Race Schedule and Results

Thursday, April 28, 2011

A kid at heart

I'm not a kid.  I know, I know - I'm still a youngin' since I just celebrated the 2nd anniversary of my 29th birthday this past year, but technically I'm an adult.  But at heart...

I'm still a kid. And I hope I never lose that feeling. 

So when the talks about going to Disney World started at the dinner table on Sunday night at my mom's (they are going in October to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary, and my sister finally convinced her VERY stubborn husband that he needs to go so they are also going in October, although at a different time) I think Tom and I were secretly saying to ourselves "when can we work this in".  It's not like we have a ton of time - we're heading into race season which keeps us busy just about every week with something through the middle of October and then Tom has decided to be a runner for the Run Across America (not just a crew member) and he'll be gone for 20+ days the end of October into November.  Sure we could fit a trip in after that, but I think he's going to want to be home... in his own bed... for a while.

And then I saw this message from my separated twin Kristin "Goofy Race and a Half is at 60% already!!!" my wheels started spinning.  I'm liking what I'm thinking.  


And luckily the hubby was too!


I may be a kid, but I also LOVE adventure. So... we signed up and I'm so stinking excited!!!!!  We'll run the half on Saturday, January 7th and then the full on Sunday, January 8th.  39.3 miles in two days.  And the best part is... the race bling!!!  Three medals... all Disney... love it!

 Racing and vacation kind of go hand in hand for us in the Kingery household.  And this one will be a trip of a lifetime I bet!  


Now the big question is what character do I dress up as.  I'm thinking I need to revisit the running shirt idea.  Tinkerbell?  Minnie Mouse?  Being an adult and having to make decisions is so hard!



Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Itching...

I'm itching right now.  No, not like unhygienic itching or anything.

I'm itching for a new PR. 

It's funny because I never really get caught up in my times or my places of races.  I mean, I'd be lying if I said that I didn't I think about it, but I'm never like over the top, world's going to end if I don't get better kind of athlete.  And beating others - if I do, great.  If I don't, great.  If it's a guy that I'm passing, BRING IT ON BABY.  Wait... did I just type that?

Anyway, I had a great season last year - PR'ed in a half marathon by 2 minutes, a full marathon by 12 minutes, an Olympic tri by nearly 4 minutes and in a half IM by 14 minutes.  I even won a race.  Overall.  Police escort and all.  But I never was dying to PR.

For some reason, I can't stop thinking about it now.  After the half marathon a few weeks ago, where things didn't quite go great, I was still only a minute and a half off my PR.  I walked in that race.  I totally had that 1:30 in me.   I feel like my fitness is good and getting better.  I feel like I could be fast.  I feel like I have a sub 1:49:21 half in me. 

I signed up for a local half marathon on May 7th.  We'll see if the itching stops after that! :)

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

T-minus 25 days

That is, until REV3 Knoxville.  **insert panic here**

What was I thinking signing up for a 70.3 in May?  I mean, if you live in a warm state, fine.  But I've only been on my bike outside three times this year.  I'm slowly getting into more consistent runs outside, but it's still not a ton.  And swimming outside... That won't happen here until June.

That's AFTER my first 70.3 of the season.

And like it goes every year...  The first open water swim of the year is miserable.  I get in the water - it's freezing.  I can't sight because there aren't pool lines and I forget how to pick my head up in between breaths.  I panic because of the fish and grime that I am swimming among. The water can't get in my mouth.  The wetsuit usually feels tighter than I remember on my chest and shoulders.  I'm gasping for air and all the work that I've done on bilateral breathing - right out the door.  I succumb to a float, on my back, questioning why I possibly think I'll ever get through the season.  Somehow I roll back over, put my head in, make my way through my swim and remember that it'll be better next swim.

