Yes, in case you weren’t quite sure, this IS the obligatory “hey look at my left hand” picture we took to announce that…

WE’RE ENGAGED!!!

Todd asked me to marry him in Central Park on Valentine’s Day…at the precise location where we finished the New York City Marathon together last November.

I guess the obvious idea was always to “pop the question” at the end of a marathon, but seeing as how we both tend to be on our death beds after running 26.2, Todd (understandably) had his reservations about making that our special moment. And seeing as how I was sooo sick after the NYC Marathon, and he was sooo sick after the Walt Disney World Marathon, I’m thinking he made the right decision, haha.

So, anyway, I knew he had planned “a special day” for Valentine’s Day, but I was not informed as to where we were going or what we were doing.

(That being said, I DID know that a ring had been procured and that it was coming soon…so I had a pretty good feeling that this was going to be the day.)

After a delicious breakfast at Turning Point where I enjoyed an omelet and devoured sampled Todd’s amazing pancakes, we hopped a train into the city. Mind you, Sunday’s temperatures were forecasted to hover at a high of something like 5 degrees due to the wind chill, so let me tell you…it was FREAKIN’ COLD. Like, brutally cold. Like, cold enough that the streets of New York were practically deserted.

But, nonetheless, we made our way to Central Park as our first stop. It was a ghost town (duh) with the exception of a few crazy runners…appropriately enough. Todd found the site of the NYC Marathon finish line, and then it was a little bit funny (not gonna lie) to watch him struggle to find a patch of grass — since, OF COURSE, there were all these gates up due to some sort of lawn treatment that was being done — because I knew what was coming.

He told me that he hoped this location that once represented the end of something we accomplished together could now symbolize the beginning of something entirely different…and many new adventures to come.

And it was perfect because neither of us are the type of people to enjoy big public displays or lots of attention from strangers, so the fact that it WAS so cold and the park was practically empty meant that it could be a private moment for just the two of us.

After THE BIG MOMENT (and, um, using my little mini camera tripod to take about 1,000 pictures), we jumped back on the subway to visit the New York City Marathon exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York.

It wasn’t quite as elaborate as we thought it would be, but there were tons of awesome pictures from the race, some interesting factoids, a timeline, and a couple of pieces of memorabilia…so it was a cool way to relive the experience.

Then we went to our early dinner reservations, where we enjoyed a ginormous Porterhouse steak for two.

The day concluded with Todd surprising me with tickets to see Finding Neverland on Broadway…which I absolutely loved. (Even though there were parts that are so super depressing and sad that I couldn’t even stand it). But, I mean, how could we not have some sort of Disney representation in this special day…?

So, I guess it’s official. This princess has officially found her prince. <3

…and she couldn’t be any happier.

Who else has a proposal story to share…?!

That’s right…I am running the Goofy Challenge yet again in just a few short weeks!

We were originally going to sit this one out because, well, we were just at The World for the Wine & Dine “Half” Marathon and some people (*cough*Todd*cough*) thought that it was “too soon” to go back to Disney. (Insert eye rolls here.)

But then he came around and we decided to make an impromptu weekend trip because the Walt Disney World Marathon is my most favorite special race. I was so sad to be missing it, and since we survived the New York City Marathon and the Richmond Marathon last month, I was feeling like I could take on the Goofy again in January.

The Walt Disney World Marathon was the site of my very first marathon, of course, when I lost my damn mind and decided to run the Dopey Challenge in 2014.

Oh, that glorious bling…

 And, then we ran the marathon together for the first time earlier this year.

After Wine & Dine turned out to be a bit of a bust — a not-so-spoiler alert for anyone who doesn’t know, but the race was cut in half due to weather-related conditions — I was feeling especially disappointed that I traded in the opportunity to run my favorite marathon for Wine & Dine. So when Todd agreed that I could casually look around to see if there were any bibs still available late last month, he probably thought it was too late.

Haaaaaaaaaa, boy, was he wrong.

We had no trouble nabbing two Goofy bibs from Dream Departures Travel, AND we booked the Port Orleans Riverside (I’ve never been!) for a pretty reasonable price.

SCCOOOOORRRREEEEE.

So that’s pretty much what I’ve been up to these past couple of weeks. After the Richmond Marathon, I took a full two weeks off (!!!) because I had just HAD IT with running and wanted NOTHING to do with it. That always happens after a marathon, so I pretty much know what to expect by now.

But after two weeks of nothing but a karate class or two, I felt like a lazy slob and started to actually miss running (*gasp*), and I knew I needed to get motivated again and set a new running-related goal.

And what better goal than tackling 39.3 magical miles in two days?

So we’ve been basically trying to train for this particular challenge over the course of 6 weeks or so. Our first “long run” after Richmond was supposed to be 10 miles…and we packed it in at 6. No joke.

It was the first time I’ve ever “quit” during a long run, and I felt terrible about it. My body just wasn’t ready yet, I guess, because I physically and mentally just could NOT do it. It was quite possibly the most I’ve ever struggled, and that’s saying a lot because I’ve had some baaaaaaaaad long runs. Todd wasn’t feeling it either.

But then I got back into the swing of things with a couple of short runs that week, and the following week we successfully completed a 10-miler. And it wasn’t too bad at all! We did 13 miles this past Sunday, and I’m going to squeeze in two more long runs (with shorter runs the day before to simulate Goofy) of 15 or 16 and then 18 or 19. And then that’ll be it.

