Asbury Park Half Marathon

This year's AP half was an "uneventful event" for me. I didn't get to see my running pals before or after the race for some pre and post race pics, which bites. I told my husband and son to stay home b/c my son is just getting over being sick and I thought rest was best. So I had no family to cheer me on throughout the course. Pity party, pity party!

The "expo" in Convention Hall wasn't all that great. I was a bit dizzy after the race and just needed FOOD, and I get in the expo only to find Jersey Mike's subs, water and gatorade. Thanks Jersey Mike's for donating subs, that is awesome, but for a vegetarian like me, a turkey sub isn't gonna make the cut! Where are the bagels? Apples? Bananas?

Like I said, I was a bit dizzy and my eyes couldn't adjust to the lighting(or lack thereof) in the expo after running with the sun in my face for over 2 hours, but I didn't see any food but the subs. And the woman who checks for your yellow wristband before entering the expo(without it you need to pay $10 to get in) was NOT HAPPY when I said I left my wristband in the car. Hello lady! Can't you see I just ran this race? I am wearing my race bib and Tilly medal and I have encrusted sweat all over my face and neck and I don't smell too pretty....now just let me in the expo before I pass out!

I grabbed a water, looked around at the vendor tables for a freebie granola bar/cereal bar/energy bar -SOMETHING-but to no avail.

Oh, I also forgot to mention that I got to the race at 8:13...it started at 8:30. YIKES I AM NEVER THIS LATE TO A RACE! I ran to the bathroom line, somehow got in and out and to the back of the pack for the start with a minute to spare.

I parked in front of Asbury Lanes, which is looking pretty sad from the outside.

                                                           Here I am after the race!

Here's my bib and medal. Kinda hard to take a pic of yourself!

Overall the weather was AWESOME for running and I somehow clocked in at an average pace of

9 minute 43 second miles, finishing the race in 2 hours, 6 min and 49 seconds according to my Garmin.

I seriously have no idea how I ran that fast(this is fast for me, the fastest half I have ever done). I didn't train this fast, I didn't get to this race telling myself I was going to kick butt, and I didn't do anything different before the race. I ate my Luigi's pizza the night before and had my Luna bar on race morning, just like I always do. Well I am NOT complaining, I am just shocked that I cut 5 minutes off my best race time, which was last year's AP Half.

Thanks to Casi for keeping me running every weekend. She ran this race with her son, which makes me teary-eyed. That's so cool, I can't wait to do that with my guy one day! It was so cool to see my other racing pals on the course and screaming and waving at each other, and to see my friends' families at different points of the race cheering and taking pics.

Now to focus on the Long Branch half which is like 2 weeks away, and then.....PHILLY FULL!

Running in the HEAT

So it was only 75 degrees according to my car's thermostat, although the bank on the way home said 79. I wanted to get 3-4 miles in, just maintence before the half this weekend. By mile 2.5 my head started to throb. Just a little, but still, it was there, that throb in the forehead that I became all too familiar with in all my summer runs last year(and the year before that...).
I am not sure why this happens(I mean besides the obvious - it's HOT out there and I am exercising in it) and I wish I knew if other runners get the "throb" and what they do about it.
I looked in the mirror about 25 minutes after the run and my face was beet red! My face normally gets a bit red after a long run, but nothing like this.
Yes I drank my water before, during and after the run, and I even had 3 sports beans mid-way(just because, not like I really needed them in the middle of a 4 mile run) and still the throb found it's way to my forehead.
I feel fine now, hours later, and it didn't become a headache, soooo, does this ever happen to any of you? And what do you do about it?
With the Asbury Park half quickly approaching, and the Long Branch half two weeks later, I am a bit scared of what the weather could entail during these races.  This should be interesting!

Running Faster, and Without Headphones

So lately I have been running without my headphones(I brought my music out with me on EVERY run, and that was just the way it was) and I've been trying to increase my speed. The trees are in full bloom around here and taking in the sights and sounds around me just seemed like a good idea. I've realized, though, that the music does help me go longer.  With the music I can get in that extra mile, but without it, I am spent.

I read a great book(over 500 pages - now that's a feat in itself for me!) and I thought about it during two of my last runs. The Art of Fielding is the book by the way, and it was great. Two of the main characters are really into baseball(they play college ball) and it's not a hobby, it's a lifestyle for them. It consumes them, and literally makes them who they are, changes their personality, or better yet, ingrains their personality traits even more into their brains, even the traits they may wish they didn't have.

