Final Louisiana Marathon Thoughts

January 18, 2013 by · 7 Comments

the la marathon 9.25.12

Well folks its time!! Louisiana Marathon time!! As you might have seen yesterday we are super excited to go, I mean heck, we have 26.2 reasons. Do you need more proof?? Yea we didn’t think so.

This time around will be a little different. We are not running this entire thing together, Beth will carry on for the full and Teal will run the half. A super tough decision but ultimately the right one! Now this is not totally what we had planned on so we are doing this one a little different. We decided that we will each make race signs for each other and keep them super secret until the day of! It’s actually kind of funny because both of us had this idea individually and then it just came out so we decided to make it a surprise! Fun, right?? So guess they will also be surprise for YOU! Stay tuned…

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We will set out eeeearly Saturday morning and make our trek to Baton Rouge via a road trip with our husbands. Whoa that is weird to say…we both have them now! We will make the stop at the expo, of course, and then head to dinner and bed! Duh, really what else is there to do the night before a race?  If you know something better we are totally up for suggestions!

As far as goals go, we, as usual want to run smart before anything else. Smart and safe! We don’t think this will turn out anything like the White Rock Marathon but if Mother Nature just so happens to be a biotch Sunday, we know what to do.  We are excited about this course because there is actually A LOT of it together. PLUS, for the second 13.1 we will easily be able to find Beth multiple times in that the race loops back around at some pretty hard miles. 15 and 16 turn into 21 and 22. Good job there race director, we like the way you think about the spectators too! The half marathon doesn’t split away from the full until about 10.5 meaning we can run with each other for that long. Our plan, well as of now is to stay together for that part and Teal will stay with Beth and almost pace her a little slower then she might just go normally (not slower per se but just at a steady  pace that’s not like “oh here I’m just gonna run my normal half pace”) hope that makes sense. This will hopefully help maintain energy throughout the race and avoid the ever scary problem of going out too fast due to adrenaline. We think this will be helpful but who the heck knows?? I think we both have mentioned to each other throughout this that the Marathon is a CRAZY BEAST. So even the best laid plans fail sometimes but we have super high hopes that this will be great!

Hopefully the fact that our signs are a secret will keep our minds busy and watching for what is to come and the time and miles will pass by super fast! This could totally work right?? RIGHT!!

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26.2 Reasons We Are Excited to Race the Louisiana Marathon

January 17, 2013 by · 9 Comments
1.  It will be our first time to run in Louisiana not just race but actually do even a run in this state!
2.  ROAD TRIP!!
3.  Look at this pretty bling we get to add to our collection:
la marathon medal
4.  This will be the 1st time either one of us has been to Baton Rouge! Unless there was sometime when we were little kids and do not remember………..
5.  We will have two of the most handsome dudes out there cheering us on!
just the two in the front, we don't know the guy in the white shirt! :)

the two in the front, we don’t know the guy in the white shirt! 🙂

6.   We can’t wait for the race swag! Whoever does the design work for their logos ROCKS!
the la marathon 9.25.12
7.  We heard the Race Director has a brother-in-law who lives in Texas – who doesn’t love a good Texas connection?!
8.  This is the Louisiana Marathon’s 2nd year and they have runners (as of 1/15/13) from 47 states and 12 countries participating.
9.  There are designated Cheer Zones on the course that are actually stocked with snacks, refreshments AND cheering supplies! Talk about a great race for runners and spectators!
10.  We get to run with each other until this mile, ok, really it is like until 10.5.
11.  We hear it’s a fast course which who doesn’t like a fast course?!
12. The weather for race day is looking awwwwwesome! *knock on wood*
13.  The course is suppose to be beautiful!
13.1.  Teal will finish her 16th half marathon!!
14.  People have constantly asked us WHY we are running THIS race, well, we think this best explains it: THE WHY
15.  This race starts and finishes right by the State’s Capitol.
16. To steal the words from Brian, we are excited to “carbeaux leauxd” for this race! 🙂 In fact let us point out one more time if you aren’t following Brian on twitter then you’re doing twitter wrong! Might we also point out, if you are in the market for a running coach you should get in touch with Brian! OK, enough about Brian….
17.  Po’ boys!
18. ALL of the snacks we have planned for the car ride! 🙂
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19. Not only are there cheer zones set up on this course, but a lot of great opportunities to see runners multiple times without having to cover a lot of ground!
20.  We will actually run on the campus of LSU!
21.  Race weekends in which Monday is a holiday are awwwesome!  Though please note Teal was the only one who didn’t have to request this day off from work. Ha.
22.  Our pre-race dinner at Mike Anderson’s…unless something happens between now and Saturday night to change that!
23.  The two of us and our husbands all sharing one hotel room the night before the race!
24. Craft beer at the Finish Festival.
25.  Gumbo, Jambalaya, Crawfish Etouffee and more food selections at the Finish Festival.
26.  We will end our trip to Louisiana with a celebration in New Orleans! 🙂
from Beth & Brent's trip to NOLA in 2009

from Beth & Brent’s trip to NOLA in 2009

26.2. Beth will finish marathon no. 2!
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December Goal Recap

January 11, 2013 by · 4 Comments

Don’t worry we didn’t forget about our goals during our hiatus in the month of December. Yah, yah, it’s the 11th and we are just now posting them…oops?  Story of our lives?!  Here’s how we did during the crazy month that always is December:

Teal-

1. Complete all marathon training runs.

Um, I really don’t know how to give myself a grade for this since I am not actually doing the marathon now. But at the same time I really haven’t altogether been running consistently either. There are many reasons why this has happened, all I am sure you really do not want to hear about. The holiday season is just crazy anyways and if I was still running the marathon it would have taken a lot of discipline to not partake in holiday festivities at the extent that is SUPER fun!

