Berlin Marathon 2023 Conquered

Traveling to Berlin for my first marathon out of country was an unforgettable one!  This one is special because it's getting me closer to finish the World Marathon Majors.  Eddie and I have never been out the country for one of my marathons.  We also went with our good couple friends, Tom and Neringa.  Neringa and I met at the gym during one of my BodyPump classes couple years ago.  I was wearing a Boston marathon shirt and asked if I was a runner and if I ran Boston.  I told her yes, and it turns out she is an elite runner herself and we've been great friends since then.  Her husband and Eddie get along great and we've all traveled to run Indianapolis Marathon last year.  This year we traveled together again for she and I were one of the lucky ones to get entered to Berlin Marathon to run it this year.

Eddie booked our travel tickets and we had to get connections to get there.  He had us fly into Frankfurt, Germany and then take a train to Berlin.  Well, they lost my check-in luggage going at Frankfurt.  They kept telling us that they were going to send the luggage on the train.  That was not the case and a lie.  Long story short, I didn't get my luggage until the day before flying home at Frankfurt airport.  After Eddie raised hell for making a trip to the airport looking for it from Berlin, he came back empty handed.  We believe it was at the airport the whole time and never sent to delivery carrier to our hotel like they said they would.  German airport people were not helpful at all, in fact kind of rude.  They just told us we are sorry and for us to make a claim.  WTF!!  Never again will we book train online again.  We'll just do it in person with all our luggage!  Hard lesson learned.  The good thing is that ALL of my running gear was with my in carry-on.  I made sure to wear my running shoes on plane and pack some boots with pair of jeans.  I ended up going shopping in Berlin for extra clothes.  I was just so grateful I had my marathon gear!

     

The day we get there, we are tired from long flight, stressed out about our bag, that we had to rush to go to running expo to get my race bib.  We then went to a late dinner at a German place before heading to hotel to crash.  The next morning I met Neringa for our shake off easy run.  Since she got there a day before us, she had already ran some and knew her way around.  It was fun to get out and run in cool temps and not crazy Texas hot weather.  The weather was looking good for our marathon too.  We all went to see the Berlin Memorial and that was sad to see.  There is so much history in Berlin.  For lunch we had a huge pasta dish and ate half a sandwich for dinner.  Eddie and I then walked to shop some at Berlin's huge mall.

Marathon Day - I met Tom and Neringa for breakfast before heading to marathon start line.  Eddie was so exhausted from going to the airport looking for my luggage that they said they had.   So he stayed in bed and met me later during the race.  I have never seen so many people for a marathon and not enough porta potty before race.  People were in huge line and were getting angry because some were cutting in line and others just jumped line and running out of time!  IT was not good.  I always take care of business before I run and didn't have time, this time.  

The weather was perfect to start at 55 degrees.  I started really fast and felt good.  It wasn't until mile 18, I had to stop for porta potty during the marathon and that slowed me down.  I didn't let it mess with my head until I saw the 3:30 pacer pass me up at mile 22.  I tried to keep up, but so many people at the water stops got so crowded that I just told myself to keep going until the very end.  Just Enjoy the Run!  That's Berlin's marathon mantra.  I took pictures and enjoyed the rest of the run.  

My finish time was 3:41 and better I expected.  Not my best, but given the circumstances, I'm happy with it.  I'm usually, exhausted after marathons, but felt pretty good after this one.  They say this marathon course is the flattest one in the world.  I guess that helped me too.  We drank some German beer after the marathon and that was my first alcoholic drink since I started training.  We all went to another German restaurant for dinner and was introduced to a raspberry German beer.  I hate beer, but this one was yummy!  After dinner we headed to the World Championship Award Celebration.  It was a blast and danced the night away with live DJ at the Metropol in Berlin.  Pretty cool to see the all the World Champs there to celebrate too!  We headed back to room and told our friends goodbye and they had to catch a early flight back home next day.

Eddie and I decided to head to Munich on a train to celebrate Octoberfest.  Not just any Octoberfest, the original Octoberfest.  We got a hotel for one night because we had to go back to Berlin to get connecting flight back to Frankfurt and then home.  Well, they still couldn't find our bag so, we decided to head to Frankfurt from Munich and not worry about getting connection flight.  Plus, that was less stress on us.

