October 2015 – Every Mile Becomes a Part of Me

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly Race Recap: Ragnar Relay Tennessee (10.23.2015-10.24.2015)

Ragnar Relay Tennessee (10.23.2015-10.24.2015)

Over the weekend I successfully completed my second Ragnar Relay & I am starting to feel like a veteran Ragnarian!

Overall this was an awesome Ragnar Relay – so different from Chicago, but still an amazing adventure . . .

First time running in Tennessee – oh so, beautiful! I want to go back already for a mini vacation or another running adventure!
Fun Ragnarians all around!
Was a part of an amazing team & I loved my vanmates!
Amazing, supportive volunteers!
All of my gear worked fabulously – especially my Orange Mud Hydraquiver Vest Pack 2, my Trail Toes, my Undress, & my loaner Black Diamond Icon headlamp!

Here area my key “take aways” from this race!

THE GOOD: Amazing women that I get to call friends for life!

You never know how an adventure is going to go when you know no one on your Ragnar team & your first time meeting your vanmates is on the ride down to your Ragnar starting location (Chattanooga, TN) from Chicago, IL . . . eek!

I can only say that I truly lucked out! I have never had such a great experience with people that started as complete strangers & finished as life long friends!

I cannot wait to run / race with these lovely ladies again! So many stories, jokes, & memories! TEAM PICKLES!

THE BAD: Tennessee has hills or at least all of my legs did!

Oy! I knew that Tennessee wasn’t flat, but it felt like every single leg that I ran was nothing, but hills! And I don’t know how it was possible, but all of it seemed to be uphill without the reward of the downhill.

These were probably not the best legs for me to run coming off of the back to back marathons, but my body held up & pushed through the muscle fatigue just fine. I will definitely be focusing more on hill training in 2016!

AND THE UGLY: Rain, rain – GO AWAY!

Hot, hilly, & wet! I lucked out again that I was able to avoid the rain on my legs, but my vanmates weren’t so lucky. *wa wa waa* This just adds to their credibility of being amazing! And when I say it rained . . . I don’t mean a little misting or drizzle . . . it RAINED! Cold & hard & unfortunately through the night, but none of my vanmates were made of sugar . . . they all sucked it up & found the magic in the misery!

SUMMARY:

An awesomely amazing experience that I will forever look back on & smile! I’m looking forward to my next Ragnar Relay, but I seriously cannot wait to run with these fabulous ladies again! TEAM PICKLES!

Now to go find my bed to catch up on some much needed sleep!

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly Race Recap: Bank of America Chicago Marathon (10.11.2015)

Bank of America Chicago Marathon (10.11.2015)

Over the weekend I successfully completed my fourth marathon & the second marathon to qualify for Marathon Maniacs!

Overall this was an awesome race . . .

Fun course!
Amazing crowd support!
Second race in the Chicagoland Triple Crown series done!
All of my gear worked fabulously – especially my Orange Mud Hydraquiver Vest Pack 2 (VP2)!

Here area my key “take aways” from this race!

THE GOOD: A Marathon Maniac is born!

This was my fun marathon for the year! *I know, I know – I just said fun & marathon in the same sentence . . . I need my head checked . . . BUT it is the truth!*

After running the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon last week – this weekend’s race was purely for the fun, the experience, & to top it off to qualify as a Marathon Maniac!

This has been a mission of mine ever since I found out about the Marathon Maniacs & this weekend – I successfully marked this bucket list item as completed!

THE BAD: Crowd Support.

I don’t think I have ever said this & I may not say it again . . . this is a positive & a negative . . . WOW there was a ton of crowd support!

I never thought that this could be a bad thing until they started crowding the course so much so that it caused numerous runners to trip over each other & in some places caused us to completely stop. YIKES!

On the other hand – there wasn’t a single inch of the course that didn’t have someone cheering on the runners. I have NEVER EVER seen so much crowd support.

In addition, to being amazing cheerleaders – several people gave out water, bananas, beer, Coca Cola, etc. That was awesome! I stole a banana that was strategically placed on a sign that a guy was holding up in front of him that said “Wanna have a taste of my banana??” How can a girl pass that up? I needed some potassium. *hee hee*

AND THE UGLY: Expensive Experience.

WHOA was this marathon expennnnnssssiiivvvvvee! Normally a marathon runs about $75 – $100 . . . this one has taken the cake!

Registration Fee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $185
Expo Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$25
Race Day Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25
Once in a Lifetime Chance to Run this Marathon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Priceless

SUMMARY:

Overall, this was a great experience & I’m glad that I did decide to make this one of my marathons! And I qualified for Marathon Maniacs to boot! And as a Double Agent . . . shhhhh . . . I’m secretly INSANE!!

Half Fanatic #: 12734

Marathon Maniac #: 11670

Double Agent #: 1775

Marathon Maniac Sign

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly Race Recap: Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon (10.04.2015)

Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon (10.04.2015)

Over the weekend I successfully completed my third marathon & the first marathon to qualify for Marathon Maniacs!

Overall this was an awesome race . . .

Beautiful course!
Amazing weather!
Amazing, supportive volunteers & crowd support!
All of my gear worked fabulously – especially my Orange Mud Hydraquiver Vest Pack 2 (VP2)!

Here area my key “take aways” from this race!

THE GOOD: 1:08:21 minute PR!

This is being renamed “THE AMAZING”!

The Wisconsin Marathon had its complications & I knew that I would PR on my next road marathon, but I’m ecstatic about the improvement!

I’m rather excited to see how my times shape up for year as I increase my weekly mileage & become more accustomed to regular 20 – 25 milers.

THE BAD: Cramping.

Although the morning started nice & cool – it did warm up as the race progressed.

Unfortunately, because of THE UGLY (see below) – I didn’t take my Tailwind as regularly as I should have & this lead to some muscle cramping / seizing.

Thankfully, I did have some salt tabs in my VP2 & within 15 mins of taking a few of those my muscle cramping / seizing subsided.

AND THE UGLY: GI Issues.

By mile 13 my GI was clearly not happy with me & I was doing my best to evaluate if I needed to find a porta potty.

My pace started to fall off from mile 13 through mile 19 until I could get my head back in the game and know that my system was going to be OK . Unfortunately, this prevented me from using my Gu as early as I should have, so I did briefly bonk until I could get my body some fuel.

SUMMARY:

Overall, an awesomely epic day! I don’t know if I have ever been so excited to run another marathon to see how much my time has improved. Next year, for the Mitten Challenge (Wisconsin Marathon on 05.07.2016 & Kalamazoo Marathon on 05.08.2016) – I may just push it on Wisconsin to see if I can improve even more! If not, I guess I’ll just need to add another marathon to my schedule for the hell of it!

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