2. Go to the Ross Perot Museum.  This place looks awesome and just opened on December 1st!

F-: I blame my mother for this because she told me that she was going to go with my cousins and so I waited to go with them and then they never went so yea.. I’ll try it in January.

3. Not last minute Christmas shop although I may already be setting myself up for failure.

B-: I finished 2 days early! Haha! This is actually not bad and I had to do no wrapping of the presents the day of which hasn’t happened in a while!

4. Don’t be a scrooge and actually put up the Christmas tree this year

A-: I have to thank my husband for this! We actually put up decorations and a tree. It was only 3 feet tall but it was up! Anyone have one of those tall skinny ones they want me to have? That is what I decided I would do next year because part of my problem is my house doesn’t have a good “Christmas tree” spot. Anyone else have this problem? It drives me nuts! So a tall skinny tree is my answer for next year!

christmas tree mr kitties

Beth-

1. Complete all marathon training runs.

C+: I haven’t completed them and some of that is due to a weird pain in my lower leg, so ummm yah…..we’ll see how this all works out for me in a little over a week at the Louisiana Marathon.

2. Get another room in my house organized this month!

A-:  Last month I got our office darn near close to organized and our guest room darn near close to organized.  They both look SOOOOOOO much better!  There’s still some work to be done, but I am proud of what I accomplished so far!  I even spent part of an afternoon organizing our pantry because it was driving me crazy!

Isn't it purdy?!

Isn’t it purdy?!

3. In addition to organizing there are a couple of crafty projects I want to do around our house, so I’m going to commit to complete one of them this month!

F:  The closest I came to accomplishing this was printing out something I needed in order to do said craft project.  No craft project was accomplished……

4. Run a smart race at Dallas Marathon (only the half though).

A+: I’d say getting a shiny new PR at Dallas Marathon (half) accomplishes this goal!

5. Actually make use of my handy dandy Kitchenaid stand mixer and make Christmas cookies!

A+: I made two batches of Grandmom Lynch’s ginger snaps. They are deeeeeelicious!

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There you have it! We are kind of toying with revamping the way we do our goals, so you aren’t going to find any January goals in this post.  We’ll let you know what we decided to do! 🙂

Until our next post – have a fun and safe weekend! Good luck to all of our friends who are racing this weekend! May the speed be with you. 🙂

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Hello? Are you there?

January 7, 2013 by · 8 Comments

Hi, there! Do you remember us?! We kind of went a little MIA for the holidays, well, as far as blogging goes. Ok, we were also kind of MIA on our twitter account too. Oopsies?

Sometimes you just need a break to recharge though right?!

Pretty much since our last couple of blog posts we have done A LOT of things. We kicked off the holidays that next week with a frunners party at the Luebs!

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It’s a joke…just know we are fun people! Promise!

 

Heidi, the Hostess with the Mostest!

Heidi, the Hostess with the Mostest!

Ninja hijacked the LiAR instagram

Ninja hijacked the LiAR instagram

Then we were able to celebrate this cutie patooties 1st Birthday at her Grandparent’s house.  We take any and every opportunity we can to see her mom & dad….and, obviously, Miss Eliza as well.  Isn’t she just SO cute?

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We of course celebrated Christmas with our families, and we each have little kids in our family so there are never dull moments!

Beth & her nephew Christmas Eve

Beth & her nephew Christmas Eve

 

And you thought Teal was tall? Check out how much taller her bros are than her!

And you thought Teal was tall? Check out how much taller her bros are than her!

For those of you reading this blog that are NOT from Dallas and/or did not spend your Christmas in Dallas – we got SNOW! ON Christmas Day!  It was pretty!

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The day after Christmas Teal and her family participated in the 4th Annual Wynnwood Haven Memorial Walk.  Forty-five people came out despite the 20 degree temperature to participate in the walk that honors her Grandpa. How cool is that?

Wilson is ready to walk!

Wilson is ready to walk!

 

On the 30th we got in our last run of 2012 together at White Rock Lake.  And thankfully Teal & White Rock are starting to be friends again!  What are we talking about? Read this.

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The two of us volunteered at New Years Double on day 1 of the race.  We put on as many layers as possible and hung out in the cold & rain. We actually ran this race last year (check that out here & here), and let us just tell you right now this race does NOT disappoint when it comes to bling!  You should definitely add it to your list of races if you are in DFW or if you are looking to race in the DFW area!

That's one impressive race medal!

That’s one impressive race medal!

You do have to run the race on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day to get each of those medals that fits into the challenge plate! Such an awesome way to end your year and start a new year!

Our only picture together includes the awesome DK! Who PR'd her 5K!!

Our only picture together includes the awesome DK! Who PR’d her 5K!!

