Seabrook Lucky Trails Marathon Weekend Recap

Seabrook Lucky Trails Marathon Weekend (SLTM) is several running events in one weekend organized by Running Alliance Sports.  RAS also puts on the best events, with the best swag, and I have wanted to do the SLTM for two years now, luckily this year I was able to do it! At the SLTM they have green beer as a swag item at the finish.

As the name suggests, it is a entire weekend of running events.  Saturday has a half marathon option or a half marathon relay (6.5 miles each), Sunday has a full marathon, full marathon four person relay, full marathon two person relay, or a half marathon.  If you complete a half marathon on both days, or a half on Saturday and a full marathon on Sunday, you get a third medal.  If you know me at all, you know that I love race BLING and I was all about these medals.  Each year the SLTM has GLITTER on their medals, so I was all about this race!!!!!!!!!

Saturday’s Half Marathon

Saturday’s half started with me waking up at 4:30 to get dressed, eat, feed the monster, and stretch a bit before Aly came to my house.  I drove Saturday and Aly drove on Sunday since Seabrook was so far and we didn’t want to drive out separately for both days.  We got their early and hung out while waiting for the start.  I taped up my knee and foot, and also had some breakfast.

They sang the National Anthem and then the gun went off for our start promptly at 7:15 am.  The course was two 6.5 mile loops around the Lucky Trails in Seabrook.  At the 4.5 mile area there was a short turn around with a water stop and a bathroom. I stopped to stretch and use the restroom, plus ate some sports beans.  The rest of the first leg was pretty much uneventful, but the second one it had started to get hot and miserable.  I had already not been prepared to run 13.1 miles since I had been injured and had not been training, so I was prepared not to do very well.  On the second loop I got to see my friend Marney from the 30K I did in December.  After I finished the race, I found Marney in the food section and we took a picture.  I was so good seeing her!  After the race I waited for Aly to finish while I was stuffing my face with a hamburger and ice cream!  Running Alliance Sport has the best food and race swag!

I finished at a disappointing time of 2:51:59, which is even slower than my very first half marathon. Boo.  

Sunday’s Four Person Full Marathon Relay

Back in November we registered for the Sunday four person relay with me, Aly, my friend Debra, and my friend Kennisha as the four person team.  It would have been Debra’s first running event ever and she was really nervous about it.  I had given her a training plan starting at the beginning of December, but about two weeks  away from the race she backed out saying that she wasn’t ready.  We had to scramble to find a replacement, and luckily our friend Claudia was able to run with us.  Then, the morning of the race, at 4:45 am (the race started at 7:15) Kennisha backed out because she had a headache. :/  Luckily, Carberry (Aly’s BF) was coming to watch Aly run anyway, so he was our last minute stand in.  I was NOT up for running a second leg, so I was super glad that he was able to fill in.

Aly and Claudia came to my house and we drove to Seabrook together.  We stopped at McDonald’s for coffee and breakfast on the way and this group of guys (dads and sons on a fishing trip) commented on our matching outfits.

We got there about 15 minutes before the start and Claudia was our first leg.  We had set up a camp by the finish line and hung out there until everyone was done with their leg.  We all knew about what time we wanted to be finished with our 6.5 miles so about the time we started looking across the field for them, once they came around the corner the next person went to the exchange section for their leg.

My leg of the race went ok, but I really wasn’t feeling the run.  Some days are just not good running days and this was one of those days for me.  I had run a half marathon the day before and was still tired from that, in addition to still being burned out.

We finished at 5:22:52 for our 26.2 mile race of four loops.

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Overall, it was not my weekend for running.  I can blame it on my foot, my knee, the trails, or the heat, but really it was that I was just unprepared and not on my racing game.  Racing burnout has gotten to me and I am going to take a step back for awhile, especially while I am in Kenya.  No more races until AT LEAST May, if not the end of the summer. (Minus the TIR race recap I need to write and upload)

For more pics of my St. Patrick's Day weekend, plus more pics of the races go here.

These shoes

These shoes have taken me to a lot of places and have been great for a lot of different activities.