I'm worried that this will all happen in Knoxville though - hopefully during the practice swim on Saturday and not race day on Sunday. Luckily, I have an amazing sponsor in TYR.  As a member of Team Trakkers, I was able to pick out my wetsuit of choice for the season. Score!  I can use all the help I can get in the swim as it is.  The new suit arrived on Monday.  Although I won't swim in it until May, I can tell it's amazing.  From the TYR website, the Hurricane Category 5 is the highest-end suit in the Hurricane series and created using the finest fabrics available. The suit’s outside is made exclusively of the lightest Yamamoto Nano SCS rubber. The combination of super stretchy rubber with the soft jersey fabric on the interior makes for a superior fit and feel.

I can tell it's going to be awesome.

And luckily for TYR, they will get some great marketing with me in the suit because instead of seeing this view of the wetsuit as I swim,
inevitably they'll get some great pictures of me in Knoxville showing this view of it,

as I floating on my back, questioning my whole tri season.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Glass City Half Marathon

It happened.  There has been a BDD sighting.  He does exists.

This weekend was the trip to Toledo for the Glass City Marathon and Half Marathon.  Tom and I were excited to finally meet up with some great bloggers, run a nice flat race, and maybe PR.  Saturday, we met up with BDD and his wife to do the "babysitting exchange" as Amanda called it. She told us to take care of BDD. :)  We would...  We chatted the whole way up in the car.  I could tell he was a little nervous, but we knew he'd do great.  I'll admit, I was a tad nervous too - it was the first race of the season and I hadn't been feeling great the past few days.  Tom on the other hand, was excited to run (he was doing the marathon).

We got to the expo around 3:30.  Met up with Kevin and Jennie, got our shirts (I love female fit shirts in pink... thank you race director for taking my style into consideration when planning for the race shirts), and walked around the expo which was small.  We waited around for Matt and Heather to arrive.  Then it happened.  Picture time.  Now I'll be honest, BDD offered to take the picture, but hello, we were at the expo.  There were a bunch of people who could get a picture of the group for us.  In the back of my mind, I was thinking "ha... we got him now".  A really nice lady lined up to take a picture of us at the start arch.  All 7 of us.  You ready?
That's Tom, Me, Matt, Heather, BDD, Jennie and Kevin.  This is the only picture I have of BDD from the weekend. Do you see him there in the back? :)

After the expo, we quickly checked into our hotel, then went to Rosie's, an Italian place for dinner.  Great food, great company, lots of laughs.  It's nice to be surrounded by people who "get" you and what your hobby is!

We split with the group after dinner, found a CVS to get some cold medicine (I felt like I was coming down with something), got to our hotel room and pretty much called it a night.

RACE DAY
We left the hotel around 5:55 since we were oh, 5 minutes from the race start.  On the way there, Tom and I had this conversation:

Tom - So I know my marathon PR is a 3:58, but I think I'm going to line up with the 3:40 group and see how long I can hang with them.
Me -  Um... okay.  That sounds super smart.  All of your long runs have been around 9 minute miles.  Do you think that's the smartest thing?
Tom - No, but it'll be fun to see how long I can hang and then see how long it takes for me to die.

Genius race planning, let me tell you.  But, me lining up with them too (the half and the full run 8.2ish miles together) would set me up to run a 1:50 half which is close to my PR of 1:49:21 so maybe if I'm feeling good I could make that up in the last 5.  I don't really question Tom.  He knows what he's doing.

We hit the porto potties (NO LINE!!!) and then sat in our car until about 15 minutes before the race.  Found the group, wished everyone a great race, told them we'd see them at the finish and took off.  We lined up right at the 3:40 group.  Before I knew it we were off.

