I'm Baaaaaaaack!

*makes triumphant return to VStR*

Oh, hey everyone. Long time no post! Kudos to Louie for holding it down for us since I went M.I.A. in October. Grad school has sort of taken over my life these last 6 months and blogging (and even running -_-) has been the first few things to be put on the back burner. If you're wondering what I've been up to, check out my personal blog, FivEleveNinety! But here's a little update on my running life:

• I did survive Hartford and had an amazing time running my first marathon! There were a few disappointing aspects of the event itself (no shirts, medals, and wrong bibs), but the actual race was great. Here's the vlog from the day of the race and my immediate post-race review:

• I ran another half in December with little to no training. I finished, but GOD it was miserable, haha! Do not recommend it at all!
• Took a few month break from racing, but ran a 5K with Louie on his birthday.
• I volunteered at the Fool's Dual half, which Louie talked about here!

The past few months I've been less focused on running and a little bit more focused on getting any kind of exercise in that I can when I can find the time, as well as stretching much more. My schedule is so jam-packed with items for work and school that pulling 12 hour work days is the norm for me, and sleep is the main priority. I'm hoping with the school year coming to the end toward the tail end of May I'll be able to focus more on getting back on my running game. (I do have a multi-distance race and a marathon coming up this year, so I gotta get my act together!)

I'll try to be better about posting more frequently here, as I'm sure I'll be running more frequently, at least in the summer months! See you guys soon. :)

An Update

Hi All, 

I know the posts here on VS. the Road have been very random with no rhyme or reason lately. We'll run a few races without a race review and then post a race review or we just have not been posting anything at all. Life has gotten pretty hectic at the moment between grad school, work and trying to breath, finding time to write has become difficult. 

This is not a goodbye post however. With Spring  comes race season and with race season comes a new commitment to VS.  the Road. Be on the look out for some new posts about volunteering at races, race reviews and just general tips. 

The first of these that I hope to post is in my first experience volunteering at the Yukan Run Fool's Dual in Gloucester, MA.  It should be up by the end of the week. 

Louie

Hyannis Half Marathon 2014

Last year Riley and I ran The Hyannis Half Marathon and it was the first half marathon either of us had run. This year I decided I wanted to try and tackle it again. The race was on February 23.

The registration, number pick up and expo went just as well this year as I last year. I picked up my number and did some shopping at the expo on Saturday and showed up to run the race on Sunday. Even the weather was cooperative this year. Last year it felt like we were running in a monsoon. 

Now to the race itself, it was a beautiful day to run on Cape Cod. With the nicer weather this year, it's no wonder there was such a great turnout of runners. With the nicer weather it was a lot easier to appreciate the scenery around the course. If you want to run a great half marathon, I highly recommend this one. 

As for my performance on the day, I set a  new personal record by finishing in 1:52:05! I'm pretty excited to say the least. 

Louie's Very Delayed Hartford Marathon Review

It's been almosttwo and a half months since Riley, Nick and I completed the Hartford Marathon. I considered skipping doing a review for this race. At first I did not want to write a review because part of the experience was bad. I will get into that later. Then I debated skipping this review simply because it has been so long since the event. Now to state the obvious, I have decided to write a review or well more of a recap.

Waiting at th starting line. Photo Credit to Riley.

The events of the day before the marathon. We headed for the marathon around 6 o'clock and this was the start of this going badly. We ended up hitting rush hour traffic on the way to Hartford and barely made it to check in on time. Upon getting to get in, Riley and Nick recieved marathon relay bibs in place of the official marathon bib and I received a generic Hartford Marathon Foundation bib. There check in was strange in that they did not have numbers assigned to pre-registered runners and instead you were given whatever number they reached for during check-in. 

After checking in, it turns out that they had run out of the official t-shirts. We were asked to write down our name, which race, address, and shirt size as they would be mailing them to us.  As of this post , we have not received our race shirts. We were informed that the order was placed the end of November and we would have them in four to six weeks. 

So next up is the race itself.  For the race itself, I have nothing but good things to say about the course and the volunteers.  The course itself had a lot of great scenery and whether it was running on water or through downtown Hartford, it was beautiful. The first six or so miles were run with those running the half marathon and then from there we split off onto our own course. The marathon course was lined with both spectators and volunteers water stops were frequent enough. They averaged about every other mile or so. 

Crossing the Finishline!

Physically, the first half of the marathon went pretty well. Having ran a few half marathons this year I was prepared for that. I came into the marathon with a sore ankle and after the halfway mark it started to act up, but I just kept running. Eventually, it turned into a run then walk then run routine, but even so I managed to finish the marathon. That was all that counted. 