Anyway, these two characters take practice to a whole new level, and everytime I wanted to run slower or for less time, I would tell myself, "Shwartz and Henry wouldn't just give up! Keep running, and go faster...because you know they would go til they puked, and you are nowhere near puking right now!" and that would be my reminder to myself that I could go on, I wasn't at the end. Funny how I've made these "characters" into real people, as though they are somehow a part of my life.

I have taken off a couple seconds from each mile, which is nice, and today's 9 miles didn't seem to "fatigue" me like it usually does...so that's a good sign as well.

Getting back to my book, there's an excerpt that I can't get out of my head, so I figured I would share it with all of you:
You told me once that a soul isn't something a person is born with but something that must be built, by effort and error, study and love. And you did that with more dedication than most, that work of building a soul - not for your own benefit but for the benefit of those who knew you.

I like that. I think someone needs to say that about me someday.  :) Happy running! Hope to see some of you at the Asbury Park marathon this coming weekend. I will be doing 13.1 miles, and I can't wait!

Random things that may or may not have to do with RUNNING

I needed to get out of the house today and into the sun's shining light. I didn't feel the need to run(and runners, you know when you NEED to run) but I just needed to be out there, and outside of my thoughts. They've been taking over lately and this past week I've just been thinking and eating, and eating and thinking. Yes I got a run or two in, but not enough to negate the ice cream and the entire box of Famous Amos chocolate chip pecan cookies(hey, I didn't eat them in one sitting...I ate them in two sittings)and the sleeve of Ritz crackers that I bought for my son(he said they were too crumbly, and I couldn't let them go to waste )

Much has happened over the past 2 weeks. Too many acquaintances have passed away. Like 3 to be exact, and all of them under the age of 40. My heart aches for their families, and I don't want to imagine what they must be going through.

There are two things that I can't deal with very well -  death and suffering children

I can't stop thinking about the guy who murdered his daughter by throwing her out of the car window, or the guy who hit his daughter in the face with a brick(both of these happened right here in my neck of the woods) and then my husband tells me about the sicko teacher in California. I can't even THINK about that story and what he did to those children. And the dad who killed his two sons by blowing up their home...what was his name...Powell?

I don't watch the news(we don't have traditional tv, so I really truly don't watch the news, I can only watch whatever is on Netflix, so my days are filled with Fresh Beat Band repeats and Super Why). I get "news" from Facebook or from what friends and family tell me. I think I've been happier since we switched to Netflix-only tv. I remember when I taught kindergarten and a mom told me at our parent-teacher conference that they didn't have a tv in their home because it made her husband too depressed. I didn't get it back then. I thought they were kinda weird actually, I mean who doesn't have tv? Now I get it. I really, really get it.

So I took my son out for a walk in the jog stroller. Remind me to never trust the weather(which I have to look up online, since I don't have tv, remember?) b/c it stated "today is much warmer than yesterday" which was bull. Luckily I put the heavy coat on my son and I had a blanket in the car. So I wrapped him up and we walked 3 miles. He wanted to get out around 2.75 miles, and he was so cute running down this hill, throwing a rock along the trail and looking back at me all smiley. At one point he ran over to me and puckered up his lips for a kiss. I guess that was his thank you for this fun time we were having. That's been weighing on my mind as well. Knowing that next year I won't be a stay-at-home mom anymore. I know we'll still have great moments like this, but they won't be as often. How can they be? I will be working full-time, and he'll be at school full-time. That's sad. Time does fly, and he keeps growing up. I want him to stay innocent. I want the wackos of the world to stay away from my family. I want him to be safe and happy. I want to live in a bubble. But like Dori says to Marlin in Finding Nemo..."if you never let anything happen to him, then nothing's ever gonna happen to him."

Top 20 Favorite Running Songs

Here's a list of some of my favorite running songs. They really get me moving, especially when I am on the DREADMILL and I just want to get done, I put these on and go my fastest. :) Please feel free to share yours with me in the comment section! Thanks!



