Tucson Marathon 12/13/09

I went into this marathon hoping to break 3 hours. As the marathon was getting closer, I was thinking of trying for a 2:55-2:57. That was my "A" goal, a perfect day, the stars aligned. Anyways...

Before we headed down to Tucson on Saturday, we met our close friends for breakfast at the Orange Table in Scottsdale. They make my lucky "Monkey Cakes"- bananas, almonds, and coconut. They are to die for and I love any kind of pancake! It was also Terri's birthday!
After breakfast, we caravanned to Tucson, hit up the expo, and drove the course, as they had changed parts from last year. My sister, Marisa, also wanted to see it as this was her first full marathon! The course looked very daunting. Don't get me wrong, there is still some nice elevation declines, but many more hills than I remember. The entire beginning is rolling hills, miles 7-9 were some nice steady inclines, inclines toward the end, and a hill at mile 23. Marisa was looking a little nervous! (I think we all were!) We went back to the hotel, ate chicken and rice, showered, and tried to get some sleep.

We woke up at 4am and I was ready to rock! The weather was supposed to be perfect!I wore a holiday red top that Terri gave me (brought me luck!), Nike boy shorts, arm warmers, red/white striped gloves, and a red poinsettia for my hair. Quite festive! We dropped Shannon off at the 1/2 marathon busses, and Mike dropped us off at the full marathon busses.
Matt, Marisa, and I got on the bus, met our friend Donovan and shuttled to the start line. It was about 40 degrees. We went to the port-o's, took off our warm clothes and made it to the front of the start line just in time.
My mile splits:
Mile 1- 5:54 nice downhill, was nervous that I was going too fast though. Caught up with the first gal, we talked for a bit.
Mile 2-6:46- Rollers
Mile 3-6:37
Mile 4- 6:43
Mile 5- 6:42 Took a Vanilla Gingerbread GU
Mile 6-6:36
Mile 7- 6:32
Mile 8- 7:52- Big incline for about 1.25 miles. Intentionally took it this slow to save energy
Mile 9-6:57
Mile 10-6:34 Took second Vanilla Ginger Gu and a salt tab
Mile 11-6:33
Mile 12-6:36 Started worrying that I was going too fast although I felt really great
Mile 13- 6:39 This is where God decided to make it interesting for us runners and gave us a 10-15 mile per hour headwind for the rest of the marathon. That wind was brutal!
Mile 14-6:42 I tried to draft, but I couldn't find anyone!
Mile 15-6:47
Mile 16-6:51
Mile 17-6:44- Took a GU Roctane
Mile 18-6:50 Passed a girl and many men that tried to pass me. :D
Mile 19-6:40
Mile 20-6:57 Where is the turn??? :) Passed the second place female who zoomed by me at mile 2. Started my mantra that my daily mile friend John H. told me- Be strong Ariana, this is your race. It really helped, thanks John!
Mile 21-6:56 Took a GU Roctane
Mile 22-7:03 Start of the incline- and my decline!
Mile 23-7:14
Mile 24-7:08
Mile 25-7:09 Didn't think I was going to break 3 anymore, than I hardened up and made myself push. I was NOT going to let all of my hard work go to waste.
Mile 26-6:57
.33 (per Garmin)-6:14
I turned the corner and saw the clock said 2:58:xx, I was going to do it!!!
I ran through at 2:58:54!! Second female finsher, 11th overall finisher out of 1,246! I broke 3 hours!!! That is a 6:50 minute per mile pace. Official results:
https://www.runraceresults.com/secure/raceresults.cfm?ID=RCLK2009
I was so happy, I of course cried.

It was a little too close to 3 hours for comfort, but with the wind, I'll take it. :D
I felt really good the entire way. My legs never cramped up, no stomach problems, and the miles just flew by. However, once I stopped running, my legs seized up like no other. Very painful! So I just walked around and tried to shake tham out. I could still move, just not very fast!
Shannon and I:
My brother Lukas and I:

I found out that Shannon had met her goal of 2 hours for the half-marathon! So amazing! She worked to hard this training cycle. She beat her previous time by 30 minutes!! Unbelievable!

I was able to see Matt come in at 3:13. Not what he was shooting for, but with the wind, he did SO amazing. I am so proud of him! His average pace was 7:22. So awesome!
Above: Matt getting ready to make his final move and pass this guy! And he did!


Terri came in at 3:15, looking as strong as ever. This girl is an amazing athlete. Just so solid every run!
Terri's husband Mark- His FIRST marathon! came in at 3:16! They did SO awesome!!!


