Coming from behind

I know I've said it before but I have officially decided that I am the worst  blogger of all bloggers. So, I've decided to play catch up and fill you in on how the rest of January played out!

LEAP OF FAITH
My younger brother is currently serving in the Army and is stationed in North Carolina. I hadn't seen him since last February and he was finally able to come home on leave for one week. My family, being crazy in its entirety, chose skydiving as a way to spend some quality time together. And so we did!

Before we head up!

Out I go!!

Pure adrenaline.

Two thumbs WAY up!

Now might be a good time to mention that I am terrified of heights! 

HOUSTON
My co-workers and I arrived in Houston late Thursday night and after a long day of traveling, my excitement was pretty mellow. I woke up Friday morning to go for my run still pretty calm. However, when I stepped outside of the hotel and started to run through the park my excitement grew. All of the Olympic hopefuls were out and about doing their final workouts before towing the line for the Olympic Trials the following day. I felt like I was 6 years old and seeing my favorite Disney characters at Disneyland! Seeing them running got me fired up for my own race. The flame further grew as I stood out and watched these men and woman fly down the street in one of the most competitive marathons in the country. I can only hope one day that I will stand at the same starting line, run the same steps and cross the same finish line as them.

Start of the Men's race

The lead woman as the finish their first loop

Race day finally arrived for me! As I warmed up for the race I was surprisingly calm. They closed the corral 20 minutes before the start of the race so I pushed my way to the front to continue my warm up. I quickly realized that I was out warming up with all of the elite athletes a.k.a Kenyans. I could see them looking at me and could only hope that behind their eyes they felt even the slightest bit threatened (HAHA). I quickly laughed at the fact that they would be beating me to the finish line by more than a few minutes! ;) Finally the gun went off and so went the sea of people. From the start I could feel my legs weren't feeling quite as fresh as I had hoped. I had been having some intense aching in my legs the two days prior and even skipped my pre-race shake-out the day before. My goal pace was to run 6:16s. I quickly found myself holding 6:20s and having a tough enough time. I decided to hold the pace their and not push it too early and end up crashing in the last few miles. Looking back now, I don't know if I could have even run the 4 seconds faster per mile. At mile 9 I started to feel a lot better and started to really push myslef. I could see two woman ahead of me and decided over the next 4 miles that I would run them down. And I did. I was working the last 2 miles and really made a run for it in the last big straight away. I crossed the line in 1:23:09. I am happy, no, ecstatic to say that it was a 7 minute PR!! I walked away feeling really happy with the way I executed the race and really pushed myself when I wasn't feeling great. I was also happy that my achievements were matched by my friends. Of the 4 of us who ran, 4 of us walked away with significant PRs!! All in all, Houston was an awesome weekend of spectating and racing. CONGRATS TO ALL! 

Myself, Chris and Rachel

Unfortunately, it didn't work! 

Leaving the Expo

 

Running to the finish!

ULTRA!?

YES! Well, maybe. I have signed up for the Tahoe Rim Trail 50k in July. However, I am currently on the wait-list (in position #55). As much as I love ripping out a fast road race, I absolutely love hitting up a good hilly trail. I ran part of the TRT trail about a week ago and it was wet, muddy and snowing(most badass run I've ever done!). I had a blast! The next day I was talking to the trail-heads at work and they convinced me to register. So, we will see what happens from here! If not TRT, there may be another ultra you will see me in. :) 

Until next time,

Train.Race. REPEAT!