Mission Accomplished: Taji 100

I don't remember at this point if I learned about the Taji 100 Virtual race from another Skirt Sports ambassador, or from a fellow runner in my local She Runs this Town group. Either way I looked Taji 100, up and was fascinated by it. I loved the challenge of running and/or walking 100 miles in February. 25 miles a week. Plus Taji 100's partner charity is Team Red White and Blue which helps veterans connect with their communities, and I can get behind that.

Unfortunately I'd already spent my budgeted money on races for the winter/spring, so when I discovered that they had an option to register for free, and just track your running miles, the event went from not possible this year, to "I can run it for fun". I considered just registering in hopes that next year they would email me and remind me about the race. That left the question, do I want to commit to running 100 miles in February?

First run in February.

I pulled out my marathon plan, and totaled the miles I had planned to run in February. I had 75 planned miles for my marathon training. Wow, 25 miles difference?  This suddenly seemed feasible! I'd only need to figure out how to add an additional 25 miles. "Only." If I walked one additional mile a day while I was at work, I could make this happen. There was an indoor track I could run while my son was in dance class, I could walk a mile or so then as well. The extra miles seemed doable, so I signed up and then waited a week or so for February to start.

Snowstorm!

Then February started. I didn't walk a single mile at work. When I was there either I was too busy or the weather was not accommodating. I only walked during two of the four dance classes, as my son missed one class due to illness, and I was too exhausted to walk a different week. Time was not on my side it seemed.

Let me break the month down by numbers.

I logged 26 Activities. Only Running or Walking counted. Miles calculated by my watch's step counter do not count.
I was active 21 hours, 36 minutes and 26 seconds.
It was below freezing for 8 of my recorded runs, according to my run journal. I have no idea how cold it was for the indoor track activities.
It snowed for at least 2 of my runs.

My intention was 75 miles run and 25 miles walked.  In the end I ran 93.4 miles and walked 6.75 miles. Most of the miles felt like they were in the last two weeks when the weather improved. I tried to add a mile or more to a planned run if I was feeling good.

Surprise Spring! 

My full log is on my profile along with a donation link.

In the end this was harder than I expected and  honestly I wasn't all that certain I'd succeed when the month was over. The last week I was looking at my log and counting down, nervous I just wouldn't have the time or energy without risking injury. Recognizing I needed a kick in the butt, Amber told me if I succeeded, she would get me a shirt to commemorate the 100 miles in a month.

Now I am left with a sense of accomplishment, a lot closer to my 500 miles in 2018 goal and a really cool shirt on the way,  Thank you Amber!

I look forward to registering next year for this virtual race. If anything, it was a way to stay active during the winter.

Walking through fear

In 2006 I traveled to Arizona alone to visit family. This was written back then. 

On Saturday I conquered my first fear of my vacation. I was a bit worried that I would fly out to Arizona and then sit around waiting for someone to plan something or someone to do activities with. For about an hour I puttered on that line, before deciding I’d just go for a drive. To know my area, I’d drive out to the place I wanted to go on the trail ride. A few minutes later on mapquest, I discovered how close I was to the ranch, the plan was set, and off I went.

As I headed off in my boat of a rental car over the dry river, a level of calm came over me. I was out on an adventure, driving to who knows where all by myself. A few turns later I discovered I was in Saguaro National Park. I pulled over at a picnic area to change from my tevas to boots. It was rattlesnake season after all. While there I bumped into a pair of rangers, the younger of the two walked me to his truck, gave me a map and suggestions on where to walk. I had no idea I could pull over anywhere, just get out and walk. 

I drove back to the edge of the park where I entered, pulled over and started walking. Once I was away from the road, the fear hit me. The rational logical voice started in saying “Johanna, you are a 5’3” female, you are in a strange area, you can handle city, but no one will hear you scream out here” I paused, listened, and kept walking. The voice continued, and I pondered it moving slower, wondering should I turn around now, if something happened it would be days before the connection was made as to who disappeared. I kept going having decided I would not miss out on this opportunity just because of a fear of a minute chance that I’d get killed in the middle of no where. I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you I was scared, and the next 20 feet I could feel every hair on my body, would life call me on my decision, was danger right around the next rock face. The ground turned to sandy gravel, not a terrain I could run quickly in and then it passed. I had accepted my risks and preferred the rewards. The weight of the fear removed, I walked on.