We meet some new friends from California that also ran the marathon on the train when we first got to Berlin.  We kept in touch and met up in Munich to celebrate Octoberfest.  Eddie and I went to go buy our own original Octoberfest costumes to fit in.  They said that 98% of the people there dress up and you don't want to feel out of place.  It was a bit of culture shock for us, but so fun too.  We get there and it reminded me of our Texas State Fair, except for adults...LOL!  I mean, there were a few kids there in the rides area during the daytime, however didn't see any at nighttime.  They have about 10 different huge pavilions that hold about 10K people in them.  Inside you see long picnic tables and in the middle is the stage for live band.  They have reserved seating and open sitting on a first come, first served.  They have waiters serving huge liter steins of German beer.  These steins are thick and heavy, like 5lbs each heavy.  Since I don't like beer, I ordered half beer half lemonade beer and wasn't bad.  However, I could only drink half of one and gave rest to Eddie.  They sold yummy German food and huge pretzels for dinner.  The also sell cute headbands with flowers for the ladies and German hats.  I ended up buying both...LOL!  What can I say, it finished my Octoberfest look!  We only made it to 3 tents/pavilions.  They had one we liked that had was more of international music. Everyone was singing to American music like karaoke  and dancing on the tables since they didn't have a dance floor.  Everyone was friendly and would say, "Prost" (cheers) after each song! It was such a blast!

The day before we head home, they find out lost luggage at the Frankfurt airport.  We stay the night there and just go to dinner in Frankfurt for our last night in Germany.  It was a great dinner and soooo happy I got my luggage.  I had my Boston Marathon shoes and other nice clothes I didn't was to loose.  This is a marathon trip I will never forget and huge check off my bucket list.  

Till next time, keep on running!

Berlin Marathon Here I Come

The time has come to finally taper down from my Berlin Marathon training.  This Berlin marathon training by far has been the toughest one for me. I have never trained in the middle of the hottest months in Texas for my long runs. I had to change my mindset and do some positive thinking along the way to keep me going. I knew I couldn’t run my normal pace in this heat. The strategy I tried to follow was staying consistent and listening to my body.

Today the weather was cooler with the rain last night. I started before sunrise to run in cooler temps. Grateful for the cloudy skies, maintaining the cooler weather until my last 8 miles. That’s when the sun came out. However, it was still not as hot, and I was able to maintain a good pace till the end.

The months of August and September would have to be the hottest month of summer for us this year in Texas. We hit several weeks where the temps stayed over 105 degrees. My first 20 miler run was Aug. 26th and even at 6:26 a.m. when I started the temp was 84 degrees before sunrise. My pace was 9:31 and on the turnaround I had to slow it down a lot for it got hot fast. I finished in 3:10. For my second 20 miler run, the temp was 75 degrees at 6:25 a.m. and first time the high would be under 100 degrees. I finished at a 8:49 pace and finished in 2:56.

My running buddy, Dash, my dog has always ran with me on my training miles. However, in the summer I would only run her 10 miles the most due to the heat in the summer months. Well, this year, it got so hot that I only ran her no more than 5-6 miles with lots of water breaks. I would also only run her in the early morning. Afternoon runs would be way too hot. She wasn't happy about that, but it was for her safety and not to burn he paws off! Even I wouldn't run in 100 degree temps after work. I would go to the gym and run on the treadmill instead. On days I had to run 8 miles during the week, I would wait until sunset to run an evening run. It would be still be hot, but I would run in the shade as much as possible and drink a ton of water.

Like I said before, I had to dig deep in changing my mindset. There were many times, I didn't want to get up and run and just wanted to sleep in. I couldn't run fast even if I wanted to so, I just accepted it and listened to my body. I drank a lot more water before my long runs the day before. Another thing I'm doing is not drink any alcohol this time during my training. I feel a lot better too. Other things I do for cross training are strength training 1-2x a week and I still continue to teach cycle class 2x a week. I also picked up hot yoga and would do it once a week with my girlfriends. I lowered my sugar intake too and that helped my get back to my ideal marathon weight. It's amazing how a couple pounds slows you down LOL!

I'm starting to get excited now to go to Germany to finally celebrate our wedding anniversary. I'm going with my elite runner friend who is also running it with me and her husband (not a runner). Both are really good friends and really looking forward to go on this trip with them. They will only be there for the marathon and then coming home, but we will go stay couple more days. This will be the second marathon trip we have done together and know we will have a great time. Since we have never been there, we want to explore and see the sights of Berlin and take the train to other cities close by. This marathon happens to be when they have Octoberfest! That will be fun to be there for that too. Plus, getting some time off from work will be nice and very much needed for both Eddie and I.