 

And then of course we did partake in the whole celebrating New Year’s Eve thing. Thanks to Bitner & Chaz for having us all over to your house!  It was a night of good friends, good food and some good ol’ card games.

Bitner, Su & Teal

Bitner, Su & Teal

 

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Our dudes :)

Our dudes 🙂

So there you have it the end of our 2012. We have kept the fun alive so far in 2013 the proof is in this last Saturday’s activities which pretty much include day drinking and bowling.

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The start of our 2013, and just where we’ve been since before Christmas. We hope that you all had a great holiday season with your family and that your new year has started off great!  And with this we are back to our regularly scheduled selves once again!  See you again soon. 🙂

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To Marathon or Not to Marathon?

December 12, 2012 by · 37 Comments

Remember that goal I set… have an awesome race, gain some confidence going into the marathon, and don’t need a PR, just a good race? Yea, that didn’t happen.  Then immediately you start to reflect. Why did it not go well? Maybe it was because I did 15 on Sunday, 3miles of speed work Tuesday, and 10 miles at marathon pace Wednesday, and 2 weight training days? So 28 miles right before a ½. Probably not the best idea.  Or, blame it on the weather? It was hot, humid, and gross. My chaffed sports bra lines can show you that for sure.  My legs ached the entire time, even hinging on cramping, especially around miles 7-9. Or maybe it is because this isn’t fun for me right now? I’m more or less running scared. I had a lot of issues last year,Plantar Fasciitis, I have very little cartilage in my knees (thank you dad, he doesn’t either), I have a random hip issue stemming from no cushioning in my bottom two vertebrates (like what happens to 70% of people over the age of 65, except I have it now). I know… I may sound like a whiney excuse maker, but it’s the reality of the situation. So I hope this doesn’t cause your eyes to roll at me. So really I’m not sure… but either way, I should be happier about finishing a ½ marathon than I am.  Boooooo hiss on this attitude but I can’t shake it!!

I have tried everything. EVERYTHING!! Rereading race stories of people, looking over my plan, making changes, looking at the shiny medal I would get at Louisiana Marathon, positive self-talk, negative talk, self-bribery, sarcasm, rest, breaks, I even at this point would pay someone to run next to me the entire time. Takers?? Anyone? Bueller… Bueller?

As of right now, I am NOT going to run the Louisiana Marathon. My heart has also never really been in this race, which to me makes it wayyyy harder. I have refused to let myself get excited (revert back to running scared, White Rock Marathon memories, pain, disappointment). I say this, but I have not gone as far as to change my race, or really even stop training. I have looked at a few other plans, more “finish” a marathon type plans, instead of what we have been doing, that have a few less miles.

The main huge issue is I just truly don’t think my body likes anything over 13.1 miles. I have just now started to feel those issues pop up that kind of remain bearable running under 13. Really half training is not bad on my body, but upper mileage just starts to cause everything to freak out. I’m still sore on Thursday from Sunday long runs. Everything hurts, and every remedy doesn’t work, ice baths, foam rolling, stretching, adult beverages… ha. Nothing. It just feels like crap. This doesn’t happen for a half. I mean it does but NOT to the same level, and it requires way fewer miles per week to run. Duh, half!   So I am not sure if it is “worth it.” I can do it, but what will I feel like after, what will my body do? Can it handle the rest of training and the run? Maybe I’ll just play it on feel? Can you train like that?? UGH!

I could run another marathon… and finish… I think. But I don’t know how fast, how happy, how painful/painless it will be, what damage will be done… etc? Am I supposed to drop to a half and not ever attempt the distance again to “save” my body/mind, so that I’ll actually keep running.

Am I a weenie?

Then to add further confusion to this madness. I am not a lone runner. I have a race buddy. A badass race buddy. I don’t want to not do it and her do it alone, train alone, be out there alone. Not that she wouldn’t be anyways… I’m slower (and ps I’ve known this forever, check out the about us page, so this is not it either) Don’t worry I have run that option through my mind as being a “mental” reason for this. It’s not.  But you get the point. Also that jealous streak sets in of “I’m so close to this person, and she can do it, and I don’t feel I can.” (race distance not speed) Ouch… but it’s true, and you all know what I am talking about. We are human. So yea… I don’t know what to do.

Do I just need to become a bike rider?

So there you have it. My sad whiney, god only knows what rant.

What would YOU do?

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Happy Half-a-versary to LiAR

December 11, 2012 by · 12 Comments

Let’s just start by saying good Lord this was an early and long morning. Ok, fine, we’ve gotten up earlier for Disney races, but still. Everything said you should NOT be in downtown Dallas later than 6 a.m. Fiiine, cue alarm clocks going off in the 4 o’clock hour. Beth picked up Teal at 5 a.m. and we were in a parking spot by 5:30 a.m. So there we were with 2.5 hours to kill before the start of the race. Our early arrival insured us an awesome parking spot and first use of port-a-potties!

The corrals and port-a-potties all to ourselves!

The corrals and port-a-potties all to ourselves!

Portapotty

It’s normal to be this excited about a port-a-potty, right?!

Thankfully we realized the Luebs were down there just as early as us. More people to entertain ourselves! Then of course it was time to head to our corral where we found even more frunners to hang with before the official start.

LiAR before the race!

