Pictures from the Race - not my cutest

I did it!

It's an incredible feeling. And I think I'm hooked. It was SO much fun! If I could skip all of the crappy training and just do races, I would be sold for sure. I loved it. The running culture is so neat all together. It's one of those things you know nothing about until you enter into it - the energy, the people, the fun. People were dressing up crazy for the "Shamrock" theme, everyone's so encouraging. They're just there to have fun. I felt like we were all gathered to do something incredible together. Let me tell you, there were so many shapes and sizes and ages there. I was blown away.

So I'm having a hard time knowing where to start with all of this so I don't miss sharing my whole experience with you....

My morning started early at 5am, yuck. It was still dark. I HATE getting up when it's dark. It's not natural. Here's something funny. I had a superstitious breakfast. It started last week when I ran so well after our 11 mile run. This is what I ate then, so I went out at 8:30 last night and bought it again at the store thinking it would work this time. Feel free to gag. :)

Odwalla Superfood Green Smoothie

Cheddar Cheese Rice Cakes

We arrived at J'aime's house at 6am, well actually 6:10 or so. I'm always running late.

We look sleepy. It was still dark out and sooo cold and windy. The forecast was 39-63 degrees and windy.

Jake was really sleepy. He worked a horrible shift yesterday starting at 8am and didn't get home until 11:45pm. Poor guy got up just to support us and watch me finish!

I'm married to a very sweet man.

We put on our race bibs and time chips and stretched out.

We got to Raley Field around 7am but stayed in our car with the heat on. They told us to plan on getting there around 6:30am so we wouldn't miss the start. It was crazy. Even as we were at the starting line there were tons of cars backed up to get in. I'm so glad we got there early and didn't have to worry about it. It finally got light out around 7:30am.

We got up to Raley Field (our minor league baseball field) and both J'aime and I needed to pee. She waited in this horrendous line and I decided I'd pass and just sweat it out. I honestly thought we wouldn't make the start if we waited in line. Wrong-o! J'aime got to go and I spent my entire run focused on not having an accident.

Yeah, we didn't stand here (below). We were more towards the back. It doesn't start your time until your racing chip goes over the green line, so we were in no hurry. To be honest, I was worried about getting trampled on by the stampede of people. It's really claustrophobic at the start for the 1st mile. Lots of people to dodge and bump into.

And then we ran. And ran. And ran. :)

Before more pictures, some things I don't want to forget about the race...

• I regret not wearing my iPod even though the rules said you couldn't. I really wanted my Nike plus to record my run and wear it (without the headphones), but I was too scared that after all of this training I'd be DQ'd. Guess what? Everyone and their mom wore iPods. I called them jerks everytime they ran by.
• The bands at every couple of miles sucked. It was either kids with wooden recorders, scary monster music, or a saxophonist playing "smooth operator" and "I shot the sheriff". Not really my idea of running music.
• I went back and forth and back and forth about whether or not I would wear my sweatshirt for the race. Remember, it was butt cold out at the start. I'm so glad I did. It was a pretty windy run and so it totally helped. I couldn't feel my hands for about the first 3 miles. At about mile 10 I took it off and wrapped it around my waist. I want to remember this for next year. Did I just say next year? :)
• I should have gone to the bathroom before the race. I went at J'aime's but then I drank my Odwalla and some water. I felt like a race horse with a tied up "you know". A couple of liquid stations had port-o-potties but at each one there were about 10 people in line. I was not going to stop! It was so funny. At the first mile I saw a bunch of people just jumping behind bushes in the race to squat and go.
• J'aime's husband Tim gave us strict coaching, "Fatigue is for cowards. Run the whole thing!" He's so funny. We stuck to it! I can honestly say we didn't stop or walk for the entire race.

I came in 1,863rd place out of 2,644 people recorded.

I know there were over 3,000 that ran, but they were probably too late to get their time clocked.

J'aime was .9 seconds ahead of me and got the 1,862nd place. You go girl!

My total time for the run: 2 hours, 25 minutes and 53.9 seconds. About 11:08 miles.

Jake got a really cool picture of us finishing. J'aime's got her hands in the air victoriously, and I'm just trying to finish the run hard.

Here we are! Isn't it cool that we got to finish like this inside Raley Baseball Stadium? It was seriously cool. We were on the big screen with an announcer calling out our names as we crossed the finish. All of our peeps were in the stands cheering. Even Jake's friends Nick & Drew showed up. I felt so honored that they came. I think the announcer called me Brian Johns and pronounced J'aime like the Mexican boy name Jaime (hi-me) Rosales. She gets that all of the time! lol Oh well.

