st. paddy's half marathon {13in2013}

Can y'all believe this is #7 in the 13in2013 challenge!?
2nd half in real life; back 2 back halfs weekend!
And, it totally kicked my booty, literally.
My glutes are on FIYAHHH!

Let's get a race recap going,....

Friday, was my stretch [foam roll] this shiz out of my legs [IT band] day and we headed outdoors for some fun too; ice cream, pottery painting and park play. Hello, sunshine!

Saturday: {st. paddy's day run tacoma}
oh, another EARLY morning wakeup, 5AM wasn't so bad. (After having my iPhone screen broken, once again and waiting on a sleepless 6yr old to fall asleep, I fell asleep around midnight!) I got some more stretching in before waking the girls & getting them ready and loaded in. I sipped on coffee, and on Ezekiel toast w/pb, picked up another MRTT member to carpool with, dropped of girls at my friends place. And, off we went, 45 min drive wasn't bad at all! Sure, I was a little exhausted from the morning craziness but that's why they call me "super{runner}mama". I just keep going; make it happen. We got lucky rolling into the event location and finding a spot barely a block away, with nearly 30 minutes to spare!! We geared up; pinned bib, accessories on, stretched, bathroom break inside a warm pub!! Woohoo!! Made it to the start line and we were ready! It was gloomy and there was a 30% chance of rain. Fellow MRTT member told me she was sick all week and wanted to just walk it but as a marathoner, I knew she wouldn't.

Miles 1-5: I started off pretty steady, legs felt great, no IT pain whatsoever. I was happy but I was also feeling congested, my nose was a wee bit runny. We had been fighting sore throats this week. Ugh! So, breathing wasn't as easy, and I pushed through it. Mile 3, light rain started coming down and lingered around. Around mile 4, I had to really use the restroom, badly. And, it takes forever to get through a line. Luckily, there was a park with a few and I also stripped off layer and repined bib. Now, I was sporting the MRTT green {festive} tee,...'moms shamrock this town'. There went approx 15minutes and I never caught back up with the 2:30 pace leader. Whomp! Whomp!

Miles 6-9: once, I got back on the road, I realized I was amongst the 10k'rs, and they were hustlin', I picked up speed and was distinguished by my green bib as a half marathoner, when they did the 1/2 turn, I continued forward. Back to my world,..water station, fueled up and went on. Oh, hey,.....hills and the view along the water, uhhhhh-mazing!!! I love a good view and Washington offers it all. It makes me incredibly happy to be a girl from Texas, and exploring new places, all made possible via husband and his career in the NAVY!! I'm apart of an Elite group of women, the ones that EMBRACE their surroundings and enjoy the little things. I've been to Hawaii {paradise}, San Diego {city life}, Ridgecrest {desert town},.Washington continuously takes my breath away! Okay, back to running...

Miles 10-11: through the surrounding neighborhood, errrr, I mean hills and hills! My legs felt soooo heavy! At this point, I was trying to keep a steady jog uphill but found myself walking, and walking. I wanted to stop and stretch but kept pushing myself instead. I really wondered where in the world is the turn around,...aghh, downhill! I snapped a photo before I headed down slowly. My knees were feeling the hills, they were pretty beat at this point. Yep, no fun!

Mile 12: forever long, forever. And, I completely forgot the up hills that we went down on from the start line. I took walking intervals and again wanted to stop to stretch but it was MILE 12, no way!! There were others walking along the uphills too, I could feel the rush coming over the last hill, and I wanted to sprint so badly. I think my face had more of a "finish strong" look than my legs did. I.just.kept.going. Whoaaaa

Finished {heavily} Strong: 13.1 miles in 2:49:22!!!!

Grabbed a medal and stretch over in a squat while they cut off the time chip off my shoe. I stayed stretched over while the guy, congratulated me and repeatedly said, "way to go, you did it.", while giving me a smile and pat on the back. I sure did, I was proud, this mama, this girl, this runner completed back 2 back half-marathons!! It wasn't about setting PR's, the medals, the swag, becoming a half fanatic, {okay, a little} it was the rush, the effort, the push for myself, my inner soul needed this. I was overwhelmed, this passion was burning throughout me, I set out a goal and I crushed it!! {insert smile and tears} I found my friend at the finish line shortly after, and we chatted about the race experience, she did good too, around 2:35, not bad for being under the weather. We loaded back up for the drive and I made a pit stop for some fast food from 'sonic', it's one of those places I love! I snuck in quick shower before picking up my girlies. Even though my body felt a little beat up, I took my girls to the park to enjoy the sunshine, and afterwards got busy with an [early] dinner; fish tacos. And a corinarita for my post-race celebratory drink. Yummaayyy!!

Stand out songs: maclamore's 'can't hold us', cali swag districts 'teach me
How to dogie' and Flo rida's 'in the Ayer'.
Add them to your playlist; go!