LiAR before the race!

Frunners in Corral A!!

Frunners in Corral A!! Photo courtesy of Heidi

Teal: I, for the first time in a while, prepared for this race in terms of, eating right the few days before, getting enough sleep before, laid out my clothes, painted my finger nails, downloaded a new playlist…etc. I reallllly wanted this race to go well. I said I didn’t need to PR and I still say that, but I did want it to feel good. You know like, those runs that almost feel effortless. I haven’t had a single one since the marathon. I wanted one just as a boost of confidence. NOPE. Fail, giant zero. This didn’t feel good. It felt like work, and I did work.

I really had debated this week’s training runs. We were scheduled for 10 at Marathon pace on Thursday. I decided to still do the run, thinking more long term to the marathon, and decided to run it a day earlier, and then rest my legs until Sunday. I figured it would be ok, but I didn’t know. Running a half marathon with 28 miles on your legs that week was probably not the best idea. I really didn’t think much of it, apparently I have more faith in my legs than they have in themselves, I thought they would recover. I don’t think they did.

Beth: So it was kind of important to me to do all that I could to make a potential PR happen at this race. This means I skipped my 10 mile run at marathon pace on Thursday. A big oops there since it goes against one of my December goals. Brent and I actually had two Birthday parties we wanted to go to the night before which had me eating a sushi dinner – not my norm, but at this point with food I don’t really have tons of issues. *knock on wood* Something I don’t take for granted, trust me! When I didn’t get full from sushi I ate goldfish on the way to the next Birthday party.  I made Brent take the bag of goldfish away so I wouldn’t eat them all, but I was still hungry. Which resulted in me stealing part of someone’s spinach quesadilla. Haha. Not my typical night before a race! Oh and not to mention we hit traffic going home, so I definitely got to bed later than I had anticipated.

Miles 1-4

Teal: These actually felt good, my pace was good, I felt like I could keep it, my legs didn’t feel bad. It was super super humid 90% and even on some accounts I saw 100% humidity and close to 70 degrees. And huge eye roll to those who say perfect running conditions. Nope. They are not; try 50 degrees, no humidity. I’ll take that. I was drenched by mile 4 and my hair was sticking to me. LOVED running over Large Marge (also known as the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge). Love that bridge and it’s a great addition to Dallas. Brian L. was at 4 to cheer us on with Mama C, Fiona and Dat! Boost of energy!!

photo courtesy of Mama C which means she's not in it :( Dat, Fiona & Brian L.

photo courtesy of Mama C which means she’s not in it 🙁 Dat, Fiona & Brian L.

photo courtesy of Mama C

photo courtesy of Mama C

Beth: Back to my goals again, I said I wanted to run a strong race and I knew that had to start from the beginning. I told myself this wasn’t the Turkey Trot and I’m not about to start being a crazy people dodger. I did the bare minimum to go by people slower than me. I kept making a conscious effort to see how I felt and slow down if necessary. My mind was also all, look! Old Red where I got married. Look! Belmont Hotel where your Bachelorette Party was and the Shepard Fairey mural you took some engagement pictures in front of that! I knew after I crossed Large Marge I’d see my first set of familiar faces and was ready to see them too!  And I looooved hearing Mama C call me Beeper at this point! Pumped me up!

photo courtesy of Mama C

photo courtesy of Mama C

Miles 5-8

Teal: Love, loved, loved running passed Scottish Rite. I love that hospital and spent a ton of time there in High school. I volunteered in Child Life my senior year, and in other areas of the hospital my Junior year. Patients and parents were outside cheering us all on. This was new and a totally good addition.

I start to feel more pain in my legs at this point. I feel labored and pretty stiff. My calf muscles were really tight and my quads ached. I just wanted to stay steady. I saw my husband and Brent around 6 and high 5’ed them. Wasn’t expected to actually see them so that was super awesome! I ended up getting super tied up at the water station around 7. I actually just stopped. It was a cluster. I think I probably spent 2 minutes here dealing with the madness. My music stopped playing and it was in my skirt zip pouch in the back. I couldn’t get it out or then back in. I asked a spectator to help me get it fixed. I think she was like “what in the world do you want me to do?” I was annoyed here and the stop made me stiffer. BONUS!!

Beth: Parts of this section of the course were similar to the past two years. Um, so I kind of just blew by Scottish Rite without paying attention.  Oops? I think I was just really determined and focused that I really kept to myself a lot this race and I might not have survived had I not done so.  I only really expended extra energy 3 times and it was each of the 3 times I saw familiar faces. Well, I guess, I expended energy in trying to see my husband which I never did. :-/ But gah, that looking for him in the crowds was tiring me out.  That’s probably just the weather factor right there. I kept thinking in this stretch, why didn’t I ask him w hat he’d be wearing? Why didn’t we figure out a mile for him to be in? I did know that Rebekah would be right around the split of the half and the full, so I kept looking for her father-in-law since he’s much taller than her. 🙂  Loved getting that high five from her at that point it totally pumped me up. Also, the wind that was occurring in random bouts during this part pumped me up as well!