1 Remember the Name -Fort Minor featuring Styles of Beyond
2 New Jack Hustler(Nino's Theme)-Ice T
3 Where's Your Head At -Basement Jaxx
4 Go Hard or Go Home-E-40
5 Black Betty-Spiderbait
6 Run the World(Girls)-Beyonce
7 Just the Way You Are-Bruno Mars
8 Low(feat. T-Pain)-Flo Rida
9 Sunset(Bird of Prey)-Fatboy Slim
10 Real Gone(from Cars)-Sheryl Crow
11 Start the Commotion-The WiseGuys
12 Viva La Vida - Coldplay
13 Mrs Orleans -Trombone Shorty
14 Simply Irresistible -Robert Palmer
15 Mountain Man-Crash Kings
16 Drop the World- Lil Wayne & Eminem
17 Monkey Wrench -Foo Fighters
18 Jai Ho -Slumdog Millionaire Soundtrack
19 Captain Future -Tunnel Allstars
20 Hey, Man! - Nelly Furtado

Thanks Sunshine Kids!!!(aka Diono Company)

So it was a lovely 50 something degrees here today(which is unusual for New Jersey in mid-January) so I decided to get the jog stroller out of the basement and take my baby boy(well, he's almost 4, but he'll always be my baby boy) out for a run. He hasn't been in the stroller for months, so I wasn't sure how this would go down.
I told him if he was a good boy in the stroller that I would take him to the playground afterwards. He ended up being pretty good, except for the "I want Chex Mix, Mommy.....no, I want cookies.....give me my water bottle please....." so I did have to stop several times, but hey, I got in 3.75 miles on the boardwalk, so no complaints here(And let's not forget the .75 miles it took to walk to the playground and back....hey, every little bit counts, right?!).
Halfway through the run, my Sunshine Kids Buggy Buddy decided to break! See picture below where the left side strap is MISSING! Down went my water bottle, keys, and my NEW IPHONE! Luckily everything was all in one piece, but I had to hold the pouch up for the rest of the run b/c I had nowhere else to store my stuff on my son's Jogstroller City Elite.

I called Sunshine Kids(which is now Diono) and without having to tell the woman WHEN I bought the caddy or from what vendor(it was from Amazon.com btw, and I probably purchased it about 2 yrs ago) she took down my name and address and said a new one would be coming in the mail shortly! Now that is great customer service!

So this is it-How the running began

So this is it, I've been running for about 3 years, and it's time I document my going-ons. I never ran before, unless it was to catch the Little Jimmy Italian Ice truck(and yes they carried ice cream and yes that's what I would order....two scoops of chocolate ice cream, chocolate sprinkles, in a cone).
Sometimes I ran when my friends and I played "manhunt" and I didn't want to get caught by the opposing team, but that was in 5th grade, so not sure that counts either.

 I also joined an intramural basketball team in 5th grade, but my dad came to one of the games and said my face was "too red." He had the coaches pull me out of the game, and that was that. I also scored a basket(or two or three) for the opposing team, so the coaches didn't really try to convince my dad that a red face(more like slightly flushed) was normal and that I should without a doubt continue to play.

In high school I got big, and by the age of 19 I was fitting into the "big girl" jeans. How big, you ask? Well, let's just say my boyfriend at the time bought me a purple velour sweatsuit from Lane Bryant for Christmas one year, and when I tried it on to prove to him that I was way too small for "those" clothes, the pants were a bit too snug, and I looked like Barney and I just wanted to cry. But I did nothing about the weight for like 2 years. I ended up joining Weight Watchers and that really helped. But as for exercise, I did some during my Weight Watchers phase, but never ever did I run. Sweating on purpose seemed ridiculous to me.

After I had my son, a mommy friend told me to join her running group. She said it was a bunch of other moms, and that they were starting a new session for "newbies." She convinced me that many of the other moms had NEVER run before either and that I would fit right in. So I decided to give it a try. Hey, it was "me" time...something I wasn't getting any of since having my baby. After our first 3 mile race I was really getting to like this running stuff. I continued with the mommy group, and I think talking to the other moms while we ran together really sealed the deal for me. Here I was, away from the monotony of "househood," talking to other women about anything and everything, and getting exercise too. This was just what I needed, and before I knew it I was hooked.

In the 3+ years of running I have completed many 3 mile races, 5 mile races, about three 10 milers, and 4 Half-Marathons. I am registered for two half marathons for this Spring, and I plan to do a FULL MARATHON in November(fingers crossed!).