Where have they been?  What have they done?

These shoes went skydiving

These shoes went to Philadelphia

These shoes helped train for a half marathon

These shoes RAN a half marathon

These shoes traveled to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore

These shoes trained for my first triathlon

And more that I can’t think of right this second

It’s also time for these shoes to be replaced.  Normally you should replace your running shoes every 300-500 miles, but these have gone waaaaaaaay past that limit (probably at least 1,000 miles).  You also are supposed to use your running shoes only for running and as you can see above, I did not do that.

What shoes did I replace them with?  Brooks Glycerin’s.  Aren’t they beautiful?  Love them!  I plan on keeping my old ones also, but these will help me train for my marathon in January.  I should be getting another pair between now and January, but we will see how it goes.

Rockin' out the 80's

So I forgot to upload pics from my 30th birthday party...oops!  Bad blogger.  To see the complete set of pics you can go here, but these are a few of my favs!  I had tons of fun and thank you to everyone who came out for my birthday!  We had fajitas and margaritas also, and they were yummy!

Cupcakes!  I bought these cupcakes from Sam's-neon colors of course and then added the toothpicks.  To make them I downloaded pics of my favorite 80's items and attached them to a toothpick with a hot glue gun.

Cake!  My sister has used this cake company for a while now and she is wonderful at making cakes.  This is her FB page.  She is also the woman who made Cole's Uno Birthday Cake.  Isn't my cake adorable?   I wanted a cake that was full of my favorite things from when I was a kid, smurfs, cabbage patch kids, goonies, NYKOB, tie dye, school house rock. Adorable!

 

My outfit:  I originally purchased a pink sequined dress, but it got messed up at the tailor so I had to find a quick replacement.  Enter Target (shirt) and a Halloween store (pants).  You really can't tell, but my hair is crimped.  I bought the bow at Target also, and Mandy's daughter Brooklyn loved it so I gave it to her before she left (when am I ever going to wear it again?!).

I wanted the decorations to be things from my childhood so we went to the party store and bought 6 different table clothes and table toppers.  You probably can't tell from this pics but Sesame Street, Strawberry Shortcake, Barbie, Mario Brothers, the Tie Die and Pac Man table clothes aren't shown.

Friends!  More friends at my Smugmug page.

Run, Walk, Crawl, Finish

You only get to run your first ½ marathon once, and this is my experience.  It’s a LONG post, but enjoy!

On Sunday, December 4^th, 2011 I finished the La Porte by the Bay Half Marathon over and back the Fred Hartman Bridge in La Porte, TX.  You will remember my first 5k that I ran the entire way (I had always walked before) on my 29^th B-Day.  So only 5 months later I completed a ½ marathon. If I can do it, so can you!  One of my friends Krista ran it with me (she also ran my first 5K with me). I completed a ½ marathon and I ran the entire time except at water stations and once on top of the bridge for less than 100 feet. 

Let’s back up to the day before:

I wanted to make sure I didn’t forget anything so I made a checklist.  (Yes, I am O.C.D., how did you know?).  It was filled with the things I needed to bring like my bib, body glide (love that stuff), iPod, fuel, etc.  I am glad I made it because I needed all that stuff to succeed! J

My friend Shannon made me a shirt that said I <3 Sweat and blinged it out for me with my name on the back. I loved it!

My original plan for dinner was to make pasta with tomato sauce and chicken.  I made it for lunch and it didn’t turn out very well so we decided to go to CiCi’s pizza and carbo-load.  I ate lots of pizza!

For breakfast I ate my usual bagel with sunflower seed butter and a banana. 

When Mandy got to my house she made me a glitter sign and I made a sign for Krista and Nicky (who was unable to race do to illness-get well Nicky!)

Krista texted me these signs that she made.  Love them!

Me and Krista before the race.  We look determined to finish! 

Mandy, Brooklyn, Ginger, and Tyler all left to go to mile 3 and Krista and I went to the starting area where it started sprinkling.  They sang the national anthem and counted down.  We were off!