Eventually I found a patch of shade, sat down, took out a journal and wrote. I listened to the birds, the movement of bugs and small animals I could not see. I watched the surroundings. I breathed. I was for a moment without fear.

Training: The Dull Part, Oh Wait a Half!

The excitement of starting to train has worn off, and I am most of the way through week 6 of training for the Gate City Marathon. 

I updated my spreadsheet of training to show you that I haven't missed a run, but there have  been days where I just wanted to sit in the recliner with my dog Moxie and drink tea. The two things that have helped get me out and running is joining the Taji 100 mission and my running friends. Last night I was able to go to Fleet Feet's winter warriors run when I am certain if I had gone home after work I would not have run. It was cold, it was snowing, it was yucky! 

Yellow:less than goal miles; Green:Goal miles; Blue 1 or more than goal miles.
This is Hal Higdon Novice 1 plan, I highly recommend you go to his website to get all the details. 

I'm glad that I am running the Hampton Half Marathon in less than 10 days, because my training has hit the boring stuff. I haven't made any gains since my half marathon training last spring, plus it's cold out. Current weather for my half marathon is forecast to be 34-45 degrees, 10 mph wind, and a 20% chance of rain. As long as it doesn't get worse than that, I have a good chance of getting a half marathon PR, with a time under 3 hours. And, honestly my first half marathon time was 3 hours and 24 minutes, which gives me a bit of space to work with.

The next issue is what do I wear for the race. My original plan was to try for a Princess Leia on Hoth costume, but I didn't get around to knitting the braided headband that I would need. I'm watching the weather closely, as it will be the final determination on my outfit. Likely my outfit will be similar to last night, with my pink long sleeve shirt and white vest. I'll get to use the snaps on my vintage Skirt Sports race skirt to hold my bib. As a note, I'm a Skirt Sports Ambassador, use my code LISL521 to save 15% off a regular priced item. 

Unlike last time, I feel like I have a much better idea on race nutrition. While I feel I'm still in the testing stages of food, I feel like I've moved into human clinical trials rather than lab tests and discussions of theory.

My nutrition plan for the race is: dry oatmeal with almond butter and choc chips before the race, likely for breakfast. Since the race starts at 10am, I'll drink some coffee in the morning as well, just to move things along so my digestive tract doesn't bother me during the race.

I'll carry concentrated Tailwind in my water bottles, or at least in 1 bottle and 2-3 packets of Gu. A friend hooked me up with a packet of S'mores, my favorite, and I suspect the other flavors I have I'll like as well. My guess is I'll use 2 of them during the race at around 1:15 and 2:30. I'll make sure I pack some post race snacks since it's unlikely I can eat anything at the finish line.

Aside from all that,  I need to plan out a 7 mile route to explore more roads in Nashua, figure out how I'm going to Run/Walk 26 miles between now and Wednesday 2/28 to complete the Taji 100 mission and do a much better job at hydration. 

Running Nashua

Recently I saw a runner make a comment that they had finished "running their town" and it sparked an idea.

Why not challenge myself to run every road in Nashua? What better way to know the entire town, then to run all of it?

Conveniently I have GPS maps of most of my runs here in Nashua dating back to 2014, so knowing where I've run was simple, all I needed was a good map.

Thank you City of Nashua website. You can download your own PDF of the map here.

Next problem, if I want to be able to read the map it is going to need to be bigger than a single sheet of paper.

A quick trip to staples with the file on a USB drive and I now have a blueprint sized printout in black and white of the entire city, all super affordable.

A little time with a pink high lighter and my run tracking program, and I can now see where I have some serious runs to do here in Nashua.

Are you planning to Run Boston?

Edit: Yes I am.  I'll be running Boston April 20, 2020!!!   

Thank you Gate City Striders!

I live in New England and if you mention a marathon, everyone assumes you’re going to “Run Boston”. The race is iconic in the region, and over shadows every other regional marathon.  It’s pop culture in these parts. I remember watching highlights of the race as far back as I can remember.

Anytime I tell someone I’m a runner, the question of am I going to run Boston always comes up.

The short answer, not very likely.

There are two ways to run in the Boston Marathon. Complete a marathon in what is referred to as a “qualifying time” (minus 5 mins), or apply for a charity bib.

