Kathleen's Adventures

So, this is about a month late, but oh well.  My marathon race report in song was a fairly comprehensive report in itself, and fun to write.  I may do more that way. At my last track practice the Tuesday before the marathon, Shawn told me he thought I had the physical ability and fitness to run well in the marathon. He said I just had to get right in my head about it; that he was worried all the crap that had gone on in the few weeks before that could leave my head in another place and less than confident. I walked away thinking (overreacting of course) "ugh! he thinks I'm too much of a head case to run well this weekend?!" But then I also realized that may have been the best thing he could have said. It almost seemed like a challenge - I felt like I had to prove that my head would be in the right place and that I would make it happen. I had to prove it to myself more than him, but it was certainly good food for thought. It was really weird driving to Houston and sta...

A few years ago, I started making playlists for my big running races.  These playlists are very carefully put together and are the length of the time I want to finish the race in.  So then my goal is to beat my playlist.  The lists always end with Journey's "Don't Stop Believin.'"  I haven't made a list to beat in a long long time, possibly as many as 2.5 years because I have not been healthy enough to shoot for a PR since then.  Last week began the task of making my playlist.  I kept a list and sent myself reminders whenever I thought of more songs that would be good to have on it.  This list ended up having 60 songs, and being 4.2 hours long.  I'm annoyed because windows media player used to give you exact time, but now it only gives you tenths of an hour.  That really bothers us ocd types, but I just let it be because 4.2 hours was definitely a PR, I just wasn't sure exactly how long...was it really 4.16 hours, or 4.24 hours?...

Well, my race was not that bad, all things considering. But of course it was not what I wanted. I have to keep reminding myself to take a step back and look at what my last two months have looked like (sick and very little training), and what the last year looked like (awesome long-distance triathlon season - could not have asked for better quarter/olympic, half and full ironman races). I know I cannot have it all, and that I have to rest sometimes, whether I planned for it or not, but it is also hard to see some people transition from triathlons to running or vice versa seemingly effortlessly. Several who raced IMFL went on to pop out PR's in the half and full yesterday. I hobbled and gasped my way to a less than stellar race and am pretty bummed out about it. But I have to realize the last good run of any kind I have had was over a month ago, at the Jingle Bell run, and even there I had the beginnings of an asthma attack halfway through. I had run 11 miles total in the two weeks ...

This one was a crazy one. I was part runner/part cruise director for my best friend, her boyfriend, and both of their parents. It was a mad house, but everything went better than planned even, with the help of my parents who came in for the day on Sunday. Jon and I picked Kelly and Noah up at Hobby Friday night and then met his parents downtown for dinner. When Kelly and Noah came back to my apartment, they found out the marathon fairy had been there. Saturday was a full day of food, expo, planning, packing, etc. I am glad I did not run the full because I was very worn out after Saturday and would have been way to stressed out to do everything I needed to do on Saturday to keep everyone happy. Sunday morning we were up bright and early. Kelly's parents took us to the Four Seasons near the start line and traded us for Noah's parents, then they headed off to meet my parents at mile 7.5 to watch us. The weather was not nearly as cold as originally predicted, but still felt cool as...

More to come later, but for now, here is a look at my lovely heart rate and pace. Can you tell where I let Kelly go?? Sorry it isn't 100% clear, I haven't figured out how to make it better yet. My time was 20 minutes slower than my PR, but also potentially 30 minutes faster than it might have been. I had no idea what to expect and yesterday was about as good as I could have done considering I haven't run one mile faster than 11:00 pace since mid-October.

A year ago today, I took 42 minutes off my marathon PR. I had the race of my life, and continued to follow it up with more and more races of my life. Just over a year ago, I could barely sit still as the prospect of smashing my PR danced in and out of my mind day and night. I checked the weather 20 times a day starting 15 days out, and made sure to report it to everyone who cared or did not care. I was as excited as a kid at Christmas . This year things are much different. I am running the half marathon instead. This will be the first time in 5 years I have not run the Houston Marathon. I'm having trouble with this, but at the same time I know I have no business running a full marathon right now and probably could not even make the 6 hour cutoff. Amazing what can happen in a year...or really just a few short months. Just over 3 months ago I set another marathon PR , but since then I have barely been able to run and have been searching for answers to what might be going on with my ...

I keep having random thoughts here and there about the marathon, and finally decided I should jot them down. I'm sure I will keep adding to this post in the next few days when the mood strikes me. 1. I've been sandbagging for a long time, but I just wasn't really aware that is what I was doing. It wasn't even really in training that I was sandbagging, but in actual races. To continue running at a certain pace for 26.2 miles takes guts. Plain and simple. Or you can give up somewhere along the way and say you know you will finish in however long it takes you to get there. That was the old Kathleen. She is no longer around, and apparently left sometime over the last few months. I think she is somewhere happily walking to a finish line, being sure to make friends along the way. I am sure I will run into her again one day, as she is a good person, with good intentions, but for now I've had to say goodbye. 2. My nutrition plan worked perfectly on Sunday. I had no stom...

Brief history to explain lucky #7... #1, Austin, 2/15/04 - 5:21 #2, Houston, 1/05 - 5:23 #3, Austin, 2/05 - 5:55 #4, Houston, 1/06 - 5:16 #5, Houston, 1/07 - 5:12 #6, Chicago, 10/07 - 5:54 As I sit here to write my race report, I am having a hard time coming up with what to say. It is weird - I had a huge PR, yet do not feel (yet), like it was that memorable of an experience. Perhaps the most memorable part of it is that I was in a porta potty when the race started. Sadly, that isn't even the first time that has happened to me! Ok seriously, it is memorable. I kicked butt today. Several butts, actually, including my own. I did something that was once a far away dream. I made it happen. I went into the race with a goal of 4:30 way in the back of my mind. I knew on paper, it was a decently realistic goal, but in my head, just the thought of it was scary. My previous 6 marathons were all between 5:12 and 5:55. I knew going into this one that I was significantly faster, but I had no i...

'nuff said for now!!!

Marathon time for me is like Christmas time for most little kids. No matter how prepared or unprepared I am, the excitement is still always almost too much to handle. In a little less than 48 hours, we will be lining up at the start line of a very long, rewarding, journey. It doesn't seem to matter how many times I toe that line, the excitement is still there, along with fear, anxiety, and joy. These days I pretty much know what Santa is going to have for me under the tree at Christmas, but I do not know what the marathon gods will have in store for me come race day. The fear and anticipation of the unknown is what keeps me awake in bed the night before, as if I were a child waiting to see if I could hear Santa on the roof. Also like the little kid, I try hard to sleep because Santa won't come if he sees you awake, just as the marathon gods might not be nice to you if you don't show up at the start adequately rested. While the journey to the finish line is a little longer t...