Miles 1- 3-Nothing to spectacular happened in miles 1-2, but each mile I started to chant only 12 miles to go, only 11 miles to go, only 10 miles to go! I saw Mandy, Brooklyn, Tyler, and Ginger at Mile 3 and took a Gu and some of my Nuun from my water bottle.  I loved my signs!  I really need to work on how to take good race photos…I looked horrible and this was only at mile 3! 

Mile 4 and 5-Mile 4 was right before the bridge and guess what?  It started raining!  Yep, rain.  Boo!  Mile 5 began the ascent onto the bridge.  It was a climb!   Yes, I did get out my phone and took a pic. J

Mile 8(ish)-After one side of the bridge you went around a loop and you go back up the bridge. On the loop I ate a pack of sports beans and had some water. At the end of the loop, guess who I saw?  Santa!!!! 

Mile 10-By Mile 10 I was soooo ready to be done.  I saw the sign right after I finished the bridge and told myself it’s only a 5k, you’ve done a ton of those!  At the water station I refilled two of my water bottles with Gatorade and kept going.  I also met someone that looked like she was about to pass out.  I chatted with her a bit and asked if she needed some Gu.  I was planning on taking it myself at around mile 11, but she looked like she needed it more.  I told myself that there were pickles and oranges in my bag at the finish line, in addition to other food, and to just wait.  It started raining again about this time…hard! 

Mile 12-Mile 12 is when it hit me that I was about to finish my first ½ marathon.  Wow!  You make a goal for yourself on a list months ago and you train (and train, and train) for this one goal for months and finally you get to see it happen.  It was emotional (I’m a nerd!) and I kind of got choked up. Makes you wonder what all you can accomplish if you work on it.

Mile 13.1-I turned the corner and could see that big green inflatable finish line and I was so excited.  WOW!  Mile 12 I knew I was going to finish, but I was secretly hoping that I wouldn’t trip or something (which happens a lot), but I knew if I did I would CRAWL to that finish line.  I didn’t have to though because I saw Mandy, Brooklyn, Ginger, and Tyler about 100 feet in front of the finish line holding the signs up for me and cheering me on.  A little bit further I saw Oscar and Erika cheering, and then I saw my Dad and Pie.  I heard the announcer call my name and city as I crossed the finish line and a volunteer placed my medal in my hand.  I earned that sucker!

Immediately after I crossed my legs and knees started hurting and cramping.  Pie kept telling me to keep walking and stretch my legs, but all I wanted was water, food and to see my friends/family.  Erika and Oscar came and said congrats then had to leave pretty much right after so Erika could finish some work stuff ß I am sad that I didn’t get a picture with them. L

Then we met back up with Mandy, Brooklyn, Tyler, Krista and Ginger and found food.  At first the line was too long so I ate one of my pickles (Brooklyn ate the other one!) and Pie got me a sausage on a stick. (Super yummy!).  Then the line got shorter and I had 2 pieces of pizza and another ½ of the sausage on a stick.  I tried to eat the rice and beans but they were not good.

My official time 2:53:29, a 13:08 minute per mile average.

Pie, Dad, Me.

The after…

The medal is now hanging up on my racing bulletin board.  I need more race stuff because it looks bare. 

The Recovery Process-How do you recover from a ½ Marathon?  Take the next day off to have a Massage, eat Mexican food, and drink margaritas of course!

I had bought a Groupon for a massage a few months ago and I used it on Monday.  It felt soooo nice, afterwards I went to a Mexican food restaurant and filed up on carbs Mexican food and a margarita.  Yummy.

Final Thoughts:  I cannot wait to run another one, they are addicting!  Yes, my legs hurt, and sometimes I complained that I didn’t want to do a long run on a Saturday morning, but nothing beats the feeling of finishing a huge race.  I did run the entire way except at water stops where I didn’t wan to choke on the water or get an air bubble in my stomach and once on the bridge for less than 100 feet. 