Our first (successful) long run after the Richmond Marathon!

We’ll obviously have a short taper this time around, and I do feel like I’m “cramming” a training cycle into a pretty short period of time, but I feel confident that I can do this. And, hopefully, we won’t be stuck in a super late corral since we registered so late (we still don’t have our waivers yet…boo) so that we can still have plenty of magical fun along the way.

So. Pumped.

Who else will we be seeing this January?!?!

Have you ever “quit” during a long run?

We woke up around 3am (ugh) on Sunday morning to start getting ready. I was going to drive to my parents’ house (who live closer to the Meadowlands), and then my dad had the pleasure of dropping us off at the bus stop in the wee hours of the morning. We arrived a little after 5am and jumped on a bus, and made our way to Staten Island.

Right from the beginning, I loved that I wasn’t feeling so anxious. This year would be different. This year, I knew exactly what to expect from the race, from the wait at the start village to the toughest parts of the course to the glorious finish in Central Park…so there was really no need to be terrified. I could just sit back, relax, and soak up the NYCM experience.

Of course, we arrived at the starting village with a ton of time to spare, so we grabbed some goodies (it was early, so no lines yet!) and found a spot near the bridge to chill out for, oh, 3+ hours.

We were both assigned a green start (the lower level of the bridge), but I knew Todd really wanted to experience running on the upper level…so we hung out in the orange village and hoped they wouldn’t give us a hard time for trying to change colors at the starting line.

My first major concern of the morning? Compared to last year, when I sat in the village in the BITTER COLD, shivering my ass off…it felt like a warm spring afternoon. The temperatures for that day were NOT especially favorable for me, because it was supposed to climb to the mid-60s, and I actually ended up shedding most of my layers in the starting village because I was hot. Really, really not ideal for me!

Wave 3 wasn’t set to cross the starting line until 10:40, so we spent the next few hours chomping on bagels, Belvita, and pretzels, sipping coffee and hot chocolate, and waiting impatiently for our wave to be called. Some of us were more impatient than others, haha.

I just kept hoping the sun would stay far, far away for the duration of the race. It was supposed to be a cloudy day, so even though it was a little warmer than I would have liked, at least we wouldn’t have the sun beating down on us.

They called our wave and we had no problem changing colors (just as long as you don’t try to jump ahead a wave/corral, they’re cool with it), and we were about to start my second NYC Marathon journey.

We made one more pit-stop and squeezed into the starting area just as they were closing the gates (an ongoing theme with us).

I was beyond thrilled. I couldn’t wait to experience this race together. And when they started playing “New York, New York,” I was about to jump out of my skin with excitement.

We purposely hung back towards the end of the F corral so I could snap a few extra pictures on the bridge without blocking fellow runners or causing any safety hazards. Worth it? I think so.

As we crossed the Verrazano, I felt freakin’ fantastic. There’s nothing like the thrill of running over the bridge and making your way towards that first stretch of cheering spectators. I think we were both feeling pumped and ready to conquer this marathon.

Todd kept having to remind me to slow down, because my classic error in races is getting swept up in the excitement and going out too fast. I was feeling super comfortable between a 10-10:30 pace, but he wanted us to hold back closer to an 11ish minute mile to conserve energy. Knowing how I crashed and burned last year from starting the race under a 10-minute mile, I knew he was probably right.

Honestly, the first 10K flew by for me. I was feeling good, Todd was feeling good, and I was certain that we were going to crush this race. We trained our asses off all summer, and it was going to pay off.

We were both taking in the sights and enjoying being called out as “THE APPLES!” Most people seemed to “get” our costumes really easily, and were cheering on “The Big Apples,” etc…but we did actually hear some other interesting cheers along the way. We were mistakenly called strawberries, cherries, and my personal favorite: “mistletoe.” Hahaha.

Somewhere around mile 8, my feet started to hurt. Why? I have no idea. Everything else felt fine, but my feet were aching like no one’s business. Other than that, I just felt warm. Very warm. Like, as in I was already sweating through my clothes. I know it could have been much worse, but I was NOT happy that the temperatures were already approaching the 60s by the time my wave started. To me, that’s way too hot for running for 5+ hours. I know myself well enough to know that anything over 55 degrees takes a toll on my pace and how I feel, so I knew I was in for a real treat.

Still, I managed to ignore my feet and soak up the energy and have fun interacting with the spectators, and we crossed the halfway point around 2:30. I honestly hadn’t been watching my Garmin all that much. The thrill of running NYC keeps me occupied to the point where I tend to stop compulsively checking my watch. I also end up turning my iPod off entirely so that I don’t miss a second of it.

Plus I was trying to just keep my pace comfortable. I was so afraid of falling apart like I did last year. I remember feeling a little disappointed because I thought we were doing a little better than a 2:30 half, and I didn’t say it yet, but I knew then it was unlikely that we’d meet any sort of sub-five goal that day.

Don’t get me wrong, I was in WAY better shape than the previous year, but the fatigue was setting in and with the way my feet were feeling, I didn’t know if I could negative split…especially knowing that I had a few tough sections of course still ahead. Like that damn Queensboro Bridge, for starters. Last year, it was the absolute death of me; it was the moment where I started to convince myself that there was NO WAY I was finishing this race, and I had a total meltdown.

