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Liberty by the Lake 2014

October 21, 2014 by Life is a Run · 1 Comment

Soooo you are pretty used to us being super behind in our race recap so here is our race from JULY!! Whoops!

Liberty by the Lake is a super small local race that we got turned on to by our runner friend Michelle! She hosts a Fourth of July Waffle eating party at her house directly following the race. Who doesn’t love waffles and these are cooked by the lovely and super talented Chef EK?!

We are also a little sentimental about this race because last year we watched our friend Brian run all the way to the race from his house, run the 10k and kill it, and then run to MK’s house, and then home! He was kind of a running badass.

We wanted to squeeze this race in but it was going to be rather interesting. This was Baby P’s first race on the outside and only a week after Teal was cleared to actually run again from her C-section. Beth was also still running at a good 36 weeks pregnant!

Teal had not yet really mastered getting out of the door by a set time and this was really the first time she was going to try and figure out how to nurse an 8 week old, run a race, and get back to nurse him again within a 2 hour window. Let’s just say it was rather interesting! We both got to the race separately and with enough time to check in and find our friends! We managed to squeeze in a few pictures with our favorite runners before the race started.

Thanks, Mama C, for letting us steal this picture from you!

We set out for the 5k and just decided to be super conservative about the “race.” Teal pushed Baby P in the stroller! We basically ran that entire thing, minus a few “insert the pacifier” stops and a small water break at about 2 miles! Baby P survived his first race on the outside with flying colors! Teal was super nervous to take him out and actually run a race but he did awesome!! Beth was still seriously doing awesome and still running with Baby H already at 36 weeks.

It was then off to our Fourth of July celebrations! Beth headed over for waffles and Teal to her granny’s to watch the neighborhood Fourth of July parade. You can definitely say that this year’s Liberty by the Lake was a little more “low key” than last year but nice to see friends and celebrate! 🙂

Finally a picture of MK in the post! Thanks for letting us steal this pic from you too!

Waffle Party attendees

Filed Under: Pregnancy, Races Tagged With: 5k, breastfeeding, Fourth of July, liberty by the lake, postpartum running, pregnant running, race, running, running and nursing, The Colony

Running Moms Rock 5K

July 31, 2014 by Life is a Run · Leave a Comment

Back in April I had this brilliant plan that I would keep up with running 5Ks after completing Kacie’s Run and that way I could get a collection of race t-shirts that would fit my growing pregnant belly. Except I pretty much didn’t follow through with that at all. Ha! Both Teal and I had become apart of the local chapter of Moms Run This Town and I heard from our girl, Catherine, that she would be participating in the Running Moms Rock 5K along with some of the other moms.

I might not be a mom to a baby on the outside yet, but I figured since I have a baby cooking I could participate in this 5K, right?

Unlike most races that start in the wee hours of the morning this one was at 5:00 p.m. We are in April here in Texas and the heat has already come out to play for the year, so it was a bit toasty out there. This race was so last minute for me that I actually signed up at the race site.

Even though it was just a 5K, I definitely had a case of the going out too fasts. Oh, well, you live and you learn plus this whole running while pregnant thing is still very new to me. I met up with DK on the course and we completed the 5K together. It was good to have a buddy out there and to catch up with her since I hadn’t seen her in awhile! I brought home a time of 33:58.

25 weeks 3 days pregnant at the Running Moms Rock 5K

Since I was last minute on this race I didn’t get to participate in being on a team for the race and coming up with a costume to wear, but thankfully the other ladies in the MRTT group let me still be apart of their photo after the race! Don’t they look cute?

photo cred: Jolene A from Moms Run This Town

Back to my brilliant plan of running 5K’s so you get a t-shirt instead of a tech tee, well, that definitely didn’t happen here. Who knew they’d actually be passing out tech tees for this race. So while I was successful in running a 5K I was not in having an extra large shirt to fit my pregnant belly. Oh well!