Then we waited for my sister. It was getting close to 4 hours, and I honestly thought with the wind, she may come in at 4:15. She was just shooting for under 5 hours.
All the sudden, Shannon spotted her coming around the corner looking totally zen!
We were screaming our heads off for her. I looked at the clock--3:56!!! She crossed at 3:56:41. Unbelievable! My first marathon was a 4:36!!! She rocked it! I think she is ready for more now... I cried again. So proud of her. Unreal.
The awards were not supposed to start until 12:30, at about 11:45 I hear my name being called our for my award! I got a trophy. Matt and Terri both got third in their age groups and got a sand art. As you can tell, its a small race. :)


Pic of my festive-ness. :D

After the race, we went back to the hotel, checked out, and Shannon and I went to the hot tub with a few beers. We dunked our sore legs in the pool first and it felt really good! We left Tucson and later that night went to our friend Mark's house to celebrate Terri's birthday. He had make-your-own pizzas with homemade dough and all of these gourmet toppings. So amazing! To top it off, he had homemade Limoncello and Tiramisu! A perfect way to end a great weekend!

Today my legs are much more sore. Time for some massage. I have a really busy week at work, so I may actually take the entire week off before I attempt any recovery runs.

Next up- I am signed up for PF Changs full marathon. I think I can do better. It all depends on how I recover though as the race is 5 weeks away. I am also meeting with a coach on Saturday who is also a phenomenal runner, so I am VERY excited!

Tempe IronGirl

At the start line hands on watches!

What an amazing race! I won the 2009 Tempe IronGirl with a time of 1:03:27, a 6:19 average pace over the 10 miles. I felt so good! I was only aiming for 6:40's, but I surprised myself. The stars were aligned for me today!
I had some AMAZING girls to compete against (including a world-class triathlete) , which made for a good race. I left my main competitor at mile 8 to finish strong with my last 2 mile splits at 6:06 and 5:56. I just felt really, really, good. Matt, Terri, Mark, and Bradford were all there cheering me on and said I had a smile on my face the entire time. This is my first win at a big race, so I am really excited about it, not to mention, I was kind of the underdog (or unknown) going in.
On my tail. :) Great racing!

I got a lead bike! Holy cow!




So close to the finish in a sprint.
I think this has to be my best race picture of all time. :)
Crossed the mat, I'm done!

http://www.onlineraceresults.com/race/view_race.php?race_id=10228#racetop

Shannon did awesome in the 5k, a new PR for her after dealing with a severe injury this past month!
Yay! Alissa and Alanna both ran amazing 10 mile races as well. The Irongirl was a great race and so much fun!
Next up...Tucson!

Fun Stuff

So I found Tank nestled on the couch with my Runner's World the other day. I KNEW he loved running too! Maybe he just has a thing for Grete Waitz! :)

I got my FIRST pair of racing shoes in the mail today! I have been really wanting to try the new Brooks Launch performance trainer/competition shoe. Matt has been hearing about it for weeks! I was about to order them online and he broke the news that he had already ordered them for me. Seriously, I am the luckiest girl in the world. He wrote a little note to go with them that he is proud of me for chasing my dreams. He is so unbelievably sweet and thoughtful. *sigh*

This is them, nice and bright and just in time for my race on Sunday!

IRON GIRL TEMPE

So, we went to watch Terri, Brett, Jim, Jan, and many of our other friends run the Phoenix 10k/5k today. They all did so awesome ! I cannot believe how many people were there! It was great! The McMillan elite racing team from Flagstaff was also there, so it was really cool to see the women race. Holy Mackeral they are fast!

So, I *just maybe* got the itch to race and I *just maybe* signed up for the Iron Girl 10 miler next weekend at Tempe Town Lake. Maybe meaning yes. :) I am super excited for it and also I am curious to see how my training has been going. My goal is a 6:30 pace for the 10 miles. We'll see. :) I have 82 miles scheduled for this week, so I am going to cut that and taper a bit.
Yesterday I ran 20 miles with the last 14 miles at marathon goal pace (6:45-6:50) with my last mile at 6:20. It felt great!!!

Here is the link to iron girl, it looks really fun!

TEMPE IRON GIRL 10 MILER

Wish me luck!
xoxo

New Stuff

I will start out the post with some great news! Matt recently got promoted to a team leader position at Vanguard!!! We are very happy and super excited! He is such an awesome leader!

We are both still training like crazy! After my 100 miles week, I dropped to 80 miles for the next week, I have 90 miles this week, 82 next week, 90 the following, and then we get to cut back our mileage for three weeks as our legs get ready for the marathon!!! It is kind of daunting to train so hard for one race. Anything can happen on race day, so its hard to know that you are putting all of your eggs in one basket.