But this time around, I knew exactly what to expect. I took the bridge slow and steady. I acknowledged the burning in my legs and reminded myself it was only temporary…the hill would NOT go on forever. I embraced the struggle and anxiously awaited the roar of screaming crowds on First Avenue.

And, most importantly, I looked for that spot on the bridge where I got an awesome photo last year, and I had my little mini-tripod ready to go so we could get one together, LOL.

As expected, the crowds on First Avenue were AMAZING, and we were both looooving the attention. Unfortunately, though, it was somewhere in this second half of the race when I started feeling…not quite right. My stomach hadn’t been bothering me or anything like that, but I was unexpectedly hit by a wave of nausea. I was fueling exactly according to plan and schedule, and I was definitely trying to make sure to stay hydrated; we walked through every water stop, and I diluted my Gatorade with water like I always do.

And yet, for some god-knows-what reason, I suddenly felt like I was going to hurl all over the sidewalk.

I told Todd I felt sick, so we took a short walk break or two to see if it would pass. And it did. For, like, a second. We’d start running again and I’d feel so unbelievably nauseous. I’ve had nausea during races before, but usually only in much warmer temperatures, and it typically passes within a couple of minutes.

I wanted to keep running, so I tried to ignore it as best I could. And for the the next few miles, it was bearable. But as we inched our way closer and closer back towards Manhattan, it was coming back with a vengeance…to the point where I kept having to crouch down on the sidewalk and stick my head between my knees for a few moments of relief. I didn’t want to go to a medical tent, nor did I want any medical volunteers to come and yank me off the course, so I kept our breaks as short as possible and kept scanning the sidewalks for trees where I could throw up (as far away from groups of spectators as possible) if I had to.

Hunting for vomit trees wasn’t exactly what I felt like doing that afternoon, but, there you have it.

In case you were wondering, physically speaking, I felt fantastic — the aching in my feet has subsided a bit, and I felt strong. Believe it or not, I felt like I definitely had another 9 or 10 miles in me. It was exactly how I’ve always wanted to feel in mile 17 of a marathon. So it just figures that I suddenly had to feel nauseous for NO APPARENT REASON WHATSOEVER.

But here’s the amazing part. Despite how sick I was feeling, I was not – I repeat, NOT – freaking out. I was not panicking. I was not crying. I was not insisting that I “can’t do this, woe is me, I’ll never make it, blah blah blah.” After I completely fell apart last year at the first sign of struggle, I made it my mission that no matter what happened on the course that day, I was NOT going to let myself succumb to my “old” ways.

I knew that, no matter what, I was finishing the NYC Marathon that day. Whether it took 5 hours of 7 hours, I didn’t care. And I was proud of myself. Really, really proud of myself. I felt so sick, and I was struggling so much, but I never for a second let myself think that I didn’t have it in me to finish this marathon. I still managed to smile for the cameras, high-five the spectators, and just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Meanwhile, let’s talk Todd. He was doing just as great as I was until we started approaching mile 19 or so. He’s dealt with back pain and various other leg/feet issues in previous races, but didn’t have any major flare-ups as we trained for NYCM. Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to be the case on this day.

Here I was about to barf all over the place (sorry for the TMI, but, hey, that’s the truth) and he’s slowly starting to fall apart because his lower back is absolutely killing him. At that point, I knew any time goal was long gone, so my new goal became getting both of us to that finish line. First I’d stop to put my head between my knees, then he’d need to stop to stretch out his back, and on and on we went.

As we crossed the last bridge back into Manhattan, one of the spectators was chanting “Last. Damn. Bridge. Last. Damn. Bridge” over and over again, which I thought was hilarious. But it wasn’t quite enough to help Todd’s back (or his feet…or his legs…) or to help me ignore the relentless nausea I was dealing with. When either of us felt like we had to walk…we just walked. It’s not like us at all, but that’s all we could do at that point.

 Needless to say, that final 10K seemed to drag on for hours. The spectators saw we were struggling and it seemed like the cheers for “THE APPLES!” were getting a little more intense. I could no longer force down any sort of fuel, and I tried sipping just a little bit of water at those final water stops. Fortunately, I felt slightly better than I had earlier in the race. Todd was pretty much in physical agony any time he was running, so we did a run/walk all the way into Central Park. I wanted to keep running straight for the finish line, but he needed a few more walk breaks, so we stuck together and did the best we could.

He was feeling down on himself and making ridiculous comments like “maybe we’re not meant to run marathons.” But, honestly, I was feeling the exact opposite. I think it takes a special kind of person to have the dedication to train for a marathon for months on end, endure the pain of actually running 26.2 miles, and then keep signing up again and again in efforts to improve yourself.

Maybe we’re not the fastest runners in the world, and maybe we sometimes struggle just to SURVIVE a marathon (let alone RACE a marathon)…but you can’t say that we’re not tough enough to get to that finish line — no matter what it takes!

Sure, I was disappointed because things weren’t going our way, but I was so proud of us because I knew we were going to make it. And I was proud of myself because I didn’t fall apart.

Races don’t always go the way we planned, but I feel there are always lessons to be learned along the way. And there are some lessons that only running a marathon can teach you. On Nov. 1, I learned that I no longer have to doubt myself, and that not even the toughest marathon can bring me down. When I felt sick, Todd did everything he could to try to make me feel better, and when he was hurting, I did everything I could to cheer him on and get him to that finish line.