Filed Under: Pregnancy, Races, Uncategorized Tagged With: 5k, highland village, Moms Run This Town, pregnant running, race shirts, races, running, Running Moms Rock, tech tee

Kacie’s Run 2014

July 3, 2014 by Life is a Run · Leave a Comment

Not to get all sentimental but Kacie’s Run is special to us! We have now run it 3 times and was one our first races together when we started all this running madness. Last year we got rained out, booo mother nature, but this year the weather was awesome. As you know this race is put on by Teal’s school district to honor one of their former students and to raise money for Special Olympics! What’s not awesome about that?!

We met up Saturday morning and found some of Teal’s old co-workers. We have talked about our friend, Chris, a few times before and he actually ran his first 50 miler with Catherine at Rocky Raccoon in February. We found him dressed as a Flying Monkey from Wizard of Oz. Yep, we really don’t know why but his entire school was dressed as Wizard of Oz… at least the ones cool enough to dress up. He cracked us up because he was going to just “run” the race until another co-worker, Duncan, wouldn’t dress up because he wanted to “race”. Chris said “Now, I am racing this thing and he will get passed by a flying monkey!” It was on and it was cracking us up!

How cute were this year’s shirts?!

Teal really had no idea what would happen with this race. She basically just showed up either ready to walk the entire thing or run/walk, but probably not run. She really hadn’t run in over 2 weeks and the last time she ran she made it .25 of a mile and had to walk and pee. She basically ran/walked 2 miles and wanted to die. Sorry TMI, but good lord the bladder pressure is REAL! She didn’t drink water before the race (she knows this is bad) to give herself the best chance at not having to pee over the 3.1 miles. IT WORKED! She was actually able to run that entire dang thing without peeing and without walking! It was very interesting to run sans headphones and that pregnant! People on the course were super awesome and supportive and really made it easier to keep running. It’s nice to still be able to move at this point and just be active!

Beth ran this race at just over 21 weeks pregnant! Remember how Chris was going to work on beating Duncan dressed as a flying monkey, well he did and Beth… pregnant Beth, was just behind Duncan by about 8 seconds. Take that! Ha

This was Teal’s last race before Baby Perez got here! We are glad it went well and we look forward to coming back next year. You guys should totally join us! We say this every year, so when are some of you going to take us up on that?!?!

Filed Under: Pregnancy, Races Tagged With: 5k, CFBISD, Kacie's Run, pregnancy, pregnant running, running, running for two, Special Olympics

Running for Two: Trimester Two

May 27, 2014 by Life is a Run · Leave a Comment

I had to go back and really remember what range of time made up the second trimester for me which is kind of sad since I’m really still early on in the third trimester. My second trimester was made up mostly of February, March, April and a little bit of May. I was hoping to still put in at least another 100 mile month in either February or March, but that just did not happen. February ended with 71.81 miles while March came in at 67.41 miles. During this time I had the fact that I was registered for Rock n Roll Dallas as my last half to run while pregnant as my motivation to get the miles in as much as possible. A lot of my running at this point had become solo which was not really what I was use to and made for some lonely times out on the pavement.

16 weeks 3 days pregnant

an overall pace of 9:52 don’t be fooled by the garmin set to current pace

I had already seen somewhat of a decline in my pace (which was to be expected), but then the month of April came and not only did I find another pace decline but also an overall mileage decline. 🙁 For me personally April was one of the busiest months as far as work was concerned and then to try and motivate myself to run solo after long days at the office or just feeling guilty about how late Mr. H and I would be eating dinner if I ran before cooking for the night. I really have never been an early morning workout person. Pre-pregnancy I faked it for about 6 years with my Tuesday & Thursday 6:00 a.m. weights sessions at Private Training Zone. But when you have a group waiting for you AND you’ve already paid for the sessions it’s easy to get your lazy behind out of bed. During this pregnancy those weights sessions have moved from the a.m. to the p.m. because there is just no will power whatsoever to get up and especially not get up for a solo run. I’m hoping that one day this may change. Fingers crossed.

Back to April, my total mileage came in at a lame 16.96. Talk about a drastic decrease! But you know what?! I may have only gotten out there to run on four different days (one of them being a race), but that’s better than 0 days of running!