I recently finished up parent-teacher conferences, which were awesome, but kept me super busy. So know the storm of the holiday season begins! This is the best time to be a teacher. There are so many fun things to do with the kiddos. I love this time of year!

I love this article/survey. You might be a runner if....
The points are so true. I especially love the one about planning all of your eating around running! I will be so sick of bland chicken and Quinoa /rice/oatmeal by Dec 13th!

100 mile week update

Matt and I just returned from Tucson. This morning Matt ran 21 miles, and I ran 24 on the marathon course. It was a great, solid, run. Our good friends Terri, Mark, and Mark ran as well. We all shared a hotel room last night and were on the road running at 6:30am. The weather got quite warm as the sun came up, but everyone finished really strong. A very fun trip! We laughed and laughed!

I am THISCLOSE to finishing my 100 mile week. I have 94 as of today. Tomorrow, I have 6 slow, recovery miles to take me to 100! This is what my week looked like:

Monday- 12 with hills am, 4 recovery pm
Tuesday- 13 miles easy am, 5 miles track practice with 3x1600 repeats pm
Wednesday- 8 miles recovery am, 4 miles recovery pm
Thursday- 12 miles general aerobic run am, 4 miles recovery pm
Friday- 8 miles easy am
Saturday- 24 miles @ 7:33 pace
Sunday- 6 recovery

Besides tired legs, I didn't find the 100 mile week to be as mentally and physically draining as I expected. I feel really, really, good about it. If I can do well on 24 miles during such a high-mileage week, I think I can do well at the marathon after a nice taper. This is the only 100 mile week in this training cycle I will do though. I don't want to burn out. I have a few more weeks of high 80's and 90 miles coming up.

I treated the run today like a dress rehearsal for the marathon (not as fast of course!) So all week long, I have been living off of chicken, rice, quinoa, yams, and oatmeal. I am off to get a slice of pizza! I have been dreaming about pizza for 3 days!

Pictures from today- ok, I look super gross, but I had put water on my head and it was so hot outside. How on earth does Terri look so cute after running for 3 hours? So not fair. :)

Running and Heart Health

In light of recent deaths in our sport, I wanted to post this article. I have been given some 'flack' per say about how running is dangerous.

Heart Health

Century week

So, as a challenge to myself, I am trying to run 100 miles in 7 days. I have been running 70-85 miles per week the last 6 weeks. I know that this one week won't make me a better runner, but I think it will really help me to do 2 things:
1. Learn to run on tired legs. (i.e. mile 20 at the marathon)
2. Strengthen my mental "toughness" for racing. I tend to lose it mentally and stop believing in myself when the going gets hard. The going will get hard this week and I want to try to overcome it.
This Saturday, I am running 24 miles with Matt, Terri, Mark, and Mark on the marathon course in Tucson. So, besides the high mileage, I am treating this week like marathon "dress rehearsal". Getting lots of rest, eating lots, and figuring out what works with my stomach to run my "pretend marathon" on Saturday.
I will keep posting this week with century week updates. You can check my daily progress at Daily Mile on the right. :)
Wish me luck!

"Ice" bath number one. (I am sure of many this week! ) After this mornings' 12 miles.

It's Official

Here we come BOSTON! Matt and I just got killer deals for airfare and hotel for the Boston Marathon 2010. We booked and it is official! We are so excited! Matt is going for his qualifying race at Tucson on 12/13 and I know he will do so awesome. He has gotten so fast!
Many of our friends are going again this year, which is ultimately why we decided to go again. Probably our last time for awhile... (hmm..until the trials.. :) )
YAY!!

A day off of work....

So left to my own devices, I signed myself up for the 2010 PF Changs Rock and Roll Arizona Marathon on 1.17. It is 5 weeks after Tucson (redemption race in case I do awful!) and 13 weeks before Boston. It is the hometown race, I just had to!
Then I will be done for awhile..until San Diego in June...... :)
Happy running!

At the races

Wow, what a weekend. My Dad ran his first 8k on Saturday in Milwaukee. Braving icey cold temps, he finished in 52:37. A PR pace for him! My mom also walked the mile at this race. I cannot believe how awesome they are doing. It is truly inspirational. I love the fact that we have become quite the running family, now we just have to get Lukas going...