Soooo happy it’s almost over!

We both were falling way short of our expectations, but, hey, that’s life. To me, this year’s New York City Marathon became a representation of how we come together to boost each other up when things get tough. To me, that’s not a bad thing at all.

We finally, FINALLY saw the finish line up ahead, and I was excited to spot Karla from Run Karla Run, who was announcing at the race! She gave us a special shout-out, which made me feel like a rockstar, and gave us that final boost to FINISH. THIS. MARATHON.

Moments later, I successfully completed my 6th marathon!

We crossed the finish line of our longest marathon to date in 5:42. Given that our marathon PR is 4:57, and last year I struggled so much and yet still finished in 5:17, this obviously wasn’t a desirable time for either of us.

But I genuinely didn’t care, and I still don’t care. Despite our finish time, in my mind, this race was a success. It was LITERALLY the first time (other than a Disney race) that I didn’t have some sort of panic attack/meltdown. It was the first time I felt genuinely confident in myself during a marathon. And there is nothing that can take that away from me.

We both had a tough race, but we still managed to have some fun along the way. We basked in the sweet success of knowing that WE MADE IT for a few minutes before suffering through the slow death march out of the finish line area.

I had to sit down a few times because I was STILL feeling sick, and I tried to force down a pretzel and take a bite of apple (then immediately felt like I was going to throw up, so I put the kibosh on eating for a little while).

The apples holding their apples…haaaaa

After about 10 years of sloooow, painful walking, we were wrapped in ponchos (which I removed immediately because I was still HOT) from the volunteers and were released on the streets of New York…and I was once again sitting on a curb with my head between my knees. WTF?! I tried again to eat some pretzels but could only force down a few, and I desperately wanted a soda or anything that I thought might help settle my stomach. When we both felt strong enough to walk a little more we found a bagel place, and I enjoyed what had to be the most AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS bottle of Cherry Coke that I’ve ever tasted. I started feeling a lot better.

By the time we had our dinner reservations at Joanne’s (where we went last year), I was feeling a little better and managed to eat some spaghetti. But I still wasn’t myself, because normally I want to #EATALLTHEFOOD after a marathon, and I still felt like I was forcing it down.

By the time we were on the train back home, though, I felt fine, and ate my way through the kitchen later that night, haha.

In conclusion, the New York City Marathon is unbelievably amazing. Period, end of story. I am so thankful that I had the chance to run it again.

This year’s race may not be meaningful to me because I PRed (ha, yeah right) or crushed any other personal time goals, but it will be forever meaningful to me because Todd and I managed to work together and support each other and boost each other up enough to get to the finish line. Cheesy as it sounds, there it is. Laugh all you want, I don’t care.

I didn’t get the redemption I was hoping for in terms of my finish time, but I will absolutely, positively be entering the lottery again every year forever and ever.

Have you ever fallen waaaaay short of a time goal, but been happy with your performance anyway?

Will somebody please tell me what can cause nausea during a race because I need to figure this out so that it never, EVER happens again?!

Soooooo…I know I still haven’t posted my full race recap, and that’s in the works, I PROMISE (you know how I like to include every. last. detail, haha). But we just got back from Disney on Sunday and I’ve been battling some sort of cold/sheer exhaustion, so I’ve basically been a hot mess over the last couple of days.

I did, however, want to drop in and give you a quick update on our whereabouts over the last week or two. Our trip was pretty freakin’ epic.

We…

Stayed at the Art of Animation for the first time, in a Little Mermaid room (my fave princess and movie of allllll time)!

Ate and drank our way around the world at the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival.

Had all kinds of festive fun at Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.

Verrrrrrry funny, Dopey!

Devoured a delicious Christmas dinner at Minnie’s Holiday Dine.

Enjoyed the Osbourne Lights one last time. (*sniff*)

Ate dinner at Be Our Guest, which was especially exciting since I haven’t been able to get a reservation since 2013!

Visited Sea World, where we took a “backstage” tour and met a penguin. (And died a little because I’m OBSESSED with penguins.)

Saw my most favoritest band in the whole wide world (laugh all you want) at Epcot for the “Eat to the Beat” concert series. And sat in the second row (that was one FastPass+ that was very, VERY worth it). I’m a 20-year Hanson fan and still going strong.

But, most importantly, I’m very excited to announce that Todd and I not only survived New York, but we DID finish the Wine & Dine “Half” Marathon (more on that later…haaa). And gee golly, it was a tough “half” marathon.

I’m sure you all know by now that the race course ended up being cut in half due to some storms that decided to roll in JUST as they were about to let us into our corrals. I’ll have more on that in my recap, but suffice it to say that even though I was EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED, we still managed to have some fun.

Obviously, this had to happen before the race.

We then proceeded to fly to Richmond, VA and — to my surprise — conquered the Richmond Marathon!

Obviously, our legs were pretty much shot from running NYCM and then spending a week in Disney walking around the parks (and it was NOT a leisurely vacation by any means), but the temperatures were perfect in the 40s-50s and the course was awesome and, physically, we both actually fared a whole lot better than we did in New York!

Gorgeous scenery!