Crossing the finish line was amazing. We were greeted with water bottles and what we call "space blankets". What we were not greeted with however were the hard earned finisher's medals. They had run out of them as well. Once again we were asked to put our name, event and address on a sheet of paper as it was going to be mailed to us. We have all received them in the mail. It is easily the coolest finisher's medal in my collection. 

Note: That is not the official shirt. It was one I purchased at the race day expo.

A few fun and random notes from the race:

1. Riley and I started singing Livin' on a Prayer at mile 13. "Ohhhhh, We're halfway there."

2. The highest elevation we had to climb was at mile 25. 

3. It was inspirational to see many of the runners who also achieved there goal of finishing a marathon. It can see like a daunting task.

4. The Cracker Barrel has the greatest bacon cheeseburger and apple cider ever.*

*This could have just been my hungry self making me believe this. 

Runner's Envy

The other day while eating lunch, one of my co-workers said that she has "runner's envy". I've never heard of this term before, and as I set out every day on my painful multi-mile runs, I couldn't imagine anyone being envious of me. But once I thought about it, it occurred to me that runner's envy is pretty common. Even I have a mild dose!

Runner's Envy is what it sounds like - when you're envious of runners. Even if you're a runner yourself, you can have Runner's Envy (and personally, I think it's more common if you run on a regular basis!) You may see another runner that's faster than you. Another runner that's clearly in better shape than you. Another runner that's running further than you. Another runner that has nicer gear than you. It could be any single attribute that another runner possesses that you don't, and it can totally throw off your confidence.

A few weeks ago while I was out on my run, I came across another female runner who was a lot faster than me. She was on the opposite sidewalk from me, but going in the same direction. I saw her come up out of the corner of my eye and blast right by me like it wasn't a big deal. Even though I had no idea who this girl was or what kind of runner she was, I was jealous and began to doubt myself.

What if I'm not good enough? 

What if I won't be able to accomplish my running goals? 

Maybe I should just quit while I'm ahead.

But then I realized - I don't know who this girl is or what kind of runner she is. How she trains has no effect on how I train. Maybe she's faster than me, but can she run long distances like I can? Is she training for a marathon like I am? Is running her main fitness focus like it is mine? I'll probably never know, and once I realized that, I felt liberated and could easily focus on my own run and training.

Every runner is different. Every runner has their strengths and weaknesses. The trick is to stay focused on yourself and what you need to do in order to accomplish your goals.

Spotlight: Charity Miles Running App

So, recently I was told about a great App, by my friend Brianna Strunk, for anyone who walks, runs or bikes.  It's called Charity Miles. The premise of the App is that due to it's initial corporate backing they have $1,000,000 do donate to charity.

The way it works is 25 cents is donated for every mile you walk or run and 10 cents is donated for every mile that you bike. These may not seem like a lot of money, but every little bit counts.

The app itself keeps track of the time and distance of each run as well as the amount of money you raised by being active. For example, my first run was 3.142 miles and it raised 79 cents so you do not have to complete full miles as it will credit even portions of a mile.  It does require you to log into the app. You can create an account with Charity Miles or log-in using Facebook or Twitter. Also, you are allowed to post to social media to help get more people involved in the causes and generate awareness for the charity you are running for.

The app has a wide range of Charity options as well from the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society to the Wounded Warrior project. There is a cause that anyone can support. My cause of choice has been Stand Up to Cancer.

As far as the tracking of time and distance is concerned, you may want to run a second tracking app such as Endomondo or MapMyRun along with Charity Miles if you are interested in tracking your splits, calories burned and other statistics as it does not get into that much detail for it's tracking. Running the second tracking app does not interfere with the using a second one.

I highly recommend this app to anyone. It's a great way to generate funds for great causes by simply doing what you already do! Please give this app a try and leave feedback on it in the comment section.

Welcome Back Beautiful Weather!

Now that the weather is getting nicer, I wanted to take some time to just quickly write about how weather influences my running. Last Tuesday I set out to do an easy 4 mile run. This served two purposes. The first was to get in a few miles in preparation for The Great Bay Half Marathon. The second was the try and break in my new shoes.

What started out as a 4 mile run ended up being a 9 mile run. This is where the weather comes in. This was the first time in quite a while the weather was so great for running after I got out of work. Once I started running I just wanted to keep going. It was so nice to be free of the treadmill.

I have already run a few races outside this year, but running a race and running to train are completely different for me.  When I am racing, I try to improve my Personal Records. When I'm running as part of training, I tend to take in my surroundings more. I go at a lighter pace and focus more on just getting the distance in than on running faster.

Tuesday was the first time in a long time, I remembered why I love running so much. It may sound lame or corny, but as I was running I did not have care in the world. It was all about running. It was me vs. the road. I think 9 miles was great for a random run, unfortunately the road always wins though. A person can only run for so long but the road continues.

Happy Race Season!!