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.

Happy New Year 2023

 

Wow!  So much has happened since my last post.  I ran the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon on November 5th and fall I can say is, I finished.  I mean, it wasn't my best time, but the weather conditions made it tough to PR.  It was rainy and super windy.  I did a lot of walk/jog on the second half.  My finish time was 4:08:26.  My second slowest pace.  I was just happy to finish injury free.

It was a fun trip.  I ran this marathon with a good girlfriend of mine and that was the first time to run a race together.  She's an elite runner and no way I could keep up with her even if I tried...LOL!  I don't care.  We're still friends and don't envy her or compete with her.  She's younger than me and accept that we are at different fitness levels.  I admire all marathon runners.  I love this running community and love how we come from all walks of life, all shapes, sizes, speed and all love this sport.  Some people may think we are crazy for running soooo many miles, but we get it!

 

Our husbands went with us to cheer us on and we had a great time.  They are becoming one of our good couple friends we hang out with.  We even met some new friends who love to travel as much as Eddie and I.  We hope to travel one day with them too.

Enjoyed all the fall runs with my Dash.  I ran the Pumpkin Spice Half Marathon in Fort Worth on Nov. 19th.  I had my two running friends pace me.  I wasn't sure I would be able to keep up with them because they are fast runners.  I wasn't able to run all week due to work, so I was a little worried.  To my surprise, I was able to stay with them all the way.  The last two miles, I felt good and was able to pass them up and even pass up a female runner to the finish line.  I ended up getting first place in my age group!  My finished time was 1:43:08 at 7:44 pace.  I received at $50 gift card to Fort Worth Running Co. and a small cake.  Two of my girlfriends also placed and was fun to run into them and race again.

 

 

In November, I also ran the Turkey Trot and I came in 3rd place in my age group for the 10K race!

 

In December, I took a trip to Scramento, CA. to cheer my other elite girlfriend who was running the CIM Marathon.  A lot of elite runners from all over run that race.  Neely Gracey who I follow and listened to her on a Podcast while running was there and she came in the top 10 females.  I was going to sign up to run it with her, but waited too late and it was sold out!  My friend did amazing and got a new PR finishing at 2:46:43!!  It was so fun to see and cheer her on.  It was our first time to travel together and has become a really good friend.  I learned a lot of great running tips and really saw how elite runners prepare before the marathon.  I planned on running a half marathon on my own while she was running, but was only able to run 6.57 miles because I really didn't know where all to run and kinda scary when you see no runners out.  I guess all runners were at the race.  I also, started to feel a sharp pain in my left shin area and never felt that before, so really slowed down my pace and headed back to the marathon to find her.

 

Fast forward to now.  Ever since that last run in CA, that pain continues.  Is it shin splints?  I've never had it last this long before.  Here I am and it's January 8th over a month and it's still there.  I didn't run the whole week when we return back to Texas, but continue with teaching cycle class.  I didn't run much during the holiday break these last two weeks.  The pain is not as back right now.  I didn't run this week until today.  Dash also hurt her left back leg we think chasing squirrels in our back yard.  So, she also didn't run all week.  As soon as I put on my running shoes this morning, she was ready to go with me.  She was limping anymore, so we took it extra slow.  At first she started limping, but I made her slow down and it stopped.  She always gets too excited in the beginning and wants to run fast.  We ran at about 10 min. pace for the 3 miles and that was all we needed to do.  

 

I don't want to push it for I signed up to run the Houston half marathon this coming weekend.  I probably will not run much this week either, just to make sure I don't get injured worse before the race.  This my first time to run Houston and they say it's a very flat course and a cold run.  I'm going with both of my elite running girlfriends and will be first time we all run together.  I'm looking forward to it and will only do it for fun.

Finally, on December 2, 2022, I got the best news EVER!  I signed up for the Berlin lottery for 2023 and I received the email that I got accepted and I'm in, I'm in!!!  I will not do anything to jeopardize this marathon.  I have to really take care of my shin splints or what the heck is going on with my leg.  Eddie and I are super excited for this will be our first time to visit Germany.  We are also going with one of my elite girlfriends who entered it and got accepted because she is fast runner.  It will be fun to travel with them to run this together.  We have another friend who is also going.  It's going to be a fun run with Texas friends going.  Eddie and I usually go to Europe or somewhere for our wedding anniversary in July.  So, now we are going to push it out until September.  I plan to visit a sports medicine doctor after Houston to see what the deal is with my leg pain and go from there.  I just pray, it's not a fracture.

Until next time, keep on running!