefighter training, like Billy Baldwin from Backdraft.

As soon as we cleared the five footers, we turned to another long run and could see a much taller wall in the distance. That one didn't look like a lot of fun, and I figured it was in the eight to ten foot range. I thought about the advice to hit the obstacles with speed, and I pictured myself just running straight into it and going "splat!" I wasn't sure how fast I should (or could) be going when I got there, so I tried to not think about it and just keep running.

With all the obstacles, one of the most important keys was to pick the right spot. There was enough room for three or four people on the wall, and I saw one guy really struggling to make it over. Everyone else had moved to avoid him, but I calculated that he would either (a) make it over, or (b) give up and do his push-ups, by the time I got there. (If you can't complete an obstacle you have to do push-ups). I was right, and the guy gave up just as I was getting to the wall, which gave me a nice open spot.

I hit the wall at a medium speed and easily got my hands to the top. I stopped for a second with my forearms on the top of the wall while my legs scrambled and my arms and shoulders hoisted me over. I'm sure I wasn't the most graceful wall-climber, but I did make it in one try and it didn't take me too long.

By that point my entire body was pretty exhausted. It's sort of amazing, because the obstacles had not been super difficult, but the constant running meant my muscles didn't have the time to fully recharge with oxygen. Thankfully, there weren't too many obstacles for the next mile or two. The next obstacle was a fairly short, angled cargo net. This wasn't too tough at all and was about half as tall as the net we climbed in fourth grade gym class. So, thanks Mr. Coulsen for preparing me for the Spartan Race!

After that, we ran some more, finally getting off the concrete and into the woods. We had to crawl through the dirt under some ropes right as we entered the woods. It wasn't too tough, though my hands got really, really dirty. I saw other competitors that didn't have any dirt on their hands and I just didn't understand how they did it.

The run through the woods was pretty meandering, and I kept hoping that the next turn would be the last. We had to jump through a small "web" of barbed wire that was about two feet off the ground and there was a small pile of tree limbs and branches we had to clear. That reminded me that the Spartan Race website showed a fire jump, so at least I had something to look forward to.

I'm not sure how long we were in the woods, but it had to be a mile or so. There were several people that took short walking breaks, but I kept jogging along. I only passed a handful of people on the run, but I don't think anyone passed me. For most of the time in the woods I was sort of bored. Maybe they should have had some Huns jump out and attack us or something. If not that, maybe another wall to climb over. Something.

When we finally got out of the woods we had another six or eight short hurdles. They weren't any higher than the first set, but we all moved over them just a little bit slower. The guy in front of me had much better hurdle form than I did, but I decided that I didn't really care.

After the hurdles there was another run to a big dirt/rock/log pile that was maybe 20 feet tall. Remember what I said about picking the right spot? Well, apparently I didn't, as I picked the wrong spot and got stuck behind a girl that sort of stopped half way up. The guy I was running with flew past me and opened up a 15 foot lead on me. I actually caught him on the run to the next obstacle and he said that he had never run three miles before. I looked at my watch and we were at almost exactly 30 minutes with only a few more obstacles to go. I thought that was pretty good, as I knew we were just about to the home stretch.

The next obstacle was a rock climbing wall that we had to cross left-to-right. It was maybe 20 or 25 feet long and had wooden blocks nailed to it at random. If you touch the ground or the top of the wall you had to do 30 push-ups.


I didn't quite understand the instructions about how to successfully complete and "dismount" the wall, but I thought you had to go under the support beam and end up on the other side.

I got on the wall and seemed to be doing OK. I made sure to use my feet more than my hands and made steady progress, even thought it may have been a little bit slow. With about two steps left I sort of got stuck. I knew that I needed to take a step that I wasn't fully comfortable with, but I was also so close to the end that I figured I could make it. I took that step, and the next and I was right next to the end. That was when I lost it. I'm not sure what happened, but I found myself standing on the ground chanting "f$*%, f$*%, f$*%, f$*%, f$*% ." I moved to the end of the wall, dropped to the ground and did my push-ups.


Thinking about it now, I was so close to the end that I probably could have just jumped off the wall and assumed that I completed it successfully. There were Spartan Race officials there, but I doubt any would have made a big deal of it. I never even considered that, as I instantly knew that I didn't feel like I completed it, so I did the push-ups and got on my way.


Oh, this is probably a good time to say that I've been talking about taking a rock climbing class for a couple months now. I guess I should have gotten off my butt and signed up, huh?

After the wall I knew I was almost done. I jogged to the home stretch and saw about half a dozen people doing push-ups. Then I looked closer and saw some more trying in vain to throw a spear into a hula hoop about 20 feet away. I walked up, selected my weapon and gave it a heave.


Most people were coming up well short, so I put a lot of air under my spear. When I played golf we'd often say "never up, never in" and I made sure my spear would get to the target, whether or not it hit the target. Of course, my aim was way off and my spear fluttered to the ground. I dropped and did 20 more push-ups. In all honesty, these weren't the finest push-ups I've ever done, but I thought they were pretty good under the circumstances.

The second to last obstacle was a dirt crawl under some barbed wire. I guess my butt was a little high, as I caught my shorts and shirt on the first wire. Oh well. Next time I wear those I'll have a little reminder of the Spartan Race. I got a little lower and got to the end and made my way to the angled wall.


That wall was the one obstacle I got a good look at before my wave started. It was angled at about 45 degrees and had ropes that reached about half way down. Lots of people struggled with it, as it was coated in some sort of grease or oil. Others seemed to hit it at top speed and run right to the top. At this point I was pretty exhausted, but I knew it was better to go all-out for one try than to half-ass it two or three times. So, I took a wide turn and started running. I took a few steps on the wall without even thinking about the rope.


I thought I was going to make it to the top without needing to use the rope and then I sort of stopped moving. I quickly reached to grab the rope and hung on for a split second to reset myself. After that I was able to scramble over the other side and start the run to the finish.

Somehow I had forgotten about the two gladiators with pugil sticks. I had watched dozens of people make their run through the gladiators. Some were strong and took them head on while others made the run with more than a little reservation. I decided that I wanted to end strong so I found that last bit of energy and made my charge. I tried to juke the first guy a little bit, going from my right to left before sprinting to the finish. I guess my juke wasn't all that good and I caught his pugil stick straight in the chest.


It was a good shot, but I kept my feet and ran to the finish.


I was a little surprised at how exhausted I was at the finish. I collapsed in a chair and took off my timing chip. Amy came and gave me a big kiss and a hug and we found some coconut water to rehydrate.


I was muddy, banged up, exhausted and even bleeding just a tiny bit. I pulled a bit of skin off my left palm about 90 seconds into the race. I sprained my left pinky somewhere near the end (well, that's when I felt it, at least). I ripped my shorts and shirt. My shoes were a muddy disaster. My hands, knees and shins were black with mud and dirt. As I'm typing this the next day, my right forearm sort of hurts, so I'm assuming there's a bruise there, too. With all of that, I had a great time and would do the race again in a second. I was proud that I never had to walk and that I gave it my all at each of the challenges.



It was only after I finished that I realized there was no fire jump. I guess the site in Brooklyn didn't let the race organizers make any mud or fire pits. Oh well. I guess that means I'll have a reason to do the race again.

I think my time was about 35 minutes, which I think is pretty good. Amazingly, the overall winner was a sixteen year old kid. I'm not sure if that makes me feel old or slow. Probably both.
Either way, I know one thing:

I AM SPARTAN.