Wanderlust

Once again, I've gone MIA; this time I absconded to Turkey for a week.

I needed a break after spending the past two and a half months living in my office.  It was also a nice post-RnR Half treat.

I spent four days in Istanbul, walking somewhere between 8-12 miles a day and taking in sights like these:

I then moved on to Cappadocia for two days to do some hiking and see the cave homes and churches, underground cities, and Uchisar Castle.

The flight home was tough on my IT bands - sitting for 10.5 hours after being so active caused them to tighten up - but I tried my best to get up every couple of hours, walk around, and stretch.  I had to be ready to run the morning after I landed!

Runners are Awesome

Every now and then I hear a story that makes me smile.  Most of these stories are running-centric, as that's most of the news I read.  Last Saturday's race generated a few such stories.

First I saw this story, which made me tear up.  How lucky that the runner in green, Michael Stefanon, appeared as the runner in yellow, Ryan Gregg, collapsed.  And how selfless to continue to support him across the finish line after race volunteers stepped in to help.  While a large part of racing is personal, focusing on negative splits or PRs, this is a reminder that there are other people on the course and at times we need to put our personal goals aside to help someone else.  Runner's World posted a follow-up story on Tuesday interviewing the two runners, which only heightened my respect for Stefanon.

The second story is nowhere near as moving, but is more personal.  Somewhere in the post-race shuffle of changing in to dry clothes and finding her parents, a friend of mine lost her keys, ID, and credit card.  A few days later, she received all of her lost items in the mail.  Someone had found them and used the address from her driver's license to mail them to her.  How great is that?

Rock 'n Rolling With the Punches

I wasn't sure I wanted to write this post because my race experience at the Rock 'n Roll USA Half Marathon was so bittersweet.  What I've decided to do is address the shortcomings of the race first, then follow up with my run, so that I hopefully end on a positive note.

I'm also sorry there are no photos - blogger won't recognize the photos I took, so I'm unable to upload them.  Is anyone else having a similar issue?

I hate to complain about things.  It's one thing to complain to someone who can fix an issue and quite another to constantly moan about things on the internet.  For that reason, I try to overlook the negative aspects of races in my recap posts and tend to write about only products I view positively.  The thing is, I can't overlook the negative aspects of the RnR USA half.  They were pervasive throughout the race and all aspects of my experience and, having run other races put on by the Competitor Group, I know they have the experience and resources to plan better and prevent things like this from happening.

There were 3 places things went wrong:

Gear check:

Emily and I rendezvoused on the Metro and made our way over the the start area around 6:45 on race day.  The forecast called for a chilly, rainy morning and we prepared accordingly.  I wore a jacket and hat and put all essential items I'd have on me in ziplock bags.  I also lined the bag I was going to check with a trash bag, just in case.  The gear check area was chaos - all of the lines were intermingled and many people ended up standing in the wrong lines.  I found the appropriate line and was stunned by how long it was.  I walked past over 200 people to get to the end and waited 45 minutes to check my gear.  By the time we got to the start area, the official race clock had been running for 15 minutes.  While this wasn't a big deal - it took about an hour to get all participants across the start - it wasn't a great way to start the day.

The race:

When we made our way to the first water station and discovered it was out of cups, we knew we were in for a rough ride.  The cup issue (and general lack of volunteers on the course) persisted for the first 8 or so miles.  I'd debated bringing a water belt to the race, ultimately deciding that RnR races are usually well-organized and I wouldn't need it.  I was kicking myself, hard, for that decision.  Things got better during the last 5 miles of the race and continued to improve... until I went to pick up my gear post-race.

Gear pick up:

The lines were, once again, chaotic and unnecessarily long.  As I neared the front of my gear check line (after 30 minutes of standing around in wet, stinky clothes) I saw a lot of bags on the ground between my truck and another truck.  I asked around as to which truck these bags came off of - no one knew.  This was extremely concerning as it's really easy to lose things when you move them around and the ground was damp - some runners looking forward to changing in to dry clothes were going to be pretty disappointed.  I mentally high-fived myself for the foresight to use a trash bag and began digging in to the pile.  I managed to find my bag with the help of some other runners (there were no volunteers helping with this pile, which begs the question of who moved all of these bags to begin with), and went on my way.

Phew.  Now that I've gotten that out of the way....

RnR USA was the first half marathon for my friends Emily and Caroline and I was lucky enough to be able to spend time with both of them.  After checking our gear, Emily and I circled up with Caroline in the start area and we all ran the first couple of miles together.  Caroline stopped to tie her shoe and urged Emily and I to continue on without her.  Emily claimed she wouldn't be able to run faster than an 11:00/mile pace, but was constantly running around 10:00/miles, a comfortable pace for me after taking so much time off.  We ran together for the first 11 miles, gossiping, commenting on other people's outfits, and running into people Emily knows (a special talent of hers).  Since I usually race solo it was a real treat to have company on the course and made the miles seem much shorter than they actually were.  We trucked along at a pretty consistent pace, adjusting only for hills and water stops.  We did stop at one point early on during the race to rock out with a band and get our photo taken by a RnR photographer who couldn't seem to take enough.  I now live in fear that those photos will end up plastered on the website or promotional materials for the race.

The course was different from last year - no doubt in response to Washingtonians' complaints about street closures - and I think the change was for the better.  While it added a steep hill at Calvert street, it eliminated a very long hill on 18th street.  I'll take a short and steep climb over a long, moderately pitched one any day.  The new start line allowed us to run past the White House and various monuments within the first few miles of the race and made it accessible from every metro line.  If RnR can address the gear check snafus they encountered this year I think this start line will be an improved experience over the old one at the DC Armory.