Berlin Marathon, I’m ready for you! Keep on running!

Estes Park Marathon 2023 ☑️

I  knew going into this marathon would be a challenge.  However, I had no idea how hard it would be not being able to train in high altitude living in Texas.  This year, my marathon would land on Father’s Day, June 18th.  As a family vacation we decided to do a road trip this year from Texas to California visiting family along the way.  Our first stop would be to visit my husband’s sister in Colorado.  There is just no way I would be able to do this marathon halfway through our trip and be stuck in a car for hours with sore legs afterwards.  We get there a few days early so I can acclimate to the high altitude before my marathon.  

On Thursday, I ran 3 miles once we arrived.  I felt fine and didn’t feel the altitude at 4,980 elevation in Mead, Co.  I took Friday off and then I ran a shake off run on Saturday the day before my marathon like I always do.  This time I ran in Estes Park, where I was going to run my marathon. We got higher in elevation and could feel it in my ears as we rode up there.   After my run, my nose starting dripping and I could feel a cold coming on.  Geez!  Go figure right before my marathon.  I pick up my race packet and it’s wasn’t a huge expo. We had to go to local high school to pick it up.  I started to stress because I didn’t buy any Cliff Blocks for fuel during my race and figured I could buy them there, but they had nothing!  Luckily for me, we found a bike store and it had exactly what I wanted and needed!  I also found out that my marathon would start at 5:05 for bus pick up time. That means I would have to eat dinner early and go to bed super early.  We went to Italian place for dinner and I ate my pasta and garlic bread for my carb loading dinner with the family.

Marathon day:  Eddie gave me a Sudafed for my stuffy nose and went to bed.   I wake up with a head cold. I have never started a marathon at 5:30 a.m. and set my alarm for 3:45 a.m.  I couldn’t sleep very well.  I kept thinking my alarm wouldn’t go off or what if I get altitude sickness and can’t finish?  All negative thoughts.

I didn’t let that stop me and changed my mindset to just enjoy the beautiful views and just finish.  Eddie drives me to the high school for bus pick up and we say our goodbyes and he wishes me luck.  The temps are in the 50s and it feels good.  I decided not to wear a trash bag cause it wasn’t that cold.  I still wore my leggings and long sleeve shirt and started with gloves.  I hate being cold.  They drive us 20 minutes up the Rocky Mountains to the start line.  I asked the guy next to me, “How high is the elevation to start again?”  He said, “9200 and drops to 7522 at Estes Park.” Holy crap!  Here I was telling everyone that this marathon was 5500 and not high enough to get altitude sickness.  I read that people get altitude sickness starting at 7200 ft.  We get dropped off and take a couple of pics of the beautiful lake and mountains.  I make one more stop to the restroom before I take off.  It was a the kind of start that you run whenever you are ready.  No corral or set time to go as usual.  Nobody to cheer you on.  You just go solo.  So weird.

I knew then that I had to get my mind right and be my own cheerleader.  I didn’t care about time as I was going in not feeling 100% and just determined to finish.  The first six miles were downhill and I went fast.  I felt good up until around mile eleven.  My nose and head were congested and some of the hills were hard.  I just decided to walk some.  On our turn around the wind was in my face and it was tough to run that I felt like I was running in slow motion 😂.  My nose was dripping and hard to breathe at times.  "This one was a bucket list marathon run and new state for me", I kept telling myself that.  The views were worth the hurt🌲⛰️🎣.  Afterwards we decided to go check out a Rocky Mountain National Park to walk off my soreness.  Now time to get rid of this head cold to enjoy rest of our family vacation 😬.  

I later find out that I actually got 1st place in female masters division!  WHOA!  Totally didn't expect to place anything.  For this was my slowest marathon ever.  On my turn around, the wind was strong on some parts that I felt like I was running in slow motion.  Add a hill to that, and forcing me to walk some.  I finished in 4:26:05 at a 10:10 min/pace and came in #38 overall (out of 123) runners.  It is by far the smallest marathon I have ever ran before.  This is not a Boston qualifier or a certified course.  It was one I read about in Runner's World Magazine.  It's was named one of the top 7 most scenic half marathon in the USA by Forbes Magazine.  Since I haven't ran a marathon in Colorado, I decided to on this one.  I also know that it would be a tough one running in high altitude.  So, decided to do it now, before I get older and maybe can't do it later.  