Miles 8-10

Teal: I was looking everywhere for people. I thought Rebekah would be here and she was but I missed her. It really does kind of make you dizzy to find people while you are running. Which leads me to another weird thing about this race, it NEVER thinned out. It was seriously thick with people the entire time. This surprised me and it almost felt like maybe the streets were skinnier this year. I’m feeling very labored at this point and I really just wanted to stop. My legs are tight, super tight, and this is affecting the way my knee works. It always has affected it, and I have had some issues recently with the longer runs. Post runs it will hurt to even touch. This is what is happening now around 9ish. I really just want to get done and it was somewhere around this point I see the 2:10 pacer on the loop around and just said, stay in front of him and I’ll be happy.

Beth: I had known where the mile 8 sign was because we had already run by it and the split was really us running down the other side of part of the street we had just run up.  In my mind I was just trying to get to the last 5K get there and you go this.  I was going back and forth between you could PR!! It’s not happening today! Either way I knew I just need to keep going. Then I saw Brian E. in here, yelled at him but you know just to get his attention not in angry way and was glad to see a familiar face right then and there! Thanks for being out there Brian!

Miles 11-13

Teal: Just really wanted to be done. I really had no desire to keep going except I just wanted to be done. I think my shoes are too big too… I’m running this stretch just thinking of stupid things like “ I want to eat at El Fenix, can I actually ride the escalator at Ross Perot, can I have a mimosa when I’m done, how close are we, if I was a snake my feet wouldn’t hurt, why am I not Harry Potter or Meb, or a super speedy runner, what am I going to eat for lunch next week.” I just kept thinking of the dumbest stuff to make the time go. Also, while I do *think* I like this course, it has a lot of uphill, I clearly was on another planet for the down hills because I don’t remember them. Dallas is a big city, I hated the little loopy out and back thing we did between 12 and 13, there is plenty of room to not do that, it was such a tease too, because you could see the finish line and you still had to run up and around for about .70 of a mile. Lame.

photo courtesy of Brian L.

photo courtesy of Brian L.

Beth: It should also be noted that my thought process was kind of similar to Teal’s here – what is this new restaurant next to El Fenix? I wonder if it’s good?? We should try it sometime! Anyway, and then here’s where we make our back into downtown.  Here’s where I start thinking, man, I didn’t actually give the course map a good lookin’ at, did I? Surely they wouldn’t give us a hill right here before the mile 12 marker? But we are coming into downtown from this side it’s pretty much inevitable there WILL be a hill right here. And I’m kind of glad I figured that out so I could back off my pace a little and make it to the top of that hill alive. The out and back thing was miserable and I kept wondering if people would just cut it? Haha. It was also in this stretch I saw a runner laying on the ground and being worked on by EMTs.  I have no idea what the outcome of that was but in that moment it made my heart heavy for sure!

13.1

Teal: Done and I stayed under 2:10. Not bad and really in retrospect pretty good for my week’s work itself. Not disappointed in time because that is about average for me. I am more disappointed in the feel of it, how labored it was, and the fact that my knee proceeded to be in throbbing pain for well over an hour after and then just dull pain even as I type this a day later. Damn knee…. Anyone want to trade??

Beth: Somehow, someway I had a last little kick to give at the end. You better believe I crossed that finish line with my arms up in the air.  I knew I was teetering the line because I’d heard my Runkeeper tell me I’d hit the 1:55 mark however many yards back.  So I immediately got out my phone, got on twitter to look up Brent’s twitter (I’d set his to tweet my time) and saw that I had PR’d by 11 seconds!!!! Holy crap!  Later that day I looked online at the official results which put my time at a 12 second PR. WHOOP! I had opted to wear my Aggie ring to this race and try and take some of good juju that was out there from Johnny Football winning the Heisman! 🙂

We did it! Half marathon no. 15 for the two of us and two years of racing under out belts!

with MK! We are so awesome that we are standing in number and height order!

with MK! We are so awesome that we are standing in number and height order!

Us with Melvin! We can't even tell you how much his encouragement and support means to su!

Us with Melvin! We can’t even tell you how much his encouragement and support means to us!

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Going Back to Where it All Started

December 7, 2012 by · 10 Comments

This weekend we will be running the race that started it all for us as Life is a Run…well, kinda.  We say kinda because they changed the name on us from White Rock Marathon to Dallas Marathon and the race course is very different.  Not to mention the starting line is no longer in Fair Park, but that’s been the case in years past since this race did start in 1971 and this wouldn’t be the first time the start is actually in downtown Dallas.

Excuse us while we steal a couple words from some of our frunners (stolen word #1 – credit to Mama C), but there’s one frunner in particular, Michelle, who just had her half-a-versary (stolen word #2) and we are about to have our’s!  Hearing that phrase from MK really puts this coming weekend into perspective.  Because really this weekend is kind of a big deal in our world or at least a reflection on where we started and just how far we have come since 2010.

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2010 when we became half marathoners!

We both had been runners in different times of our lives, but 2010 was when Teal asked Beth if she wanted to run a half with her, a distance neither one of us had come close to running.  It’s cute to think now how we use to run for time not for distance, you know like, long run this weekend is running for an hour and a half – oh my!  It’s also cute to think how neither one of us ran with a phone or any device with GPS.  We ran on feel alone. Ohhhh how the times have changed!  And who would have thought in 2011 we’d come back to run White Rock Marathon as our first marathon!? By the time we come back this year to toe the line at the half marathon distance it will be our 15th half marathon upon it’s completion.