Completing a qualifying time would likely require years of training for me. Running coaches and even more time away from my family. A charity bib requires a year(or less) of fundraising that would take on the appearance of a second job, or a financial situation that makes writing a $5,000 check seem like nothing.

Boston has such a history, and is in many ways the goal of so many runners. I have a hard time believing that running the race can live up to anticipation and expectation. I have heard many runners say in September or December, the last time they ran was Boston. I joked if the roads of the race were made of rainbows, and the water stops served chilled unicorn juice, maybe just maybe the race could live up to my internal expectations.

All that doesn’t even take in account the winter training. Which I admit I am learning to love.

There is ONE reason I would push to run Boston. If my best friend asked me to run it for her. She was there in 2013. She was hurt in the explosions, but she stayed calm and helped others that day. If she asked me to run for her, I’d figure out how to make it happen.

Just to put this in perspective, a qualifying time for my age (40) is 3 hours and 45 mins, but if I want to guarantee I get a bib, I need 3 hours and 40 mins or better.  That means I average for the qualifying race around 8 mins and 20 second per mile. If I wait until 2022, I get 10 more minutes added to my qualifying time. My last reasonable long run had an average pace of 13 minutes and 07 seconds(I don't count the 13:34 but the sidewalks were snowy ice and I was trying to levitate).

It is possible that someday for fun, I’ll go run the Boston Marathon route with a friend or two. But not this year.

All that said, my best running friend is running Boston and fundraising for Impact Melanoma, please consider donating on her page to help her and the charity out. 

Marathon Plans and Progress

Now that I did a breakdown of what went wrong for my half marathon, and how would avoid those same pitfalls for the next big race. I thought I’d share where I am at.

I registered for the Gate City Marathon in October.

Step 1 Choose Program: Hal Higdon Novice 1 training program. 

Step 2: Put Program into excel to know date of each week. This gets me a start date.

Step 3: Pick a half marathon to run. I'm running The Hampton Half(a week before planned, but there are not many options when you live in New England).

Step 4: Add to spreadsheet and important events happening. Oh look a wedding the same weekend as the 20 mile run. 

Step 5: Add schedule to planner with 5 tiny flags per week.

Step 6: Review Crosstraining options (hate Bike, Rowing OK, oh look strength training classes)

Step 7: Wait

Step 8: try to run 1-3 times a week even if it’s only a mile just to get used to it. Make note of clothing needed for various weather

Step 9: Start a cross training class to get through the first week of EVERYTHING HURTS

Step 10: Begin Training

I’ve already completed the first 3 weeks of training and I’m halfway through my 4^th week. Saturday I’ll meet some local runners and run 9 miles.

I’ll admit to not following the program perfectly. I came up short on miles the first week, then I stopped using a treadmill and embraced the cold. My goal is to get the miles, not to worry about getting them on the perfect days.  This week I ran Tuesday and Wednesday, I rested yesterday. I’ll run tonight with local runners.

I'm a Tea Drinker

This post contains a link to my party and an affiliate link. I make a commission/host credits for purchases made through the links in this post. These types of links are indicated by an *. You can contact Mary through that link to host your own party.

Tea has always been a part of my life. In my childhood it was something I drank with my Nana. I remember clearly the mug sitting on the small plate with a small paper towel square between.  We‘d add milk and sugar. Often it was Red Rose tea so we’d have the tiny ceramic figures decorating the kitchen.

Jack loves to share tea with me. He's super careful with the china tea cups.

At some point I discovered the health benefits of green tea and started drinking that, plain.

In 2015, my good friend Mary Bacon introduced me to Steeped Tea. Which was great because yummy tea, and horrible because now I couldn’t go back to the cheap tea bags, no seriously I can’t have bag green tea anymore, it tastes terrible.

I talk about tea the way many of my friends talk about beer or wine. I still drink coffee in the morning, but all other times, it's tea. I joke, I need a shirt that says "Will Run for Tea!" 

Here are my favorite Steeped Tea Products.  I tend to host a party twice a year to go along with the Fall/Winter Catalog and the Spring/Summer catalog. If you want to order, please use this link.  Make sure you select Direct Shipping. If you don’t the items won’t ship until the party closes and they’ll ship to my office, which could make picking things up more difficult. If you don't already have one, I'm a huge fan of a temp controlled electric kettle*.