We even beat our NYCM time by a minute or two (what are the odds of that?!), and the next day felt strong enough to go see some of the sights before hopping into a rental car and making the 6-hour drive back to New Jersey.

So, needless to say, I’ve got lots and lots of recaps and photos coming this week and next week, and I promise I’m working on catching up with all of you! I know I’m the worst at keeping up with blogging/social media when I’m in Disney. Mainly ‘cuz I’m having so much geeky fun that I can’t even stand it.

These are the moments when Memory Maker is worth it, lol

What’s your favorite thing to do/see/eat in Disney?

Have you ever had a race cut short due to weather?

]]> http://thefinalforty.com/a-magical-wine-and-dine-half-marathon-trip-and-a-successful-marathon-7/feed/ 17 http://thefinalforty.com/we-did-it/ http://thefinalforty.com/we-did-it/#comments Mon, 02 Nov 2015 20:09:01 +0000 Jennifer http://thefinalforty.com/?p=6129 Hey, guys! First, I wanted to thank you all for the support leading up to yesterday’s New York City Marathon, and also for all the blog comments, tweets, etc. over the last several days — sorry if I didn’t get a chance to respond yet, but I will, promise!

I’ll be back later this week with a full recap, but wanted to drop in to announce that Todd and I are both, in fact, alive. We finished the 2015 New York City Marathon!

Dear MarathonFoto, I WILL be purchasing all of these pictures, so don’t get mad at me.

Yesterday’s race was…hard. We both struggled. A LOT. I was hit with nausea around mile 15 that would NOT let up until hours after the race was over, and Todd was dealing with some serious leg/lower back issues that forced us to walk quite a bit in the later miles of the race.

We came NOWHERE near our time goal of 5ish hours (we finished in 5:41). Todd is disappointed by how much he struggled/his performance, but I’m honestly okay.

We had a tough race, but we finished. When I felt like I was going to barf all over the side of the road, he picked me up, and when he had to walk through much of Central Park, I picked him up. Clearly, things didn’t go exactly as we hoped…but then again, do they ever? I’m proud of both of us.

And the best news of all is that even though I didn’t beat my time from last year (5:17) and was feeling pretty sick for a good portion of this race, I finished feeling more confident than ever. I did NOT have any meltdowns along the course, despite how I was feeling, and I did NOT think even for a second that I wouldn’t be able to finish.

I may not have met my “A” or “B” goal (which, really, were long shots anyway), but in my mind, I DEFINITELY conquered my “C” goal in that I fared so much better than last year…especially mentally!

There was no panicking. There was no self-doubt. I went into this race feeling strong, and even when things didn’t go our way, I always knew we’d make it.

And that is worth so, so much more to me than what the finish line clock said. Or even a medal.

Although, to be fair, I do enjoy it very much.

Have you ever felt nauseated during a race? (And can somebody please tell me what causes it because I did NOT care for it!)

Have you ever missed a time goal during a race, but felt satisfied with your performance anyway?

I can’t believe it’s almost here. In some ways, it feels like I’ve been training FOREVER…and, in others, the last couple of months seemed to fly by. Our final weeks of training have come and gone, and I’m VERY MUCH enjoying my taper.

In addition to walking on eggshells trying not to get sick or hurt myself this week — and doing very little running, because I think my body is crying out for the extra rest — I’m thinking about my race day goals. And working on gathering the rest of the pieces for our race day “costumes,” of course…which I’ll post by the end of the week.

The thing with me and race goals is that they have a tendency to treat my mind like their own personal playground. If I have a time goal in mind during a race, the second I feel it slipping away, the mental breakdowns begin. It consumes me. It taunts me. And more often than not, I end up getting negative and frustrated and beating myself up, and it puts a black cloud over my entire race experience if I can’t manage to get back on pace.

Time goals don’t seem to motivate me like they do so many other runners…I guess because I still have a tendency to slip back into my “old” ways. That negative, self-deprecating person I used to be when I was heavier almost always manages to make an appearance during a marathon. I usually end up feeling like a failure for not maintaining a certain pace or for struggling more than I anticipated or for having to take extended walk breaks. I consistently have full-blown meltdowns during marathons. I’ve almost come to expect crying and freaking out as part of my race day experience. And that’s just plain sad!

Well, that’s the plan…

Long story short, my #1 goal for this race was to NOT. HAVE. ANY. MELTDOWNS. It happens time and time again, and frankly, I’m tired of it. The second I start to struggle in a marathon, I let myself become absorbed in self-doubt and I completely fall apart. Physically, I’m usually okay…but, mentally, I’m a mess.

Still, I feel I would be remiss if I didn’t set at least some loose time goals for this race. After all, Todd and I busted our butts all summer, and we did everything we were supposed to do. And, truth be told, our last several long runs/races have gone surprisingly well!

Honestly, I’ll be happy no matter what. I let the fact that I struggled so much last year bring me down, and I hated that I let the time on the finish line clock in any way damper my accomplishment. This Sunday, I’m running the New York City Marathon. I was fortunate enough to enter the lottery and get a second chance. AND get in with Todd! For that, I will be forever grateful.

Still, a little redemption would be nice.

GOAL A: PR with anything under 4:57:34

Hey, a girl can dream, right? That’s why I’m calling this my “A” goal…my absolute best-case scenario, everything goes right goal. My current marathon PR was achieved in the New Jersey Marathon, which happens to be a COMPLETELY FLAT course. And, as you all know, the New York Marathon course kicked my butt last year. But I honestly feel that this has been our most successful round of marathon training yet. So…we’ll see!