In 2010, we had pretty much the perfect weather and little did we know that we were actually going to be spoiled by that.  We would like to pat ourselves on the pack for actually starting our first ever half in very appropriate running gear.  Yes, in the above picture we have fleeces on but we had Michael, Brent & Kate holding onto all of that for us while we ran.  Then 2011, for this very week leading up to the marathon we were both panicked.  WHAT?! Rain on marathon day??  What will we wear? What do we need?  Well, we learned lessons from that one. You could read about them here.

Teal finish photo

Teal becoming a Marathoner!

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Beth becoming a Marathoner!

It’s race week once again for White Rock/Dallas Marathon and per usual we have no idea what we are going to wear because we are pretty sure the projected forecast for Sunday has changed in some form or fashion each day this week. We mentioned in our weekend post how we’d hit a record high last Sunday in the 80’s. Well, we’ve had chances of a cold front coming through Sunday and we’ve had highs of 77 or something like that, so we’ll just have to see how it all plays out. As long as there isn’t rain we should be good! 🙂

In pre-race posts of the past we’ve given you a goal and we are going to kind of do that for you here.  Our individual thoughts, expectations and what not going into Dallas Marathon this weekend –

Teal: I am actually for the first time in a while nervous about a race. I usually just go and run and that is that. I know for a fact that I can make 13.1, clearly!  I haven’t set goals for a while because they started to have the opposite effect on me and they weren’t motivating. I am nervous because I do really want/need this race to go well. It is the last one before the Marathon… dun dun dun. AND I seriously, as dumb as it sounds, am still stuck on how completely and totally crappy last year was for this race (i know it was the full), but still and that has carried over into my marathon training. Sooo really if I was goal setting, my goal is to have an awesome race and to gain some confidence going into the Marathon, confidence that I pretty much do not have right now. I don’t even need a PR, I just want my race to feel good. How to make that happen?? I don’t know. So there goal set. Wish me luck.

Beth: White Rock Half 2010 holds my half marathon PR.  The closest I’ve come to my 1:56:39 PR was at Big D this past April, but I was still 34 seconds away from my PR.  I want so bad to beat that and I want to say that I could do it this weekend, but I just don’t know if I can. I’d like to run a smart race where I definitely do not start out too fast and have enough left in me to speed across that finish line.  I’m afraid of making “get a new PR this weekend” a goal because I’m not fully sure I can do it.  All year I though I’d come back to this race and conquer it with a new PR, but when I heard about them changing up the course it kind of changed things for me a little bit. So just like Teal is nervous, this goal I so want is making me nervous for race day Sunday.

So there you have it some of our reflections as we run our Half-a-versary race this weekend and what we think going into it.  Bring on half marathon no. 15 for #LiAR!  May the speed be with us!

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Oh, Marathon Training Weekends!

December 3, 2012 by · 6 Comments

We had a good weekend full of lots of time together which included some fun, some productivity and some running! A little bit of everything and maybe a rare weekend of finding balance with it all?

Friday: 

We drove to Ft. Worth to hang out with our friend Mandy! For anyone who doesn’t live in the DFW area you might not know that these two places are not exactly as close and one would think. We left Brent & Beth’s house around 6 and after dealing with traffic the ENTIRE time, we finally made it to dinner around 7:30, but it was totally worth the wait.

We ate at Winslow’s Wine Café, which was an old gas station converted to a nursery, then later this awesome wine bar! If you ever go we recommend the pita bread and hummus. There is something secretly amazing about their pita! Just trust us and get it.

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We headed to Gingerman afterwards to hang out some more! Duh, plus why would we waste a trip to Ft. Worth to only staying like 2 hours?

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We closed that place down, well sorta, our oldness and the fact that we were up early, and just the fact that we were at the end of a long week, we left….around 1 a.m.!  We did last awhile considering we did have to make the trek back to the Dallas side of the metroplex upon leaving.

We decided to make a short stop by the Ft. Worth Museum of Modern art because this cool guy, Companion, is still displayed outside. What he is we aren’t really sure, Teal & Michael even went to the artist’s lecture about him and, yea not sure. Giant under 21 crazy Mickey Mouse? Perhaps we need Michael’s input on this one?

See Beth mimicking him!

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Saturday: Rest? Recover, Errands!

Teal headed to Luke’s Locker to solve her shoe crisis. The poor guy there had to suffer as she tried on like every shoe in the store. She ended up with these bad boys. Please God make them work better!

saucony shoes

Saucony Ride 5

 

 

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Beth finally got her birthday present! What’d she get? You guessed it! A bathroom cabinet, duh! Who doesn’t get one for these for their birthday?! We don’t have a picture of it,but it’s a lovely white cabinet that Brent and maybe his dad can put up over the master bathroom toilet. Hooray more storage space!

Sunday: Long Run

We headed to White Rock earlier than we have been lately. Last marathon training we got up early every Saturday and ran early. This time we have spoiled ourselves with later runs. Beth grabbed Teal at 7 and we headed to the lake. It was a nice day, overcast mostly, but still warm for Texas. We actually hit a record warm Sunday if that tells you anything.  This is a nice place to break up an 18 mile run since each lap is right at 9 miles.