Order Tea* Here! Or contact Mary Bacon and let her know you are ordering on my party. When you order make sure you select Direct Shipping, that way your order will be shipped ASAP and to you, not me when the party closes (possibly months from now). She has a group on facebook where we share recipes with tea. She offers online parties so you don't need to be local to schedule your own and earn host credits.

Black Teas

Christmas Chai – Fall/Winter only.

Blood Orange Sunrise

Green Tea

Classic Sencha

Wintermint – Fall/Winter only

Matcha 

Matcha (plain)

Mocha Matcha

Gingerbread Matcha – Fall/Winter only

Herbal Tea

This is by far and away my favorite category of teas 

Lemon Ginger Tea Tox

Hot Yoga

Tummy Troubles

Nettle Greek Mountain

Immunity Booster

Fruit & Vegetable Tea 

Tangy Ginger Carrot

Italian Orange Soda

Cosmopolitan

Marathon Dreams

This post contains affiliate links. I make a commission for purchases made through the links in this post. These types of links are indicated by an *. 

My plan is to run the Gate City Marathon on May 20, 2018, just weeks before my 41st birthday. Since I celebrated my 40th birthday by running a half marathon, it’s time to finish 40 strong and run a full marathon. Truthfully running a marathon doesn’t scare me at all. My first son was 42 hours of labor & delivery without an epidural. With that under my belt, I feel like I had trained to run a 5k and after running 6 miles, I realized I was running a marathon I was not prepared for. I’m stubborn, and my support team was amazing, so finish that marathon I did.

I learned a great deal about running and about myself during my training for the half marathon and I’m going to take those lessons into my training of my full marathon.

My first half marathon was The Westfield Half in Westfield, MA on June 24, 2017, my goal was to finish with the hopes of a time under 3 hours. I finished in 3 hours and 19 minutes, my official time was 3 hours and 24 minutes, but I don’t count 5 of those minutes, since I had stopped to help a sick runner.

What went wrong? Many things, most of those things were out of my control but some were under my control. Let’s discuss what I could fix for the next time (a pretty way to say, lets discuss where I made mistakes).

1. I picked a summer time half marathon. I knew there was a risk of it being hot, I was not prepared to run 13.1 miles in near 90 degree weather with high humidity and don’t forget to add in, around the halfway mark we can add full sun as well.
2. I never solved the during the race nutrition problem, eat the wrong thing and ruin my stomach while running, or eat nothing and power through it. I found I ran empty just fine, but there is a difference in running empty when you wake up and start running within 45 mins, and race conditions. I was awake for 5 hours before I started running the race, I was beyond empty with no idea how to correct it. I ran 13.1 miles on 1 cup of coffee with matcha mixed in, 2 tsps of sugar, 3 stale almonds, a piece of candied ginger and 6 oz of tailwind*. I drank some water at the water stops, but mostly I just poured it on my head to cool down. I was running a half marathon, not away from Zombies, I could have done better.
3. When baseball games (my sons playing), and training conflicted, I chose my sons. This was not a mistake, but it meant several of the longer runs near the end of training were 2-3 miles shorter than they should have been. I also ended up missing mid-week runs because of timing. But I saw my sons play ball.
   
4. My cat died. Bomber, my cat of 16 years died of something that could have been prevented, but when the problem started I was too poor in graduate school to do anything. Once we could afford to care for him, it was too late, he wasn’t healthy enough for an operation. To complicate the guilt, this was the cat that bonded with our older son. My son was devastated that he lost his cat. My own grief had to take a back seat to care for him.
5. I ingested dairy. Diary is my dangerous food allergy. I carry an epi-pen for dairy and I am extremely careful to avoid it. I made a stupid mistake. I was at the end of the year party for my younger son’s t-ball team and there was a box of popsicles, they were bright colors, so I assumed they were safe. Who puts diary in fruit flavor popsicles? I grabbed a pink one, took one lick, and realized something was very wrong. I checked the box and sure enough popsicles with diary. I gave the Popsicle to my son to finish and chugged a liter of water, texted my husband who was at a different field with our older son’s end of the season party and hoped for the best. If I recall I wasn’t carrying an epi-pen that day and I was terrified I’d have to ask a parent I barely knew to call an ambulance. I didn’t want to embarrass my son (priorities right?). While my tongue felt too big for my mouth and my chest got congested, I was able to get home without anyone knowing what I had done. I took some Benadryl and waited to make sure there was not going to be any secondary reactions. The result of all that was I had hives for 3 weeks, and overall just felt off, my joints hurt, I was tired. This was 2 weeks before the race.
   