GOAL B: Finish under 5 hours

Honestly, this is pretty much always my goal for a marathon right now. If I cross the finish line in 4:59:59, I’ll be happy. Based upon how our training went this time around, it’s definitely doable. For me, the first half of the race almost always goes swimmingly, and then when I start to fall apart (mentally) in the second half, that’s when everything goes awry. Based upon our training, it’s a time goal we should be able to beat, if I can just KEEP IT TOGETHER. So, we’ll see!

GOAL C: Do better than I did last year — mentally and physically

This is my most conservative goal, but it also happens to be the most important to me. After I bonked so early in last year’s race, and ended up bawling like a baby at several points along the course, I really want to ENJOY the race this year. I wasn’t at all happy with last year’s finish time of 5:17 (I had to walk…a lot), but what bothered me more than my finish time was the fact that I had such a negative attitude for most of the second half of the race. This year, I want to feel confident. I want to feel strong. And I want to head into Central Park with a smile on my face. And I mean a REAL smile, not just a “hey, there’s a photographer up ahead” kind of smile. Is that too much to ask?!

GOAL D: Have the time of my freakin’ life

Who says I can’t come up with a “Goal D?” I’m pretty much guaranteed for this one to come true. I plan to stop for a few pictures along the way and soak it all in and have an amazing experience. I’m beyond thrilled that we’ll be running together this year, and I know it’ll make the race that much more special. Do I want to meet a time goal? Sure, of course…that’d be awesome. But at the end of the day, what matters most to me will always be the experience.

And there is nothing — NOTHING — like the New York City Marathon. I CAN’T WAIT!

How do you set your race day goals?

What are your goals for your next big race?

It was a brand new race hosted by Superhero Racing (though we have participated in other races hosted by this particular running club), and fact that it fell on this particular weekend meant that we could use it as the scheduled 12-miler on our training plan.

Running as minions for the Superhero Half Marathon last year!

Because guess what? This weekend was our LAST DOUBLE-DIGIT LONG RUN until the New York City Marathon! I can’t believe we’re only two weeks away!

It was a smallish (about 1,800 runners) local race that ran through Morristown and a few surrounding areas. I went to college in the area, and my first magazine job was based in Morristown, so I always like going back for a visit. Plus, the race was advertised as a Halloween-themed race, with a Halloween medal and a costume contest and zombies along the course, and — best of all — CANDY STOPS!

Photo credit: www.superheroracing.com

In other news, the temperatures were in the 30s that morning, and would only be in the 40s by the time we finished. YES. I would get to run in downright COLD temperatures for the entire race. In fact, it felt downright FRIGID! This is the weather I’ve been waiting for, and I’m so glad its FINALLY here!

And, of course, it was yet another opportunity to dress up like a couple of idiots. It WAS a Halloween race, after all, so I felt I had a perfectly legitimate excuse for costumed running! For this race, I thought we could go as a couple of my favorite mischievous characters from the world of Dr. Seuss.

Yes, I actually convinced this guy to wear a freakin’ blue wig for a half marathon. Gotta love him, lol.

It was my first time wearing a wig for a race, and it actually wasn’t as bad as I thought! After a few mid-race adjustments, I finally got the damn thing to lay flat on my head, and the Bondiband underneath kept my new ‘do sufficiently dry, haha.

The race started at 9am in a local parking lot, and as per usual, we just made it. Fortunately, there was a parking garage right across the street, and we had picked up our packets the day before, so we were ready to go!

The goal for this race? To do the best we could. It definitely wasn’t going to be a hard effort — we’re saving that for November 1st! Plus, we conquered our 20-mile run last weekend, and truth be told, I don’t think my legs are fully recovered yet. We just thought it would be a fun way to cross another training run off the calendar.

Needless to say, I didn’t have a time goal or anything; I just hoped to finish feeling strong and ready to run the full 26.2 in two weeks. I assumed we’d finish close to 2:30, which was our finish time in the recent Ocean City Half Marathon (granted, we ran 5 additional miles that morning and it was ridiculously windy, so I hoped we might do a little bit better this time around)!

Anyway, we started the race around a super comfy 10:30 pace, while I checked out all of the costumes. There weren’t as many costumes as I would have thought, but we did see some of the usual superheros, ninja turtles, etc., plus a couple of unique costumes (unicorns, bowling pins, and the like). There weren’t a ton of spectators, but let’s just say any kids we saw were thrilled to cheer on “Thing 1 and Thing 2!”

Photo credit: lifeinmophoto.com

The course was residential, but it took us through a couple of different trails and local parks. The leaves are finally changing, and I got to enjoy some LOVELY fall foliage. However, the course was NOT. FLAT. We were climbing rolling hills the entire way, and as much as I wanted to complain, the fact that I wasn’t dropping dead and I kept running up said hills made me feel pretty confident about conquering the bridges in NYC next month.

I knew there were going to be about 7 water stops, some with Gatorade (a MUST for me), but frankly, I was just excited about the candy. Because, you know, I’m pretty much a six-year-old. As promised, many of the water stops had tables of Halloween candy to grab. Let’s just say I put the massive pockets in my SparkleSkirt to good use that morning!