There were a lot less volunteers and spectators on the course this year.  I can't help but to attribute this to the dismal weather forecast.  It was their loss as the morning turned out to be mild and somewhat sunny.  It was perfect running weather and a real treat for everyone.

Right before Emily and I split ways, we ran in to some folks from run club.  One lady, Michelle, ran the race 8 months pregnant.  Don't act like you're not impressed.

I kicked things in to gear for the last couple of miles.  After taking a few months off, running 9:00-ish miles was a LOT harder than I thought it would be.  I managed to finish strong, smile for the cameras, and feel good.  While I was nowhere near a PR (in fact, it was my 2nd slowest race time ever), I feel good about finishing the race and am thankful for the experience I had.  I was lucky enough to participate in two of my friends' first half-marathons, which made for a memorable and special morning.

I found Emily in the finish area, and discovered she met her goal of finishing the race in under an 11:00/mile pace.  Congrats, lady!!  I met up with Caroline at gear check and found out she'd met her goal of running the entire race (no walk breaks) and felt great.  We stuck around to see Cowboy Mouth perform, then grabbed brunch before parting ways to go home and nap.  Is there anything better than a post-race beer and brunch?  If so, I have yet to discover it...

Reformer Pilates

A few weeks ago I decided I needed to shake things up and try something different.  The long hours at work and my volunteer commitments on weekends were leaving me too tired for constant intense cardio (my go-to) - I needed something a little less sweaty on my "off" days.  Because my wrist problems prevent me from doing a lot of yoga, pilates seemed like a reasonable option, except...

...I've always been terrified of pilates.  I'm well-aware that I have a weak core; my abs are the underachieving muscle group in my body.  Pilates scared me because it would force me to address that issue.  On top of that, reformer classes are expensive and I knew would be "that" newbie slowing down the class and taking all of the instructor's attention as they corrected my bad form.

Then I read DC Fit Crasher's review of Reformation Fitness's reformer pilates class.  Not only are they offering an affordable option to try the studio ($20.13 for two classes), but the small class size meant I would embarrass myself in front of a limited amount of people and the instructor would be able to give me a lot of personalized attention without detracting from my classmates' experience.

I signed up for a class at 10am this morning.

I volunteered at a charity event from 5pm-1am last night, so getting out of bed today was pretty difficult.  If I'd had an intense, sweaty workout planned for this morning, I probably would have bagged it.  Pilates seemed like a perfect idea.

And it was.

I won't go in to a lot of details because I think DC Fit Crasher's review nailed all of the major points.  The studio was intimate and felt high-end but not pretentious.  The small class size (there were only three of us this morning) meant everyone was friendly and we were all able to get personalized attention throughout the class.  I felt really spoiled.

As for how hard I worked, I was feeling the burn in my core 5 minutes in.  I hope no one tells me any jokes over the next few days, because laughing is going to hurt.  Pilates was much easier on my arms and legs than BodyPump, but there were some muscle groups I tend to ignore that will definitely be sore tomorrow.  I'm looking forward to my second class, but I don't think I'll be working pilates in to my permanent routine - it's just too expensive.

Multitasking

I'm pretty far behind on posts thanks to the excessive amount of time I've been spending in the office. All of these dinners in conference rooms and hours spent sitting at a desk aren't conducive to staying in shape, but I've found a sneaky way to work out while working. I brought in a stability ball and I've been using it instead of my desk chair a few hours a day. I thought my coworkers would make fun of me, but a lot of them are now thinking about doing the same thing!

Holy HIIT

Determined to turn things around and get back in to shape but short on time, I decided to give high intensity interval training a try.  Most of the HIIT workouts I saw seemed, well, impossible, but I saw a couple of workouts on DC Fit Crasher's blog that seemed somewhat do-able.  I combined a couple of them, subbed out some items I wasn't familiar with for some I knew how to do, and came up with this:

• 30 burpees with calf raises instead of jumps
• 30 spiderman push-ups
• 30 switch jump lunges
• 30 V pushups
• 30 squats with alternating single-leg front kick
• 30 tricep dips
• 30 side to side lunges
• 30 V-ups
• 30 mountain climbers
• 30 toe touches
• jump rope 100 reps in between each item above

I spent 8 minutes on the rowing machine to warm up before starting this routine, which ended up being totally unnecessary.  Halfway through the burpees my heart rate was up and I knew I'd bitten off more than I could chew.  I decided to adjust each item to 20 reps and cut down the jump rope to 50 reps.  By the time I got through the squats, my heart rate was through the roof and I was feeling a bit nauseous, so I decided to ditch the jump rope entirely.  Needless to say, it was an excellent workout.

I'll definitely be trying this again until I'm able to complete it as it's written.  It only took 20 minutes (granted, I cut it down a bit), required minimal equipment, and moved quickly enough to keep me entertained.  If you find yourself running low on time for workouts and/or looking for something new to do, I highly recommend it.

So, About That Running...

I haven't run in a month and a half.  Since December 19th, to be exact.

Not only is this awkward because I have a running blog, it's a bit stupid because I have a half marathon in a month and a half.

I have excuses for days - I've been working around the clock, I've been sick, I have a broken finger, I've been attending a lot of parties which have required me to wear shoes that destroy my feet and leave me feeling more than a bit dehydrated the next day - but the bottom line is that none of them matter.  My health should come first, and lately it's been coming last.  Over the past few weeks I've spent plenty of time in the office and at cocktail parties, but barely any sleeping or working out.  This stops now.  I still have plenty of social obligations and work isn't calming down anytime soon, but I need to stop making excuses and start training.  Whether it means hitting the gym instead of the snooze button in the morning or banging out a quick workout at lunch, I need to make time to do healthy, good things for myself.

I know it's easier said than done, but saying it isn't enough.  At this point I need to do something.