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We actually saw a bunch of people we know to keep it entertaining. Katie (you might remember her from this blog or even from here), Catherine from North Texas Runners and The Kennemers a.k.a. #TeamK!!

We also have a PSA to all the bikers out there. We highly HIGHLY recommend that you steer clear of the white race kits. We got to experience the not so pretty butt crack of a rather larger biker. Trust us on this on bikers, stick to the darker colors.

The birds were seriously crazy! It was right at this part of the lake that Mr. K ran up behind Teal and was like “looks like a harbor” it was awesome. Huge white birds everywhere. This pictures doesn’t really do it justice but it was awesome.

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Teal decided to call it over at 15 and Beth made it the full 18! Then we headed for brunch at Campisi’s where we got to enjoy a couple of these!

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Mimosa reward!

I’d say we were super busy and productive! Next up? Week 10 of marathon training! And looking forward to Dallas Marathon (but just the half) this weekend!

How was YOUR weekend??

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Turkey’s Done!

November 29, 2012 by · 6 Comments

Some races just get complicated by life events.  We know some of you out there know what we are saying!  This Thanksgiving brought some firsts for both of us.

For Beth it was the first time that she and Brent actually spent Thanksgiving together, so we were finally forced to figure out how we would get time with each of our families.  We spent it with his family and they start earlier than my family does and my family had Thanksgiving at the house I lived in for the past 3 years so doing a race and getting ready for family was no big deal.  This year I had barely any time.  And why does the Turkey Trot start at 9 a.m.?! I didn’t remember it starting so late.  I vote we go with 8 a.m. next year! OK? OK!  And isn’t it cute how in my world 9 a.m. is now late? Haha

For Teal, well, we will just share with you the lists of things that includes firsts and therefore annoyances with Thanksgiving. 🙂

1. My dad did not come from Maryland (like he was going to) and I had to make a turkey (instead of my dad making it).

2. I had to get up at 5am to deal with stuffing a turkey, which I don’t know how to do so I was automatically stressed. Oh and I had the words of Michael’s cousin in my head, who was being playful but said “Don’t ruin the turkey, you will ruin Thanksgiving” Great.

3. The neck of a raw turkey is absolutely GROSS and I almost gagged and then the intestines bag had a hole and I had to touch the liver. Gag, again.

4. I turned the turkey roasting pan on and I thought it was going to catch on fire, smoke everywhere! Had to send my husband to Wal-Mart to get a new one, and for those of you who may not know I don’t like that place and once pushed one of their front doors off the track. I don’t go there!

5.  I felt bad for waking him up, making him go to that dreaded place, being annoying, and oh, by the way Happy Anniversary,  sorry I suck and can’t cook or read directions… see 6….

6. Turns out it wasn’t actually going to catch on fire, perhaps, read the directions first?

7. I didn’t know what to wear. I know, #firstworldproblems

8. I was going to be late and was afraid Beth would kill me, so then I worried (not that she ever would, but a girl can worry, we are people pleasers)

9. Ohhhh, you need to eat before a race?? I didn’t have any food so I ate Oreos, 2 of them to be exact, and I should have eaten 12.

10. I was starving, that starving where you want to throw up starving.

11. It cost me more money to take money out of the ATM then it actually cost to park.

12. The original $3 parking lot machine wasn’t working, so we couldn’t park there.

13. We drove to $5 lot and it was full.  Full as in the car in front of us got the last spot.

14. I HATE PARKING!

There. I feel much better. WOOOSSSAAAA.

Ok, so after surviving all of that, the two of us and Chase (Beth’s cousin) made it over to the race start.  We all three got hooked up with VIP wristbands so we got to use some nice port-a-potties with a not so ridiculous line.  Ohhh, the little things that make racers happy!

After that it was pretty much time to get lined up to start the race, but oh, yah…they put up a fence that makes it impossible to enter the racing area.  How quickly we forget these things after multiple years of running the same race. Ha!

Mile 1 to 5K Split

Teal: This is like a fun game of  “let’s try not to run any children over, kick a dog, elbow an elderly person, trip over a fire extinguisher, speed bump, or sidewalk,  have to come to a screeching halt every 5 seconds.” It’s sooooo fun. So needless to say, the first part of this race is a complete and total pain, if you would like to run, but I still managed to keep a somewhat decent pace. And just a disclaimer, I know this, and have known this, and still run because I like this race, and will always like this race, it’s just kind of a pain to do. AND I don’t think it will change, so this is more of a statement and not so much a complaint, although I am not sure maybe it’s both! I knew I would not PR at this point and was letting my list of 14 annoying things get to me. I wanted to take the 5k turn off, just wait for Beth and Chase and be done with it all but I didn’t. Just run the stinking race, and get happy.

The sea of people before the start of the race

Beth:  Maybe I’m a jerk for saying this, but while the 3 of were trying to get into the starting area I made probably the comment I make every year “why don’t they let the timed racers start in the front? or why don’t they start the 5K and 8 mile in waves?”  This man next to me informed me that “the mat will pick up your time when you cross it!” WHAT?! It will?? Haha, bless his heart. I am pretty sure that every year in the first about 2.5ish miles of this race I ask myself why am I running this race?? I hate this!  I’m fairly use to going out and running around White Rock Lake and hearing cyclist say “on your left” so I just decided to use that with the walkers.  Man the people that come out to the Turkey Trot spa-read themselves out on those streets!  This race always makes me think that people need to go through a Common Courtesies of Race Course before they can embark on their first race.  Not that that will ever happen.