There were parts of the course that were boring (we ran by what appeared to be an abandoned train track for a few miles), and there were others that I felt were actually pretty unsafe in terms of running on main roads with traffic. Another complaint? I only saw a handful of port-a-potties throughout the entire course, and that is a BIG no-no to me.

But it didn’t really matter because as much as I tried to ignore my Garmin and just run by feel, I couldn’t help but notice that we were going way faster than I could have imagined. When I’m marathon training, I’m thrilled to sustain a 10-minute mile, and there were a couple of miles that we were finishing closer to 9:30! We discussed slowing down but we both felt good, and neither of us felt especially winded or anything like that…so we just decided to go with it. We were on the heels of the 2:15 pacer for much of the race, and in the second half, I decided that I was secretly going to race her to the finish line.

It’s at this point in my marathon training where I’m usually EXHAUSTED and my legs hurt and I hate running and I’m sluggish and I’m freaking out about the race, and here I was casually running a half marathon at what felt like an effortless (yes, that’s right, I said it) 10ish-minute mile pace.

Granted, the weather was perfect. Like, PERFECT. It was a little chilly at the start, but once we got going, I was perfectly comfortable. I knew then that struggling all summer was definitely paying off. I felt like I was flying; my legs felt good and it felt downright “easy” to sustain paces that I struggled to hit pretty much all summer.

In those final miles, with my pockets full of candy and my legs still feeling pretty good (though not exactly “fresh”), I felt pretty freakin’ fantastic. This wasn’t going to be a half marathon PR or anything even close to it, but to be able to run the race so comfortably made me feel totally pumped about taking on NYCM in two weeks.

We passed the 2:15 pacer for the last time somewhere in the final 5K, and that’s when I told Todd that we were definitely going to beat her to the finish line. I was feeling good and I thought that, FOR ONCE, I’d allow myself to be confident. We rounded the final corner and headed to the finish line, which was set up in a park, with a bunch of people cheering us on (one race official even starting rhyming…”Thing 1 and Thing 2, you’re almost through!”) HAHAHA, love it.

And, to my utter shock and amazement, we crossed the finish line with an official time of 2:13:41!

Photo credit: lifeinmophoto.com

We grabbed some post-race goodies (bananas, granola bars, water, etc.) and hung around for a few minutes to take some pictures (of course). Once my body temperature started to return to normal, I really started to feel the cold, so we decided to skip the costume contest this time around. The finish line area was pretty much mass chaos, and we didn’t even know when or if there would be an “official” contest. Neither of us really wanted to stick around very long.

Buses were available to transport runners back to the starting line/parking area, so we were able to stay warm on the bus until we got back to the car.

Then we proceeded directly to Turning Point so I could drink lots and lots of coffee and stuff my face refuel.

Yes, I do own a dorky “Thing 1″ sweatshirt, lol

We celebrated our half marathon finish (and kept our legs loose) with a walk in the park with our best buddy. But not before subjecting him to this cruel and unusual torture. I’m sorry…but at the same time, I’m not sorry.

I probably wouldn’t run this race again due to a few factors — e.g. the boring course, and the fact that we never actually saw any of the zombies they promised us! — but I was thrilled that we performed as well as we did. I think we both were pretty shocked by our results!

I’m really glad that we tackled our final long training run in a race environment. Honestly, the race wasn’t anything spectacular, but we did have fun…and the shirts and medals are super cute!

I think completing our last long run as a half marathon forced me to recognize just how far I’ve come since I started training for NYCM this summer, and I am so happy to be going into the race feeling so confident this year!

 Have you ever run a Halloween-themed race?

Have you ever run a half marathon as a training run?

(Okay, so it was mostly his idea, but I went along with it.)

We had a conversation about how marathon training really is months and months of preparation and hard training and physical agony all for just one race — really, just a few hours. (Of course, I immediately reminded him that this is the New York City Marathon we’re talking about, and IT. IS. COMPLETELY. AND. 100. PERCENT. WORTH. IT.)

Long story short, we decided, “hey, wouldn’t it be cool to get the most out of our training by running a second marathon this season?”

At first I thought the idea was batcrap crazy, but I know that lots of you guys have done it and lived to tell the tale. Plus, I knew that NYCM is my goal race, and that any second marathon could be run as a “for fun, let’s see how well I can do,” kind of thing.

So, ladies and gentlemen, we’ve decided to run the Anthem Richmond Marathon on Nov. 14.

Photo credit: www.sportsbackers.com

The deciding factor? Todd casually pointed out that if we ran Richmond, we could extend our Wine and Dine Half Marathon trip in Disney this November an extra day or two and then, you know, take in a quick marathon on the way home.

…Sold.

Yeah, like I’m really gonna turn down extra time to wine and dine.

So, we registered and it’s official, and I thought it was time to finally announce it here. I’ve already lined up (and, theoretically, have trained for!) my 7th marathon. Even before I’ve completed my 6th.

But, hey, I ran the Dopey Challenge as my very first marathon, so I figured I’ve done even crazier things than this before, no?

Anyway, the Richmond Marathon is supposed to be a great course (with lots of fall foliage!) and a TON of spectator support, and it’s a race we’ve both talked about running someday. Also, there are junk food stops along the course, and pizza at the finish line. And since it’s in mid-November, we can expect chilly, running-friendly temperatures. Need I say more?!