6. My plans to travel out to the area the night before changed at last minute and in tragic ways. Instead of the whole family driving out, we decided that just my husband and I would go and stay with a friend. We had my night before meal planned for, and when I would go to bed. The change in who was travelling, delayed us leaving NH, as we needed to pack the boys to stay with their Grandparents, but before dark we were finally on the road. About 45 minutes into the drive the “Check Engine” light appeared. Considering the last few weeks, we decided to pull over and have the code run. Those lights can be a nothing or they can be bad. If it was a nothing, we’d keep going, otherwise we’d turn around. The answer was inconclusive. If it was our transmission, we might just need more fluid, or the transmission could be eating itself. Ever acknowledging Murphy’s law, we headed back to my in laws. At this point I gave up. I wasn’t going to be running my first half marathon. My husband and several close friends thankfully did not agree with me. My friends and my in laws convinced me to head home. My husband would drive me to the race in the morning. When it was all done, I ate dinner at 8:30pm that night and took forever to fall asleep. I was up at 4am to drive to the race.
7. No race pictures. Westfield Half had finisher photos, but mine were never posted. My husband took a few before the race shots and I took some selfies along the way, but I was so toast when I crossed the finish line I fell exhausted into his arms, and he trusted that the finishing photos would be available. Note, they were not.
   
8. Post-race, 1.5 hours ride home in the car. With no other people to hang out with after the race and most of the race support closed up when I finished, we headed home. Running was hard, but unfolding myself out of a sedan after 90 minutes on the road, was harder.

With all that in mind, if I wanted to have a successful full marathon, I needed to learn from my mistakes. This is what I am doing to improve my chances of success.

1. Gate City Marathon is nearby in Nashua, NH the weekend before Memorial Day. While this date has been on the hotter side recently, it is unlikely it will be oppressively hot. The race also starts at 7am, before the sun has had time to heat things up. Even on a hot day, I should be able to get two loops done before the heat starts. I know from previous years, the race support can handle hot days.
2. Since the half marathon, I started a new running log. I am writing down what I ate, when I ate it in relation to running and did it upset my tummy. I am trying out various nutrition products to find one I like. The truth is the problem on that race was electrolytes. I couldn’t drink enough tailwind to correct it because I didn’t want to drink anything. I’ve picked up a few electrolyte pills so I can take those on the next long hot run and correct the electrolyte problem faster. I’ve just about figured out a pre-race food that I can eat without feeling sick and while I can’t stand the texture, I know that Gu Gels* don’t upset my tummy. I also like sucking on Clif Bloks*.
3. As our youth baseball season rolls around again, I am going to work harder at time management for my long run so that I don’t miss a mile. My sons will still come first, while it’s good for them to see Mom training and working toward a goal, I personally feel it is more important for them to know Mom is their biggest cheerleader. This time the boys will be on the same team and my life will be a ton easier.
   
4. DEAD CAT Ok. There is nothing I can do about this one. There is nothing I can do to predict when my other old cranky cat will pass. He had a full physical and blood work a year ago and sadly he has hyperthyroidism and early renal disease. He’s under treatment, but we have no idea how long he will be with our family.
5. Making the dairy mistake reminded me how vigilant I need to be about food. I doubt I’ll make this mistake again, likely I won’t eat food made anywhere but my kitchen in the 3 weeks before the race. Just to be extra careful. This is my advanced apology to my husband, who does all the cooking. I love you honey, thank you for cooking, and thank you for editing this blog. SMOOCHES.
6. This is the main reason I choose Gate City Marathon. It’s my hometown. I don’t need to make accommodations, I don’t need to worry about travel time, and I can even pick up my race packet the night before. If I need to I can WALK to the race. I know I’ll have people to cheer me on.
7. I want photos and I’ve told friends, that I want photos. I know and trust that my friends will make sure there are not only finishing photos but photos along the way. Because photos.
8. Just like #6, this race is close, the ride home in the worst conditions (Christmas traffic after a snow storm) would take at most 30 minutes and if that happened, I could just get out and walk alongside the car.

I’m sure this marathon will teach me new lessons, but that is life. Each race teaches us lessons. Hopefully my half marathon lessons will help others.