It was probably in this month as well that I started noticing when I started my runs that my legs just felt like bricks. And the times when you would dig down deep and pull from your core for a run, nope, that wasn’t really happening anymore. I found myself one day on the treadmill trying to bust out a mile but in the last tenth of the mile I bumped the speed up a couple of notches, got an ache in my stomach and had to stop. I walked at an incline for 5 minutes on the treadmill before it finally went away and I finished out the last bit of that mile at a very reasonable pace. My body just can’t do the things it use to with running. All of this is such a HUGE lesson in constantly listening to your body and not pushing it past its limits. I like to think for the most part I’m doing a pretty good job at obeying it. It’s just a weird combination on run of feeling like your legs are bricks, your mind knowing you really can do this and your body just saying, “Nope, slow it down! We’ve got a baby to look out for!” It is also pretty incredible the protective mode your body goes into!

25 weeks 3 days pregnant at the Running Moms Rock 5K

Being in Texas we should be in a regular stint of just HOT weather, but we have been completely blessed with some amazing weather so far this spring! Don’t get me wrong there have been some hot days, but then a little cold front comes through and we’ve had some mornings in the low 50’s. The weather is just another aspect of this pregnancy that has spoiled me! Regardless, for the past month or so you will NOT find me outside running without at least a handheld water bottle. Staying hydrated and taking care of my lil guy is a high priority to me! Pretty soon if I’m still outside running my camelbak will make it’s glorious return to my runs.

While my numbers might have been down in April and they might not be much better for this month either, but as a whole I’ve put in (according to Runkeeper) 428.4 miles in this pregnancy. I am so very proud of each and every one of the miles! I don’t really have any goals going into the third trimester other than to get runs in when and while I can. And in the times when I can’t run to make sure I’m getting other forms of cardio in as well!

Filed Under: Pregnancy Tagged With: 5k, camelbak, hydration, pregnant, Private Training Zone, Rock 'n' Roll Dallas, runkeeper, running, Running Moms Rock 5K, running while pregnant, weights

The Great Santa Run

January 28, 2014 by Life is a Run · Leave a Comment

We signed up for this 5K because, well, ALL of our frunners seemed to be doing it. 🙂 There was also a groupon for it. Everybody needs a small race to get you back into running after a marathon weekend…..oh, wait, Dallas Marathon didn’t happen……

Plus, when you register you get a Santa suit to run in as your swag for this race. We realized the week of this race that it wasn’t actually chipped time, so it makes it that much more of a good lowkey race post Dallas Marathon, if only Dallas Marathon had actually happened. Dang you, #Snowpocalypse!

FRUNNERS!

As you can see in the pic above we found our people quickly when we got there. We heart them!

Beth’s SIL, Tiffany, actually turned their pants into cute skirts for the race.

There were ALL kinds of interesting outfits out there! Although most people just threw on the ol’ Santa suit and called it a day, but perhaps a couple of the runners maybe should have double checked in the mirror that what they wearing was not see through. 🙂 Sometimes your eyes can’t unsee things is all we’ll say!

we have never felt more attractive!

Thanks to Mark for providing us with Christmas music while we all ran together and entertainment as he yelled at every Santa that passed him, “SANTA!!! I know him!!” 🙂

Really it was a fun race as we ran with our friends and got to catch up with them. We got to hear all about Drum braving the weather elements and still getting her marathon in the weekend Dallas Marathon cancelled and not only that but BQ-ing her race! Talk about speedy! This race you might have also already learned that Teal knew she was having a baby boy. 🙂 (sorry we forgot to tell you for so long here!) So many things to catch up on while running. A nice stress free 5K! Mark even took a video of the race….if you watch long enough you might see a snowman take a tumble.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Maz3_6l085Q]

Filed Under: Races Tagged With: 5k, Dallas Marathon, frunners, groupon, Plano, running, Santa, snowpocalypse, the great santa run

Remember That Time We Ran the Turkey Trot in 2013?!