On July 7th, I received in the mail my award plaque and a $50 gift card to In Motion Running Boulder store.  I am very happy with results.  It just goes to show you should always do your best and never give up.  Even when your mind plays trick on you to tell you differently.  Good thing I can use their online website store to use my gift certificate, cause this Texas girl sadly, isn't going to the mountains anytime soon LOL!

Now time to get ready for my next marathon.  The Berlin Marathon in September.  Until, next time.

Keep on running!!

Spring Marathon Training Begins

I decided to run a new state for a marathon.  I registered for the Estes Park Marathon in Colorado in June.  I'm a little nervous as I have never ran a full marathon in high altitude before.  We decided to take a family vacation road trip this year.  We will start from Texas and visit, Colorado, Utah, and California.  We will visit the national parks for camping and visit family along the way.  This will be a marathon I will run for fun and not time.  Also, just to check off my bucket list!

A couple weeks after Houston half-marathon my shin splints went away.  I started marathon training again at the end of March.  Everything was going well, until the second week of training.  I was running with my dog, Dash, when a stray dog comes up from behind us and tries to bite Dash.  I came to a fast stop and sprained my left quad.  I had to take three days off and then slowly starting running again super slow.  Three weeks after that I'm feeling back to normal.  I skipped my long 18 mile run last weekend due to a family wedding out of town.  So, I ran it this weekend with Dash.  She was able to keep a good pace.  The weather has been cooler than normal for springtime.  I'm loving it and hope it stays that way.  Well, at least until I get through my 20 mile runs.  Tomorrow is May1st and I have 7 weeks until my marathon.

I plan to work on getting my nutrition in check and and not drink alcohol till my birthday weekend.  My birthday is June 5th and crazy to think that I'll be turning 50 years old!  Age is just a number.  I really don't feel that old and yes I'll be making a toast to celebrate that huge milestone age!  I decided to run this high altitude marathon before I get any older and decide I'm done with marathons.  HA!  I will continue to keep running marathons until I can't anymore.  Well, that's my plan anyways.  My goal nowadays is to just finish my marathons and not run crazy fast.  I think my body is telling me I can't run as fast as when I first started.  I'm okay with that.  I just don't want to get hurt anymore because it take me longer to recover at my age.  It seems that way anyways.  Next race will be Mother's Day race somewhere.  

Till next time, keep on running!

Houston Half Marathon Conquered

I’ve been wearing compression socks to bed the week before Houston Half Marathon.  I was told by my dentist who is also a avid runner about maybe buying compression socks with copper in them.  What?  She said she was feeling a pain in her foot and went to Walgreens and bought an ankle compression wrap with copper in it and the pain has disappeared.  She also mention how some people wear wrist copper bracelets and that helps people who have joint pain in their wrist.  So, I decided to give it a shot before going to doctor.  It was a fun roadtrip with my two elite running buddies and first time to run a race together.  These girls are freaking fast and learned a lot good tips from both of them.  It was cool to meet their other elite friends from the DFW metroplex.  

I tried to eat all the things they ate and drank a ton of water.  They also let me borrow their Normatec boots to help with my shin splints.  It’s alway fun with you go with runners who understand you.

 

I was able to run and would tolerate the pain, but honestly it was bad at all on the day of marathon.  On January 15th, I ran the Chevron Houston Half Maraton pain free!  I’m really surprised! 😳 I finished and my time is crazy considering I didn’t feel my shin splints while I was running. Was it the copper socks I wore the last four days to bed?  Or was it not running as much and having my husband push on my calf muscles till it hurt really bad? Maybe it was the flat course that made me super fast OR maybe it was just freaking luck! I am not sure, I am just really happy that it was not painful during the run! 🙌🤩🙏💪!!  

 

 

   

FIrst time running Houston and it was a good experience.  I hope to come back for full marathon sometime in the future.  Great job to all who ran 🙌!  It was great to see lot of friends there and fun to met new ones🏃‍♀️🏅🤩!  

I continue to sleep in compression cooper socks only once a week.  Not sure if, it’s in my head that the pain will come back, or just paranoid.  LOL!  I just don’t want that pain to return.  Now time to figure out what Spring marathon to do next!  

Keep on running.