Can I let you in on a secret? My anxiety (or excitement) kicked in once I saw the 13 mile sign and knew we were only .1 mile away from the finish. I could hear the crowds and I was really hyped. Just after the finish I seriously struggled with keeping myself from throwing up from being so overwhelmed. I was afraid as the person cut my running chip off that I might just ralf all over her. Below I'm smiling, but I'm actually trying to hold it together and not toss my cookies. My heart felt like it was going to burst out of my chest. I get so worked up!

Me and my medal. I am soooo proud. After the race Jake and I went straight to Chipotle for some lunch. I wore it inside while we ordered. I wanted to bask in my glory for the day. Maybe I'll wear it everyday! jk

So what now? Lots of stretching and rest today. Then, I leave with my teens on Tuesday for our annual trip to Mexico to build houses. I'm definitely keeping this blog for just regular life stuff so stay tuned. And hey, maybe I'll train for another race and record it here. I don't have any concluding thoughts but these song lyrics that were in my head the entire run, from the song "Brave" by Nichole Nordeman...

So long status quo

I think I just let go

You make me wanna be brave

The way it always was

Is no longer good enough

You make me wanna be brave

Brave, brave

I love you all so much! Thank you for being a witness to this very new adventure in my life.

So I Think I'm Ready...

I feel so pro with all of this gear! :)

The low-down for tomorrow:

I'm waking up around 5am to make sure I get out to Sac by 6am. We pick up J'aime and head to the race to be there by 6:30am. The race starts at 8am. I'm so not a morning person. Ugh.

My biggest fear? The mental challenge during the run. I know my body can take 11 miles fine and so 13.1 shouldn't be bad, but it's the whole "during the run" part that's tough on me. Normally when J'aime and I run I don't want to know how far we've gone or how much more there is to go. I just want to get to the finish. But in a race, they mark out each and every mile, so you know where you're at and how far you've got to go. Sometimes this gives me alot of anxiety. I'm working right now on preparing myself mentally for it. It's kinda one of those... "I'm going to give this thing my all" type of things. I wanna push myself for this and not let anxiety creep in. It's my first race and I've only got one shot. Luckily, at about each mile there will be bands and cheerleaders to make it fun.

I'm really getting excited now. This will be my last blog as a non-marathon runner! Wow!

Two Days Away

I'm off to pick up my official race packet in Sacramento. I can't even put an emotion to what I'm feeling about this race now. Worried, excited, nervous, numb, in awe... it's going to be something that's for sure! Tonight I'll probably run one last time before the BIG DAY. Something short just to get my legs going. After that, it's what all this training has prepared me for!

Check out here for all of the info on my race!

The Saddest Thing

Yesterday I spent the entire day at the emergency room with my friend who was sick. Poor girl. The emergency room is no fun at all --- people screaming, nurses avoiding, lots of waiting. What was worse was the lady on the other side of the curtain next to us. She was probably about 50 years old. Completely dressed in workout gear - tennis shoes, tank top, running pants. And she was really out of it. As we waited literally hours to be helped, we listened as the doctors talked about her case. She was brought in because she fell off of a treadmill, hit her head, and had a seizure at the gym. The people at the gym brought her into the ER. So sad! I mean, this totally could have been me - I'm such a klutz like that. Even more sad was when the doctors came back a couple of hours later and told her that after looking at her brain scan, they found a tumor, and that's why she fell --- she actually passed out from the tumor. Can you believe it? This lady had no idea she had a tumor in her brain until she accidentally fell at the gym. She kept asking if they knew if it was cancer, and they couldn't tell her either way. We felt SO bad for her. Life can be so nuts!

Oh my goodness, it's almost here!!!

Create yours at BlingyBlob.com!

That's the reality that sunk in today as J'aime and I went on our 11 mile run - our last big run before the race! I'm surprised to say that it went good! I'm really impressed with our work. You're not going to believe this but, when I started training back in mid-December all the way until today, I've run a total of 127 miles!!! By the end of this 1/2 marathon, I'll have run 149 miles. I honestly can't believe it.

A couple of random things to share...

1.) This is the FIRST time in my entire life where during the winter I did not catch the cold/flu/plague. I am notorious for just walking past someone and catching their illness, stuck in a funk for weeks. I think it's because I'm healthier - there's some benefit to this madness. :)

2.) I have the funniest diamond-shaped tan lines where my elbows bend from running outside with my arms bent by my sides. Did you know it sweats like crazy in there when you run? Seriously... go on a 2 mile run and see! Something you never learn until you actually do it I guess.