January 21, 2014 by Life is a Run · Leave a Comment

Happy 2014!! We are playing catch up over here….we enjoyed our holidays a little too much that we neglected the ol’ blog. Maybe next holiday season we should just plan on that and let you know we are taking a vaca. Things to think about for this new year, huh? Well, let’s get to the ol’ catch up……

pre race car pic

All we really want to say about this race is we are SO glad that the Turkey Trot people got it together and let the timed runners start in a separate corral from the non-timed runners. They also banned the strollers and dogs in that corral making it much safer for the actual runners. We were very worried about this race last year with falling and obviously a little more worried about it this year (you know since Teal is with child) before we knew about the change. It seemed to work so much better and we didn’t see anyone fall which was reeeeeally not the case in the past!

Miles 1-4

Teal: So with all that said about the new system we got there and had to pee really fast and get in that corral because it’s shut off! I think we made it by like 3 minutes! Please note that I actually went to the bathroom before the race. By mile 1 I was dying and needed to pee again and there was not a stop there. The stop was just before mile 2 and apparently everyone and their dog had to go as well. I was seriously contemplating stopping but in my head I was like, you are running slower, Chase is doing the 5k and Beth is speedy so you stopping here it is going to take like 10 minutes just suck it up. Worst mistake. I figured at the next water station they would have at least a port-o-potty. NOPE, nothing! I would also like to add here that this was really the first time I ever noticed the X in the road to mark where JFK was killed. They had made a big deal about that this year due to the 50^th anniversary and they repaved the road. So any concerned can now rest easy because it’s there! Anyway, I kept thinking, get to the bridge they always have one up there, but little had I paid attention, they changed the entire course. I saw a bathroom on the way other side of the road at about mile 3 and that was going to take too much effort again. Then my saving grace at about mile 4ish this women was passing out tissues. I ran over, grabbed a handful and peed behind the dumpster basically in front of a cop. I was super worried that he might get mad or ticket me, because he kept looking over like, what is that lady doing. You totally aren’t allowed to pee in public so the entire time I was coming up with my very true pregnant lady excuse. Either way it saved me! Thank you to whomever you are for our tissues!

Beth: Per usual there was still a lot of weaving to be done in this race in the beginning. It just brings so many people out that it happens. I was confused though since we had the timed corral with NO DOGS and NO STROLLERS allowed to see some dogs and strollers. I guess some people did not start at the actual start line and just jumped in!? There’s always a side of crazy at this race. Or maybe that’s every race and we just don’t always know it? No real complaints on the first few miles I was just trying to find my groove and stick with. I was annoyed towards the 5K cutoff because that comes up and there’s a sign that says turn left here for the 5k then down the road there is a sign that says you missed the 5K turn so turn around. A pair of walkers on my right decided to turn left as I was running by them. I hope they enjoyed my “WATCH WHERE YOU’RE GOING!” 🙂

Miles 4-8

Teal: Really went by without me even noticing, the course while flat is pretty boring. Not much happening and there really is like no crowd support or anything. By 6 I had to pee again. This is the worst I have ever had this pee issue before. I stopped at the one that was like at 6.5ish (the one that was too much of a pain earlier) and then went on about my way. The last mile is up hill and kind of a pain in the arse but really still not bad. I was just super glad they changed the course because last year’s course was waaaaaay hillier! Thanks again Turkey Trot people. We appreciate it. They really have restored my love for this race and I have way less bitchy issues about it this year than I have in the past!

Beth: Here I was excited for the change of scenery a little bit, ok, well it isn’t really a beautiful area of town per se but having a change in the course was a nice change. This portion provided a bit of an out an back part and as I was running the out part I overheard a teenager walking down the median of the street saying “I guess I missed the turn off somewhere??” Haha! I laugh but I’ve missed a turn off myself too. I wasn’t really trying for a PR this day, but I was happy to find out my time that day was only 7 seconds away from my 8 mile PR! Not only that but this race has been pretty consistent over the past few years – 2013: 1:11:43; 2012: 1:11:36 and 2011: 1:11:46. Now to try and break that 1:11 time! 🙂 This year was a fun year because I actually got to see my SIL, Lindsay out there and Uncle Rob!

Lindsay, Uncle Rob and Beth

See you in 2014, Turkey Trot!

Filed Under: Races, Uncategorized Tagged With: 5k, 8 miles, races, running, Turkey Trot

Liberty by the Lake 5K

August 14, 2013 by Life is a Run · 2 Comments

pre-race car pic!