5K Split to Finish

Teal: LESS CROWDS! We lost half the race to the 5k turn off! Yippee!! I actually got in a better mood, ran a lot faster and didn’t feel as pissed. This is the best reason to run! They changed the course and I liked the change in the long run, but not as it was happening. It was way hillier than it was last year, but we didn’t have to run through a very boring part of Dallas. This change made the race feel fast at the end.  I really was trying to pick up my pace to overcome the first 2.5 but I just felt like it was not going to happen. I ended up being annoyed (theme of the day) with this women who kept on running at my shoulder up the hills and would then linger back to keep doing it again. I was determined to make her go away so my last 2 miles were about and 8ish to 8:30 minute pace, where I had been running more at a 9:30 min pace. My last mile was 8:03, which is fast for me, mainly to be done and away from the lady.

Overall it was not bad and I am glad I ran and I am still very proud of my time. It was not a PR and it was not as bad as 3 years ago so there! That’s a win in my book. And despite everything, I would and will still run this again, BUT I will not cook a Turkey, which will then make me less stressed and annoyed. MARK MY WORDS PEOPLE!

The sea of people after the race and a little bit of downtown Dallas

Beth: Ahhhh, this is why I run this race! It is amazing how much a 5K split can change things!  Not long after the split off we ran by where Brent and I got married which put a big smile on my face! 🙂  I had started noticing some small changes in course and was really hopeful that this one area would be cut out.  It was! I remember thinking the last few years on the last few miles being like when is this going to be over?  But this year it just seemed like it was over in no time.  That was when I remembered the trickster finish line they have! Haha, you see the start line and think, almost there!  You aren’t your going to fork to the right, go up a small but long  incline then keeeeeep going even though you already started your last minute sprint to the end and then BAM! you’re done. According to my runkeeper I had an overall pace of 8:35 for the race.  Also according to my runkeeper I ran 8.36 miles which makes me wonder how much of that is extra mileage from my dodging at the beginning, and then there is always one area in downtown where the GPS gets off.  Don’t start telling me how GPS systems are not always 100% accurate because I know!  And please don’t start talking to me about running tangents because, again, I know.  And I”m also admitting that the dodging of people in the beginning was me probably adding on some extra mileage.  Pretty much like Teal said this is a race where you get frustrated in the beginning, but ultimately the annoyances get overpowered by the last two thirds of the race roughly.  It is a great race and great that it brings so many people out together to get some activity in before a full day of eating far too much!

So, Capital One Bank Dallas YMCA Turkey Trot (that is a mouthful), we will see you again next year!

Results:

Teal: 1:15:33, finished 73rd in age group and 1,850 overall

Beth: 1:11:36, finished 66th in my age group and 1,396 over all

Filed Under: Races Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

A LiAR Christmas List

November 27, 2012 by · 6 Comments

So Black Friday and Cyber Monday have come in gone, but we bet you are still shopping for your friends and family for Christmas.  We are definitely still shopping!

This holiday season we decided to compile our own list of running gear we would love for Santa to bring us on Christmas morning! 🙂

1. Flipbelt – Who isn’t always looking for the perfect way to carry everything you might need on a run? Ever since Courtney told us both about these we’ve been dying to get our hands on one for each of us.  Of course a lot of the other belts out there for carrying around personal items we haven’t tried, but this one has completely got our attention!  For $24.99 it’s not a bad belt to try out, right?

 

 

2. Brisk Run Headband – This is one item if Santa wants to get it, he better get on it!  It’s currently on FINAL SALE at Lululemon! Eeeee!! We still get our fair share of cold weather down here in Texas that we should own at least one of this….or two or three! You can never have too many colors! 🙂

3. Compete Every Day Hoodie – This isn’t the first time we’ve mentioned CED on our blog and it probably won’t be the last time.  We love this Dallas based company – love what they stand for, their quality workout apparel and awesome customer service.  When they started advertising this hoodie we both immediately wanted it! Santa, we’ll take a small and a medium, please!

 

4. Point 6 Socks – These socks rock!  Beth had the opportunity to snag a free pair when she was shopping for her dad for some new socks for when he is active.  Definitely fell in love and the thin layer of wool in them really does help prevent blisters!  Great stocking stuffer right here!  This is also another company with fabulous customer service.

 

5. Daily Om Duffel – Sometimes you just need a new gym bag! Right? And right now Lululemon has the peeeerfect colors for the two of us! We are trying to figure out however why they named the Teal bag the color that they did instead of just using the awesome name of Teal!  Beth is still obsessed with grey since it was one of her wedding colors, so don’t you think we *need* these bags?! Haha

 

There are always a lot of things out there we’d love to try and test out ourselves, but then we probably wouldn’t have any money to enter any of the races we hope to run!  We also are in no way being compensated for this blog rather we simply wanted to share with YOU items that have caught our eyes!

What are you asking for this holiday season? Do you have a fellow runner you are buying for – what are you getting them?  We want to know!

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