3.) I'm not sure I'll ever aspire to run a full marathon. J'aime and I are going to keep running on the weekends and we'll see where it goes from there. She plans on doing one in December with her fam. I'm really excited for her. I actually told Jake that after this I was done! It was a great experience, but I'm done. And his response was, "But you've got all of the gear now. How could you stop?" Well, because I'm friggin' tired. :) I actually have some plans for future running - so I'm not totally done. I promised my mother-in-law that I'd run a 10K race (I think it's called Theta Breakers) in SF this Fall. And I've tried to convince my dad to do the FAT's 1/2 marathon in AZ in January with me. He's not a runner, but he always likes to try new things. Am I crazy again? Maybe I like the torture.

4.) I am so damn proud of myself! (sorry Megan for the cursing - she's a student in my youth group that always writes me encouraging comments) :)

5.) Don't ever wear grey cotton capris for a semi-long run. I went to the gym on Thursday, ran 5 miles, and sweat so bad it looked like I had an "accident" down "there". It's black runners' pants for me!

6.) This is the most depressing note of my randomness ---- Treadmills are wrong. While using my Nike Plus gear for runs that shows my distance, pace, and calories burned, it shows that treadmills are off by about .15 miles - ahead!!! So, all of this time when I thought I was running 5 miles... I was only running like 4.25 miles. Talk about a motivation killer when I looked down and noticed I wasn't even close to finishing my workout. It makes sense. Treadmills can't keep track of any individual's pace and steps taken. Such a bummer! I'm still not subtracting that from my total miles run.

7.) My low-key training schedule for this week:
Monday - Stretch & Strengthen
Tuesday - 4 mile run
Wednesday - 3 mile run
Thursday - 2 mile run
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Rest
Sunday - Half Marathon!

8.) No one ever told me that a 'Runner's High' is only a temporary feeling you get right after a run. All of this time I had been expecting to "feel high" all of the time. Total bummer! I was talking with my intern Chris about my workouts and complained, "I don't get this Runner's High thing." He just laughed and said, "Uh, yeah, it's only right after your runs. It's not all of the time!" What the?! Oh well. I normally have about a 1-2 day buzz where I'm cheerier and less stressed than normal. It's great and then it wears off and I have to go run again. I'm actually the coolest, nicest person on my runner's high! :) That would probably be a top reason of why I'd like to keep running.

9.) I have gained about 8 pounds during this training - muscle, not fat. My body hasn't changed dramatically like I had hoped, but I do feel stronger than ever. No Jennifer Aniston body. Something cool though is, with my hands being so weak from arthritis and carpal tunnel, it's nice to know that my legs can do something cool like this.

10.) Yes, I'm going to get a little spiritual on you all...

1 Corinthians 9:24
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize."

Hebrews 12:1
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."

Amen and Amen! :)

What I've Been Up To

So many times after my long run on Sat/Sun there's a huge break until my next blog. Alot of this has to do with my job.

Sunday is work.
Monday, is work and youth group at night.
Tuesday is work, running, then date night.
Wednesday is work, run if I can fit it in, and then my 12th grade small group.

So... sometimes it's like a week before I update this thing. I thought I'd share about my weekend. BTW, I have one purple toenail from my 9 mile run. Please God don't let it fall off like Karen said! :)

So my weekend...

I flew to SoCal.

Went to my friend Ali's wedding...

We've been friends since 7th grade. :) I'm so happy for her!

My Mom was my date...

And I even got carded at age 29! Yes, I know I look like a baby.

Mom wasn't so lucky...

It was a beautiful wedding and I'm so excited for Mrs. Alison Wills!

The next day (Sunday) I went for a run. It was another long run separate from J'aime, since I was in SoCal. It was tough. I only got in 7.2 miles, but I was still pretty happy. It was actually kinda fun running in my old neighborhood and along our river bed in Orange. It brought back memories. I actually sang out loud a couple of times to keep me motivated.

Afterward, I surprised my friend Becky (my matron of honor) at her baby shower - it was sooo hard not to blog about going down to SoCal and running alone without J'aime because I knew that Becky reads this blog pretty often. You little stinker! :)

She hates this pic because she thinks her face is fat. But I think it's just the angle. She's a pretty cute pregnant lady!

After the shower, I had dinner with my dad in HB and took a plane back to Sac on Monday.

That was my weekend.

And now for the race... I am in such denial that it's a week from Sunday. Yikes! J'aime and I have one last long run on Saturday where we're going to brave 11 miles in downtown Sac. Wish us luck! My Nike Plus log has got me at 17 miles so far in my new shoes. I'm going to add a blog one day with the total of all of the miles I've run for this training. It's got to be alot!

Well, I'm off to bed. I love you all. And thanks for reading! :)