Sooooo July 4th a bunch of our running friends were doing Liberty by the Lake 5K/10K and if they were doing it we had to do it too. Right? That’s how it works? The internets also had a special so we got this race for pretty cheap!

We didn’t have big hopes and dreams for this race because, come on, it’s July in Texas. Hot! But being the weird summer that it is the temperature that morning wasn’t really as bad as it could have been, but don’t worry the humidity was still there. Blah!

Frunners!
(pic stolen from Mama C)

NTX Runners!
Look at Ninja representin’ w/his tank

We should also note how pumped we were to wear our latest purchase from Compete Every Day with our Texas Strong shirts! We loooooove them!! We did see a few other runners out there sporting different CED shirts as well. If you haven’t checked them out you really should, especially if you are a Dallasite, as they are a local business! And no we weren’t paid or rewarded with free things by that mention we just really love their stuff and awesome customer service!

Then at some point it was time to do what we we went to The Colony for and that is run a 5K. So run a 5K we did. Not a lot of shade out there and we hear the 10K-ers have it even worse. We stuck together and ran the whole thing together. This was also our first race back in the same age group since Beth fiiiinally turned 30. We crossed that finish line together at 28 minutes flat!

Several in our group that day won age group awards, but only a couple of them won the privilege of a LiAR photobomb. Way to go Brian & Jesse!!

Another thing we should point out which you can’t see from the above pic, but we totally love Jesse’s method of keeping cool in the Texas heat:

Step 1: wear a hat

Step 2: insert ice in hat

Step 3: put your ice hat on your head

Step 4: repeat as necessary (if you have a cooler full of ice w/you which he normally does somewhere close by)

It ended up being a fun time, but the fun did not stop there! We made our way over to Team K’s house for some 4th of July waffles and mimosas!

Fun times were had by all! We are so blessed to have made such awesome friends in the running community! It really is incredible all the greatness that running can bring to ones life! 🙂

Again the fun did NOT end there because after this we went and met up with our husbands who were drinking some beers to get thaaat much closer to reaching their plates at Flying Saucer.

So here we are – officially caught up on our race posts! 🙂 We don’t have any races scheduled for August though so unless something happens no more race recaps until September!

Also, shout out to all the people whose pictures we stole without telling them to make this post that much more fun (a.k.a. Mama C, MK, Jesse and Alison P.)!

Filed Under: Races, Uncategorized Tagged With: 10k, 5k, apparel, Compete Every Day, frunners, LiAR, liberty by the lake, NTX Runners, races, running, texas strong, The Colony

Must-Dash 5K

August 1, 2013 by Life is a Run · 4 Comments

Basically the whole mustache incorporation for this Father’s Day weekend race made it necessary for us to run this 5K! 🙂 This was kind of an interesting morning for us as a whole as well. Beth ended up having a flat tire so we got there by way of her husband’s car. You know how sometimes little things like that can throw you off your game?

We got there and ended up having about 20-25 minutes to kill before the race actually started, so we grabbed mustaches that were being passed out and then took pictures with them. Naturally. That’s what you would do too, right? Being a June morning in Texas it actually wasn’t really that hot outside….

….until you started running and it was pretty humid. 😛 This was a new area for us to be doing a race so it was definitely nice to have new to us scenery. Neither one of us ran our best 5K, but we ran it and it was worth it! Only complaint would be that whoever put the 3 mile marker sign down really put it at 2.75 miles. If you weren’t wearing some sort of GPS and decided to give it your all for the last .1 well then you misled and still had .35 left to go. Ha.

We even ran into one of our NTX Runners buddies, Clara! NTX Runners are eeeeverywhere! We love it!

This will probably be our favorite race tee for awhile!

Filed Under: Races Tagged With: 5k, healthy-living, Must Dash, NTX Runners, races, Run Project, running

The Vineyard Run 5K

July 12, 2013 by Life is a Run · 1 Comment

The Vineyard Run basically popped up in our email, most likely because we have run our fair share of Mellew sponsored races. Teal really wanted to run this race because the Vineyard run is set at Delaney Vineyard where Teal got married!