I don't wear a Garmin, but Tom had his Timex on and well, everyone's Garmin's were beeping at the mile markers so I kept not of the pace.  First mile was a lot of dodging, but we managed a 8:36.  Good.  I can handle that.  No sign of the 3:40 group though (They were behind us for some reason).  I never saw the mile two marker and hit mile three at 25:24.  Miles 2 and 3 were both around 8:13's and I felt it.  I started to get a little side stitch around mile 4.5.  I ran through it but mentally it hurt a little.  Tom looked great.  Around mile 6.5 I started to slow a little.  I had hit the 10k mark at 52:16 but I needed some food.  I ate and just tried to keep chugging along.  Tom was always a few feet in front of me and I just felt like I couldn't catch him.  Still, no sign of the 3:40 group.  Around mile 8, they caught me, but Tom stayed in front of him.  When the course split, I waved goodbye and made my turn.  He went right and I went left.  Gosh I hope he doesn't die too early!

I was getting tired and decided to put my tunes on after seeing Matt around mile 9.  He was having Achilles problems and told me that he was taking a scenic walk to the finish. :)  About a mile later, here comes Matt, smiling and talking a mile a minute.  I think I must have picked up my pace a little when he showed up and I got another side stitch.  I didn't want to hold him up, but we walked for maybe 20 seconds to stretch it out and then continued to run.  I didn't know what pace I was running and that was fine.  At mile 12, Matt took a beer from the aid station and by mile 13, was pumping the crowd up.  I literally was cracking up.  Totally took my mind off of the last few miles!  We ended up crossing the finish line together.

My finish time was a 1:50:44.  Not a PR, but close.  I was happy with that for sure.  It was a windy day, and quite frankly, I didn't go into the race thinking I had that in me.

I put some warm clothes on (everything I could find) and found Heather and Matt.  Heather had a great race too!  Found Kevin, who PRed big time and Jennie who did get in the 5k.  We decided to wait for BDD and Tom and cheer on the other runners.

It was so great seeing BDD finish his first half.  Watching him come in was exciting - sometimes we lose sight of the fact that the "first race" for everyone is such a monumental experience.  I remember my first 13.1.  Glad we were there to see his.  Look how strong he looked! :)
As we were walking to get him at the finish, I happened to look over to the finish line and what did I see??

MY FREAKING HUSBAND!!!!

The clock read 3:39:xx.  WHAT THE????

I ran up to him, jaw on the ground screaming "where the hell did that come from?".  I couldn't have been more excited to find out that he ran his tush off and NEVER got caught by the 3:40 group.  That means that he actually executed his race plan PERFECTLY and finished with a time of 3:38:51 - a 20 minute PR!  It's amazing what the mind and body can do.
We kept him walking, got him his mug, a piece of pizza, some beer and then met up with the group.  Everyone had such a great day.  We met some new friends, we got to talk racing and training, we smiled and laughed a lot, and we all ran great races.  What more can you ask for?

Monday, April 11, 2011

Boston Shmoston

I know that a week from today is the coveted Boston Marathon.  And I'm sure that many of my blogger friends are running it (I think I'm <del> stalking del> following at least 10 runners on Monday). If you are running it, let me know - I'll do a shout out post toward the end of the week (and I want to know your bib numbers so that I don't have to super stalk you for last names).

But, this post isn't about the Boston Marathon.  I'm not fast enough to run it and quite frankly, I'm probably one of the only runner's in the world that doesn't have a deep seeded desire to qualify (that would mean focusing on just running to get faster or getting older so my qualifying time drops... both of which I don't really want to do right now).

This post is about the race all the cool kids are doing...

The Glass City Marathon / Half Marathon.

You read that right.  The race in booming Toledo.  What, you haven't heard about it?  It's flat.  It's fast.  And we get beer mugs at the end.

BOOYAH!

Okay, I'm done being a goof.  But I am excited about this race.  After Tom's race in New Jersey, he wanted to carry his marathon fitness to another race and see if he could PR.  After talking to some bloggers, we were lead to the Glass City.  Flat race that's 2 hours away? Marathon option for Tom and half marathon option for me? Count us in.