I want to say a HUGE THANK YOU to these people for supporting me at the race:

Krista-OMG girl, you are awesome!  You have completed TWO big 30 under 30 items with me and I cannot be more grateful.  You are a ROCKSTAR my friend.  I loved <3ing Sweat with you and can’t wait to get our FULL marathon’ing on.  I will see you next at your 3^rd half marathon next month…you want a GLITTER sign right?

Ginger & Tyler-I know you mainly went support Krista, but it still means a lot to me that you cheered me on as well!  I can’t wait to cheer for YOU at the Houston ½ next month and I know you will do fantastic. 

Mandy and Brooklyn-I am so glad you came to stay with me on Saturday night and helped calm my nerves.  I loved the shopping, pizza eating, talking, and sign making that we got to do!  I know it was raining, but I hope you both had fun.  Next time I will choose one with no rain. J  Jabba says hello and can’t wait for you two to come back and visit with him (he says he promises not to be so crabby next time).

Dad and Pie-I loved seeing you out of the blue on mile 4 and mile 6.  I was expecting to see you on the other side of the bridge so it was a very nice surprise to see you when I did!  I still can’t believe that you got out of the car to cheer for me on TOP of the bridge with cars whizzing by. Lol.  Awesome.  Oh, and I loved the sign too and can’t wait to see the videos that you took.  It means the world to me that you were there!  Start planning a trip to NYC or Philly. 

Erika and Oscar-You are awesome for coming out to my first 5K and my first ½!  You guys are an awesome couple and I can’t wait to hear about your trip!  Dinner next week right?  Oh, and I forgot to order that soap!

Facebook friends-Thank you for all of your encouragement before/during/after the race.  I kept looking at my phone on the way seeking your kind words to give me encouragement before the race.  You all rock!

What’s next? Marathon baby!  That’s right!  I am going to start training for a marathon early next year and I have chosen either the Philadelphia Marathon or the New York City Marathon which are both in November of 2012.  The Philly marathon runs by some really cool landmarks including the Rocky steps (and his statue), but the NYC marathon is an epic marathon that would be awesome to race at.  The Philly marathon is where my heart is set at, but I can’t seem to get away from thinking about doing NYC.  My Aunt Tracy will be able to come to either of them (she lives in the Philly area) and my cousin Steven wants to do one with me also.  Only time will tell which one I get into!  Wish me luck. ;)

Yee-Haw!

Guess what number I completed on my 30 under 30 list?  #1 Baby!  Mechanical bull?  Done and done.

Let’s do this thing sucka!  I am coming for you.

How did I find a mechanical bull in Houston you ask?  Well, it was at an elementary school carnival of course.  I know, I know, It’s the last place I thought I would be riding a mechanical bull, but I digress.

My sister is the PTO President at my nephews elementary school and every year that have a carnival fundraiser in April where they make a bulk of their budget for the next year.  I had heard that there were two carnivals in Friendswood where I live that have a carnival and they make about $100K profit each (one is a fall festival, one is a spring festival).  $100k at a carnival? WTH!  My sister and I were intrigued so we were determined to go to the fall one to get ideas and figure out how in the heck they raise about $95k more than my nephews school. 

So, off we went to the Cline Elementary PTO carnival called Clinefest.  Before buying any tickets we decided to walk around and look at everything to see if we can find the differences.  The main difference is the amount of silent and live auction items and also the raffle items.  There was large raffle items (like iPod’s, fire pits, complete outdoor stereo systems) and smaller ones (scooters, fishing poles, ice cream makers, etc).  The silent auction items included a plate or platter with each child’s teachers name and grade level in a different theme with the kids name on it also.  Some of the were really cute like a picnic theme with the kids names written on a different aunt, or a popsicle theme with each child’s name a popsicle.  Super cute idea.  Other silent auction items were a family portrait session, a chance for your child to have lunch with the Chief of Police, tanning sessions, etc. 

Are you ready for the live auction items?!  A limo ride and 4 tickets to see Taylor Swift! ßI really wanted to win that one, but I think it went for $1k ++.  Your child’s opportunity to be Vice Principal for a day, your child to be in the upcoming parade as prince or princess of the parade.  A week long stay at a resort in Costa Rica.  There were three different ‘prime’ parking spots that were auctioned off for about $600 each.  Now, for me to pay $600 for a parking spot it had better be lined in gold, but you know how often you get to park in this parking spot?  THREE times a year.  Yep.  Only three.  At the Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day parties.  That’s $200 each time your happy butt gets to park there.  Crazy.