Plus it offers a few more bonus points such as a free wine tasting and live band. Although we didn’t actually enjoy any wine while we were there. But it’s at a winery and since that is somewhat rare in our parts it’s a nice change of scenery! We should also mention that it was actually a little chilly that day! Hello cold day in May in Texas, what?!

Brian you are all over this blog now!

We headed out together as normal and perhaps our need to be at races super early is dwindling because we really almost missed this one. Oopsies! We hadn’t picked up our bibs and the cut off was like 30 minutes before the race. We thought we left in time but due to the fact that one of us updated our phone to the stupid new operating system that brought with it a horrible update to google maps, and its lame, and the fact that the area around the DFW airport is the biggest cluster of construction, we found ourselves driving in circles trying to get to the stinking race. We finally figured it out and ended up getting in the back way and then running to packet pick up. Apparently that is a way to force us in to a pre-race warm-up?

We made it and got to hang with our fellow NTX Runner Brian for a few minutes before the race started. He was out there volunteering for the race! We might add that he was wearing his 100 miler sweatshirt. Show off 😉

Waiting for the race to start

SOOO really we ran a 5k. It was flat, it had 2 kind of annoying hills but nothing we couldn’t handle and then it was over. Also we might add that it was in no way our fastest or our slowest race, so we can call that a win right!? How do you like that for a recap?? Recapping 3 miles is much easier than 13.

Filed Under: Races Tagged With: 5k, Delaney, Delaney Vineyard, Grapevine, healthy-living, live band, races, running, Texas, wine, winery

The Louisiana Marathon

February 6, 2013 by Life is a Run · 14 Comments

We know you have all been eagerly anticipating our recap of the Louisiana Marathon. 🙂 Not! But without further ado we give our Louisiana Marathon experience…

the logo on the Capitol Building

Mile 1-3:

Teal: I was really not nervous about this race at all. I knew exactly what I was going to run and how to do it. Beth and I had talked a little bit about White Rock and how much adrenaline we had at the beginning and we definitely went out too fast. I figured since I was there and generally run around a 9:30ish pace that I would focus on that and Beth would stay with me to not go out too fast. That is pretty much exactly what we did. We hung within 10 seconds of this for the majority of our miles together. I just kept a constant watch on my Garmin, which really helps pass time, in case you are looking for ways to do that. I did get a little nervous because at about half a mile in the women next to us took a huge spill and actually slid down the road. It was nuts, she got up fast and kept running but it was huge. I know I am a huge weenie because I might have cried and stopped. Props to her! I looked down at the road at this point and saw just how bad it was. Large holes and rivets everywhere. I made sure to keep an eye out from here on.

Beth: The main thing I remember in these first few miles was starting my runkeeper and no music starting. Then when I did get music started it was SO LOUD. So lots of messing with that then putting my phone in my flipbelt and then thinking about all the energy I just wasted doing all of that. Then there was the lady who fell and all I could do was cringe inside as I saw her body kind of slide on the concrete. From there on out I understood why occasionally other runners were pointing at the ground when there were rough areas of the road.

Mile 4-6:

Teal: This part takes you closer to the LSU campus which was probably the nicest part of the race. We kept a steady pace here and really not much else could be said for me. I really thought that we would see these trees in the pictures for the race that look like that have legs, but we didn’t. Boooo on that!

Beth: At some point early on I thought that a good game plan would be take this one 5k at a time. Then I turned my thoughts to when will we see our husbands? I hope Teal likes the sign! Just gotta make it another 5K to 6.2. You got this!

Mile 7-9:

Teal: We saw the boys right around here, I believe at Mile 7 and I got to see the sign Beth made me. She threw in my love of Mark Salling and it gave me a good burst of energy in this part. Mile 7 is a really good place for me to need people because it is about here that I get a little bored and the feeling of being tired usually sets in for me around here. Example – at Dallas Marathon this year I actually stopped and stood. Something over an hour for me is a mental block. Also my feet are burning here. The stupid roads were harder or something. Yep, harder roads is totally possible in my runner mind!