I'm only doing the half and I'm excited.  Because of the whole Buddy situation two weeks ago, we skipped our half marathon in Xenia.  I've yet to race this year.  This half will be a good test to see where I'm at.  I'm not expecting a PR, and I'm fine with that.  If I can come in around 9:00/miles, I'd be alright with that too.  I'm looking to have fun, feel good and know that my fitness is where it should be.

And the biggest bonus is that I get to meet up with a few bloggers - Kevin, his wife JenniferMatty-O, his wife Heather, and Big Daddy Diesel will all be there.  Finally I get to put faces with names (and I get to see if BDD does really exist... or does he???)

Remember, if you are running Boston (or any race this weekend) let me know.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Are you racing this weekend???

These awesome bloggers are... check 'em out, visit their blogs, wish them luck and join me in stalking all of them this weekend! :)

Jeff - Dangle the Carrot
Jon - SwimCycloRun
Annie - Retail Runner
Mike - The Iron Bar
Rachelle - Tri-ing To Be a Triathlete
Matt - Go Smitty Go
Shannon - Iron Texas Mommy
James (hubby of the wonderful Lindsay) - Cotter Crunch

Did I miss anyone?  Let me know... I'll add you to my shout out! :)

Me... well I'm riding my bike on Sunday for sure!!!  It's supposed to be 79 degrees here in Columbus.  I'm busting out shorts and a tank top and I hope that I get some sun.  I look like casper.  It's not pretty.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Super big thanks...

I have the most amazing blog followers ever.  I can't thank you enough for your thoughtful comments on here about Buddy, your emails, your twitter messages and your facebook messages.  I've read each and every kind word to Tom and Buddy in hopes that they would make an impact!

And I think it's working...

We started the steroids yesterday morning and saw a change in him immediately.  He's like a different dog.  No more dragging his front paws, very very few falls.  His tail is wagging like crazy and he's crying for food and treats (which makes us believe that he's on the mend).  The last few times that we've taken him out, he's walked unassisted (we'd been holding his front legs up with a towel wrapped underneath him) and Tom isn't carrying him except for going down the front porch stairs (he's going up them on his own).  Our biggest things right now is to keep him as lazy as we can - he seems to want to just run now that he's found his legs, but he still looks like a drunk dog walking so he's not there yet! 

I think it's going to be a long recovery, but I'm very confident that there's going to be a recovery... that's not something I was certain of the other day. 

Again, I can't say enough about the support of all of you.  I'm so touched by the support of all of my friends... virtual or not!  You are amazing!!!

Friday, April 1, 2011

Prayers and good thoughts

I'll keep this quick because I'm kind of in crazy mode today, but if you have a second, can you do me a HUGE favor???

We need some good thoughts sent our way...

Our dog, Buddy, started acting weird on Sunday night.  We kind of kept an eye on him, thinking maybe he had a stroke or something and by Tuesday decided he needed to see the vet.  Good news, no stroke, but bad news is that he has a back injury.  They put him on some meds, told us to keep him inactive and we should be good to go.

Fast forward to yesterday, and he has lost all control of his front legs.  He was falling down all over the place and totally out of it.  We called the vet and they added a pain medicine and told us it was fairly normal for him to be wobbly. 

This morning, we got home from the gym and he fell three times at the front door, before starting to shake as if he was having a seizure.  We again called the vet and brought him in right away.  It's undetermined if it was a seizure (luckily it hasn't happened since so maybe he was just scared), but he has nerve damage and has no use of his front legs (why he's falling).  They want to stop one of his pills and start him on a heavy dose of steroids in hopes that it's a pinched nerve in the shoulders.  We start those pills tomorrow and will know in 2-3 days if it will work. 

If not, we're going down a road that I'm not ready for.  He's only 10 and my first real pet.  And my husband's best friend.  It's been a rough couple of days to say the least and the road to recovery isn't going to be an easy one...

Please just say a little extra prayer if you get a chance!
Thanks!