My dad with his celebratory beer, ready to thaw out in the hot tub!
So, my sister has been training for a full marathon..all on her own in San Diego. Training for a marathon is hard enough, much less running dozens and dozens of miles alone. She had a tune-up race this weekend to check her progress. She ran the Long Beach Half Marathon in 1:48:xx!!! That is an 8:15 pace overall, and she ran negative splits. Which means, she started at about an 8:30 minute pace and finished at an 8 minute pace! That is really hard to do, and most people (including me) take years, and countless races to master that! She has made such progress since starting running a year ago. I am SO, SO PROUD of her.
Great job Mom, Dad, and Em! I love you!

Matt and my trainings are going awesome. I just finished an 84 mile week! I am really aiming to go under three hours for the marathon in December, but it is a very scary thought for me. Am I ready? Experienced enough? Mentally strong enough to push through the pain? I am filled with doubt about it, but I know that all I can do is focus on my training and do my best. If I am ready, it will happen, if not, that's ok too. I feel like my training has been going really well and I just feel so much more supported this time around through having our running friends as companions in all this craziness! I feel so inspired by them and that is a big motivator for me.
My 'A' goal for this marathon is to break 3 hours.(6:52 pace per mile average) My 'B' goal is to break 3:10,(7:15 pace per mile average) and my 'C' goal is to break 3:19. (7:25 pace per mile average). I know that anything can happen on race day. It could be cold and windy, I could have severe GI issues, I could be sick... who knows. All I can do is stay strong and do my best! :) So nerve-wracking!

Birthday Fun!

We went to Four Peaks last night to celebrate my birthday and to watch the ASU game. (GREAT WIN!) It was so nice to be celebrating with friends! They are all so special to me and like my friend Terri said, we are all so blessed to have each other!

I wished my family could have been out, but next year, for the big 3-0! (However, I am thinking family/friend trip to Napa.... who's in?) :)

We also really missed Shannon and Mike. Shannon got really sick and was in the E.R. Poor little thing. (That didn't stop her from doing a 9 mile run yesterday morning though! She is a tough cookie, or pretty much us runners are all plain crazy!) She has some meds and is at home recuperating. It really wasn't the same without them! xoxoxo

Pics from the night: We are missing our good friends Jason and Sharon, and also Donovan. We broke out the camera too late!

Mark and Terri, amazing hearts. :)
My first grade teacher friend Amy. We are kindred spirits!
Terri and Kevin-Kevin works with Matt and is so nice and can make you laugh at the drop of a hat!

Mark and Wendy- Our fellow running friends.
Rick and Lynne- They have an amazing love story and not only are they runners, but triathletes too! Super sweet. :)Brett and Alanna- Amazing athletes and one of the nicest couples you will ever meet. I am so happy to get to know them better!
We all just have such a great time together, it was such an awesome birthday! :)

Catching up

Hi everyone! Sorry we have not blogged for awhile. Between putting in 70+ mile weeks, chores, and work, we have been pretty busy!

Today is my birthday and to celebrate like the masochists we are, we decided to run a half marathon up in Prescott Valley. Last week multiple people told me it was a very hard race, but I really wanted to beat my one other 1/2 marathon time of 1:34 (Lost Dutchman 2/08).

I felt so good this morning, and the temps were nice and cool. The first few miles were great, I was on pace about 6:40 average and wasn't even breathing hard. The came the hills. I actually started laughing when I saw some of them because they were so big. NOT the way the course was described online! But it was cool and the view was gorgeous!

Then we got to about 3 miles of trail. I was so ready for the turn around point. I was the first female and I even reigned in one of the males who started out way in front of me. I was going strong and by mile 10, to meet my goal of 1:30, I had to pick it up a bit, but I still had ample time. At mile 10-12 there was a long incline that made my legs turn to mush. Then, I was following the guys in front of me and we all took a wrong turn. So 13.1 turned into 13.8 miles! Even the people that did the right route came in at 13.40 miles. A little long I would say!

At 13.1, I checked my Garmin, and I realized I HAD made a new record for myself at 1:32. Not quite my goal, but I think I did well on this course.

This is when I realized that the finish line was NOWHERE in sight. Ugh, worst feeling ever. I slowed to almost 8 minutes a mile. I was SO done. That has got to be one of the worst feelings, knowing you should be done but still have a long ways to go unexpectedly! So my official time was 1:38:14 for 13.80 miles.

I still one first place female, so that was pretty cool. 8th overall, and my race number was 8!


Matt actually won 3rd in his age group! And he hasn't even really started training yet! I am so proud of him. He was 10th overall and did the 13.40 mile correct course.


Now off to nap and then celebrate my birthday with some ASU football. GO DEVILS!

Cutie of the week- This dog runs 1/2 marathons. He does about a 10 minute pace, but does all 13 miles! He is 9 YEARS OLD!!! He was so sweet and even had a recovery banana and gatorade!