On to the bull ride:As I was walking around looking at all the stuff I wanted but couldn’t afford (sorry Taylor Swift, perhaps you could come back to the HLSR and I can pay $20 to see you) my sister came up to me and said there was a mechanical bull at the carnival.  WHAT?!

I had to see it to believe it.  Yep!  There it was all spinning around in the sun just waiting for me to ride it.  6 tickets please!

As I stood in line I had my step mom Pie to go and make sure that adults were able to ride it.  Yep? Check!  We made friends with a lady that was on the PTO at Cline and chatted with her about how they make so much money.  She was super nice and helpful and even stayed to watch me conquer the bull.

This is it.  It was finally time to ride.  I took my shoes off and mounted the bull.  When I added the mechanical bull ride to my list I had no idea where or when I would ride one, but I have always wanted to do it so this was my shot.  I had pictured myself wearing some sort of slinky cowgirl outfit and a pair of boots but I ended up wearing shorts, my Astros 5K t-shirt, and tennis shoes. (Note to self:  Look cute no matter where you are going, you never know when you will have to take pictures for a fun adventure and make a blog post about it).

Spin, Spin, Spin, Spin.  Look, I can even ride it one handed!

Do you like my bull riding form?  I trained for this.

Whoa, I’m about to fall off!

And I’m down for the count

I really don’t know how long I stayed on the bull, but it was super fun.  I was the only adult that rode it and everyone was staring at me when I got off.  Oh well!

Thanks Cline Elementary PTO for hosting Clinefest and thinking about having a mechanical bull.  I really enjoyed it.

Less than 1 month…

Or 23 days to be exact I will be running my FIRST ½ marathon.  Yikes!  I’m scared.

I have run in the morning, mid afternoon, after work, and at night.  I have transitioned from running in the heat of Texas to cooler temperatures and I’ve traveled over bridges big and small.  I have cross trained and I have raced eight 5K’s and one 10K all leading up to this big event.  

I have been recruiting friends to join me in my quest for a medal and have successfully convinced at least two people, if not 6 people to join me. 

Shirts have been made, posters have been glitterized, and pasta will be consumed.

So LaPorte by the Bay ½ marathon-I am coming for you, and I will kick your ass!

Houston Texans Running with the Bulls 5K

***This post should have been posted October 16th, but I have been lazy!  Enjoy anyway though!***


It seems that every major Houston sports team hosts a 5K (did you read my Houston Astros 5K recap?).  The Houston Texans are no different. 

What to wear? What to wear?  Hmm, a new Houston Texans shirt?  Yes, please!

Breakfast was a rice cake with almond butter, pumpkin butter, and a nutty trail mix on top.  It was yummy!

I went with my aunt and cousin so I waited outside for them to pick me up and did a few stretches and took pictures of my feet. J

The race was held at Reliant Stadium.  We got there early to pick up our packets since neither of us wanted to drive into Houston earlier in the week.  My cousin also wanted to join us in the race so he had to get signed up for it.

My friend Andrea let me borrow her Garmin 201 that she isn’t using until my half marathon in December so I was able to keep track of how far I was going and what my time was.  At the end of the race the watch said 2.75 miles so I don’t know what happened. 

At the end of the race you travel down into the stadium on the floor of Reliant.  Through the blowup Toro the bull and to the finish line.

The race itself had a great course, but my legs were not feeling so hot from yesterday’s Friendswood Monster Dash so I figured I wouldn’t try and beat a specific time.  I didn’t take it easy though either.  I ran the entire time! 

Check out the cute shirt I got!

My official time?  35:34ßNot my best time, but I still finished it without stopping.  After yesterday’s race and my knees hurting, I think I did really well.  I am not sure that I will sign up for another race the same weekend I do another one.