What's next?
the jelly bean virtual race hosted by run with jess.
Squatting. Boxing. Spinning.
Kettlebelling. Bosu-ng. Yoga-ng ... .... ...
Running; squeezing in long runs.
April: backwards 1 miler & 10k
Next Half Marathon(s): May 5 & May 23!

Hope y'all had an active weekend!

Ohhh, Zombies!!

So, this Mama got to RUN, 2 days in a Row!! Whoop! Whoop!!
Pretty exciting weekend, but I was mostly exhausted!! 
In all things RUNNING-RELATED; here's my weekend race re-cap. 

Friday: Dawn of the Dead Dash 
After a 4 hour shift, I had to rush home, get changed into my running gear. I didn't really plan on dressing up, I was pulling out my warm running tops from my drawers, hadn't used them in a while. Leanna suggested I dress up as a Princess Runner...princess? Okay. She gave me the running skirt I had won a few months ago, Sparkly Aqua!! And, said to wear my sparkly runner band. Then, I added in a pair of high socks, that had a little sparkle to them. I felt a little silly but they were totally smiling. We headed out a later than I planned. It was a rainy drive, rainy!! We found a SONIC once we made the 50 minute drive to Tacoma; HAPPINESS!! Then, it was off to drop girls at a friends house. Once, I found the address it was back out into the Friday Night Traffic on I-5N..did't expect that, add in unfamiliar roads and I was a little worried. I found a parking spot and RUSHED to the meeting venue. 

While, I was jogging UPHILL, I started to notice runners w/bibs going downhill. They had started and it wasn't even 7:30. It was about 7:15, so I was racing up to check-in. Got there. Got checked-in. Got my bib & shirt and info on what's going to happen. Then, I realized this wasn't at all what I 'expected'. There was no exact course. They gave you a map, and the crossroads for checkpoints, then you had to 'get there' and not be tagged. Okay. Okay. I was scared at that point. I was alone. Made it out the venue, asked a couple to snap a quick photo of me and asked them if they were familiar with the area. They said, yes. Then another 2 minutes of chit chat and I was joining their group. Cool. UNTIL, we heard craziness nearby and everyone started running. ZOMBIE!! And, I was flying, like lost the 'new running friends' flying. There was ANOTHER couple, and I asked if they knew where...yeah, I was a dork. Turns out they did...and I stayed with this duo. We took other routes to stay away from the 'popular' streets. There was real life still going on, people still driving to/from places, going out to dinner. Made it to checkpoint 1, where they met up with more friends. Checkpoint #2 was crazy infested!! And, one of the teammates and I made a QUICK run to the 'safe zone', I was tagged, but still got checked in, which made me think, did they tag me after I stepped in, since I was running hard into the zone. I don't know. I just continued on with the team, UPHILL, running from zombies. Running from possible zombies, Running & Running. Jumping over a fence because the alley was blocked off. Laughing. It was COLD. Luckily no rainfall. Wet Roads. Chatting. Continuously saying, "oh sh*t!" We heard from other runners that Checkpoint #3 was crazy infested and we made a plan of attack. Well, after all that planning, and ducking, hiding behind trees, taking it silly serious, checkpoint #3 was NO WHERE to be found. And, about 15 other runners had also scoped the scene with nothing. Ah, well. It was a hilarious/spooky 2 1/2 hour FUN RUN!! Once, I saw that it was almost 9, and I was FAR from my parking spot, I was literally running through the area, a good mile! Ohh, and I was loving it!! The weather was just perfect.

Saturday: #anywhere5k Zombie Run.
I was exhausted after the drive home and a sleepless night but I had planned to get my virtual race done. Another runner mama, was going to be running with me and since there was rain in the forecast, we planned for a treadmill 5k. We met up and I did my 5k first. It was ROUGH, I was a little worn. And, I actually ran Mile 1 in 9:50!! Not too bad. I had a pretty LONG walking interval which slowed my pace down drastically. My legs were a little beaten up from killer hills, walking them even got me. Washington has some STEEP hills. No joke. After the recovery walk. I picked it back up to to finish strong. 
5k in 42:42. Not my best on the treadmill but I got it done. Notice the shirt, it's the swag from the Dawn of the Dead Dash. I would much rather receive a shirt vs. a medal any day and I have with most local races. Other, than the virtual races. Medals aren't that big of a deal, I still love them and get happy when I receive them. I'm REALLY excited to see the Memory Run Medal with a photo of my dad. I love to sport my tops more. And, you will see me wearing them,at least, weekly, not the same ones since I have several. You really can't walk around sporting your medal. Yes, I have them proudly displayed on my bling/bib board. And, I've been thinking of a way to display the bibs instead of just stacking them. 

"Don't wait to for inspiration to find you; BECOME IT!!"