Beth: Husband! YAH! I’m sure he appreciated me throwing my GU trash at him. 🙂 It was in these miles that we were running a curvy path which kind of annoyed me because I was having a hard time seeing ahead to attempt to run the tangents. As mile 9 was approaching I was starting to get sad that my time with Teal was almost over. I think it was also somewhere at the end of this section we saw a man near a water stop telling everyone, “the finish is just up ahead over the hill!” He was holding a sign that said “Course Liar,” I think we both got a good laugh out of that. Plus I saw the “liar” part and read it as LiAR since we are LiAR!! Haha

Mile 10-13.1:

Teal: At nine I knew I only had about a mile and a half left with Beth and I actually started to get kind of anxious for her. Right about 10 she said, “ok, if I am going to pretend like I started my race now, I can do 16.” In my mind I was like OH Lord, that is still a lot of miles. I was super excited about my 3 left. No worries! At 10.5 we saw our mark to split. I just grabbed Beth’s hand and just said “you got this” and we split. I stopped here to take a picture of her leaving and to tweet about the split. I figured that would have been the first update anyone got from us about where we were and there really wasn’t any tracking so I went with that! I am glad I stopped because that pain that was in my feet stopped with just that minute or so stop and the rest was pretty much a breeze. Well except for the fact that the last 2ish miles of this race are probably the hardest. There is a huge hill up the bridge and then the road in to finish is definitely rolling. I kept thinking, this will suck big time for the marathon people. You remember that lady I told you about at .5 into the race? I actually crossed the finish line with her. I stopped her and told her how crazy I thought her fall was, and yep she was COVERED in blood. It had dripped down her leg and was a mixture of wet and dry. It was gross (aren’t you glad I told you that). I was impressed and love runners for that!

Beth: With the half and marathon split just .5 into this section I was sad, but I had made it through 15k and on my way to a 20k! When Teal grabbed my hand I just wanted to yell “Noooooooooo!!!” I got a little choked up, but managed to start breathing normally again and not hyperventilate and cry all at the same time. That would have been some uuuuugly crying fo sure. I could see the 4:10 pacer ahead of me and I pressed on! Made it through the 20k…keep on truckin’! Wonder if Teal’s done now? Did she see my other sign? Hope she liked it! Wonder when I’ll see them again?

Teal: The guys meet me at the finish line and we literally b-lined it out of there. We had planned to get over to about 16-17 to see Beth. When we got there I knew she was still doing fine because we had come up on the 4:20 pacer and she was still a head of it. I hoped that she saw my sign at 17 since we missed her and we just hung around and cheered. I think I would have been so bored.

LOVE these mile markers!

Mile 13.2-16

Beth: Here, I didn’t let myself think halfway done because let’s be honest the hard stuff hasn’t even started yet! And in this stretch of the race I was able to do a better job of running the tangents which is also a fun game of keep your mind occupied. A dude passed me with a Dallas Marathon shirt on under his marathon maniac tank. I made some comment to him about the weather being nicer for this marathon, talked to him for a minute and eventually wished him well and told him I didn’t want to slow him down any longer. But that was fun to see as well as all of the Dallas Running Club shirts on the course. Coming into this race I had a rough game plan of taking fuel every 5 miles, which is not actually something I’ve ever done in training or any other race. Normally I just go by feel, but I definitely get bursts of energy throughout races and was hoping that plan would just keep me on the burst the majority of the time. Well, pretty early on I knew this plan wasn’t going to work, but what sucked was I was HONGRY before I even hit 10 miles. I burped at some point around then and realized I could not feed myself much more GU or I might vomit.

Miles 17-20

Beth: This was where I saw my sign! I had still been wondering when I would see Teal and the guys again and she had mentioned where the boys were to put a sign she had made, so I was on the lookout for all those things. Then I saw it –

and I proceeded to tear up and have to not hyperventilate again. Just what I needed! I loved it! Right after the sign was a spectator heavy area and I heard lots of “still smiling! Great job!” And I just thought yep, because I just saw my sign from Teal! Just up ahead was the 20 mile marker for coming back and I was excited to see a little girl with a container on one side of the road and who I assumed to be her dad on the other side of the road with a container full of sliced oranges. Food! I took one and was so excited that there would be another one waiting for me at mile 20. The majority of this stretch was lonely. There were times I’d look ahead and I was pretty much alone on a random street in a neighborhood. I’d also at this point lost sight of the 4:10 pacer. But I did find another person passing out orange slices, took one and I got a five from this like two year old boy who was out cheering with his mom and siblings. As I grabbed my orange slice at mile 20 I started to think, I really need to see my peeps. I don’t want to see my peeps! I wanted to see them for the motivation and energy, but I didn’t want to see them because I’d started to get hot, my hips were starting to ache and I just wanted to be done. I saw them! Loved the cheers! Threw my arm sleeves at Brent and kept going. Then I stopped. Ahhh! I was wearing my I Run This Body shirt from Mile Posts so I kept saying to myself, your shirt doesn’t say I Walk This Body! Let’s goooo! I let my mind get to me.

Teal: That last part of the race is out and back and there are not many cheerers. We hung around and as soon as we saw Beth at 20, I knew it would be a good idea to see her one more time at finish. We booked it to 24 and got one more chance to see her. She was still kicking ass and still a head of the 4:20 pacer! The boys and I booked it again back to the finish. I was so nervous for her and kept watching the clock. 4:11 was the time on the clock at that point and I am pretty sure at this point I texted her one more cheer because I figured there was no way she didn’t have it!

Miles 21-26.2:

Beth: Struggle city. I don’t walk in races! I can’t do the run/walk thing! I’ve run a complete marathon without walking why am I walking? I text messaged Teal and told her I’d been walking. I saw them again at 24, ugh, and I was walking! After the last seeing of my peeps I told myself, just run this! It doesn’t have to be fast just get it done. I was dreading the end with still an overpass incline and the rolling hills. When I was at the rolling hills part a man behind me said “THIS is the worst hill of the race!” True story, mister! But I ran it then all of a sudden bam! Done! And somehow I managed to look like this in my finisher photo –

In all honesty, I am disappointed in my performance somewhat at this race, but then I think, my training really did have quite a few hiccups in it so maybe I should be really impressed considering? It is a PR which was probably my C goal for this race. I just don’t walk in races (and every time I say that I feel the need to reaffirm that I’m not dissing you if you do, I just personally don’t do well with the run/walk combo). Ultimately though I did run a marathon and completed it. It got hard, but I didn’t just all out give up. This also just reaffirmed to me that I’m not done with the marathon distance – we shall meet again! 🙂

Final thoughts:

Teal: I am pretty impressed by this race. And I am sorry if this offends anyone but Baton Rouge is not a pretty city. The race literally took you through the best parts of the city and showcased the good. Thank you for that! The organization was awesome and everyone was so friendly. The art design was amazing and Beth and I used every chance we had to snag pictures of what they had done. I seriously think of all the races we have done this has my favorite design! I do not regret for one second not running the full. I know I enjoyed cheering on Beth more than I would have enjoyed running it and even the accomplishment of running it, cheering her on was my purpose for that last part and I think that made it all fitting. I ran a pretty decent race for myself and was proud of that. Also, I am so in love with this race’s design, if you have seen my foot you know I have a think for feet with trees on them!

Beth: My running partner is better than your running partner!! Haha, ok, not entirely, but so much YES at the same time. Or maybe what I really mean by that is I am 100% lucky to have a friend first and running partner second in Teal. I know she’s proud of me for completing this race even when I’m not 100% proud of it, but at the same time I’m proud of her for being brave, for being vunerable with y’all about not running the marathon, for putting out there the why for everyone to read when I don’t think a lot of people would and for that being a strong runner who takes care of herself! It’s moments like these where I see why our local frunners wondered if we were not just running partners but partners in real life. HAHA Yes, to everything Teal said above. The Louisiana Marathon is a great example of a local race doing things right!

If you are still reading this then thank you! Thanks for sticking through this long post with us and we promise the next post will be WAY LESS wordy! 🙂

Filed Under: Races Tagged With: 5k, Dallas Marathon, Dallas Running Club, GU, Half Marathon, health, healthy-living, Louisiana Marathon, LSU, Marathon, marathon signs, pace, races, runkeeper, running