Photo credit: www.richmondmarathon.com

But, of course, we have other marathons that fall into the category of SUPER IMPORTANT, MUST-DO RACES (i.e. Chicago Marathon, Marine Corps Marathon, etc.), so neither of us minds the fact that this marathon may not be our best performance (duh).

After all, we’re running NYCM on Nov. 1, and then leaving for Disney the following Friday for what is now a six-night (!!!) Disney World trip to run a half marathon and walk the parks for days on end. Then we’re flying to Richmond on Thursday night so we can catch the expo on Friday, run the marathon on Saturday, and rent a car to drive the 5-6 hours home on Sunday.

Good. Times.

I’m pretty stoked. Was I a teensy bit nervous about the idea of running a marathon followed by a half marathon followed by another full marathon? Um, yeah. But since our training has gone really well this time around, I’m feeling pretty confident that I can handle this.

At the end of the day, this will be yet another new challenge for me, and an opportunity to explore a new city. Super excited!

Photo credit: www.richmondmarathon.com

Okay, so who can give me some words of wisdom on running two marathons in the same month?

Have any of you guys run the Richmond Marathon? What’d ya think?

What are some of your best recovery tips and tricks? I’m gonna need ‘em!

IT’S TIME TO TAPER!!!

Here’s a quick look at my final weeks of marathon training:

Week 9, total weekly mileage: 31 miles

4 miles, 6 miles, 5 miles, 2 Taekwondo classes, and a long run of 16 miles. This was the first long run in this training cycle that actually went better than expected. It was still WAY too hot for me, but we got up super early and banged it out before the heat became unbearable.

Week 10, total weekly mileage: 25 miles

6 miles, 5 miles, 4 miles, 1 Taekwondo class, and a scale-back long run of 10 miles. This was the point where the 10-milers in this training plan were really starting to feel a somewhat “easy” to me, and it did WONDERS for my confidence.

Week 11, total weekly mileage: 33 miles

5 miles, 6 miles, 4 miles, 1 Taekwondo class, and our 18-mile long run, which we tackled as part of the Ocean City Half Marathon. A full recap can be found here!

Week 12, total weekly mileage: 28 miles

5 miles, 8 miles, 5 miles, 1 Taekwondo class, and another scale-back long run of 10 miles. The feeling of “only” having to run 10 miles in between these hard efforts? Priceless.

Yes, I am a HUGE dork who gives two thumbs up whenever a long run actually goes well, lol

Week 13, total weekly mileage: 34 miles

8 miles, 6 miles, 1 Taekwondo class, and our big 20-mile run!

You know I loves me a themed outfit, lol

So the best news of all is that yesterday’s 20-miler is probably the best long training run both of us have ever had.

(I know, right?!?!)

We got started around 7:30am in temperatures that were a downright chilly 45 degrees. I was actually COLD for the first mile or two. That’s right…COLD! After a loooong, endless summer of suffering in sweltering heat, the running gods smiled upon us and we spent the majority of our 20-mile run in temperatures that never exceeded 60-65 degrees. IT. FELT. HEAVENLY.

Honestly, the first half went by rather quickly. We ran a couple of loops around two parks we frequent, and spent some time running around a nearby community college campus. My legs didn’t feel like lead (FOR ONCE) and, mentally, I felt prepared for this final long run of our training plan. I’m completely obsessed with fall, so the chilly temperatures combined with the beginnings of some beautiful fall foliage were just the icing on top of the cake.

My only issue for this run was some unexpected tummy crampage/discomfort, which I’m attributing to the fact that we went apple picking the day before and I basically ate my weight in apples — too much fiber, maybe? Haha.

Something I should not eat before a long run…lesson learned, lol.

The second half was a little tougher, of course, but we were able to maintain a solid 10-11/minute mile pace. I didn’t feel the need to take walk breaks as frequently as I did during all of those hot summer long runs, and we stuck to our usual plan of refueling every 4-5 miles.

As I approached the final 5K still feeling strong, there was a part of me that KNEW that I had this. I realized that for the first time, I was going to go into a marathon feeling completely prepared. It’s not like that morning’s run was “easy,” but for some reason, my usual physical agony and self-doubt and obsessing about how I would EVER be able to cover 26 miles in a few short weeks just wasn’t there. I felt like all of my hard work this summer had paid off. I felt ready…and, dare I say, downright confident.

And that feeling elated me.

We blasted through those final miles as quickly as we could — and I may or may not have been listening to “New York, New York” on loop, haha — and finally, it was over. We made it! And my legs didn’t feel like they were going to fall off and I didn’t have that feeling where I just want to curl up in a ball and die. Even Todd kept saying stuff like, “why am I not in as much pain as I usually am?”

I don’t know if it was just the cooler temperatures — or maybe suffering through so many hot summer runs really DID make us stronger — but we finished this long run in probably the best physical and mental shape ever.

I felt freakin’ awesome…actually, I think we both did.

Our reward? A trip to Manhattan Bagel for a yummy turkey sausage bagel sandwich and lots of coffee. YES. (Am I the only one who is EXTREMELY motivated by food as a reward for a solid long run effort? Hahaha).

In our final weeks of training, we have some slightly shorter mid-week runs plus a “for fun” Halloween-themed half marathon next weekend (more on that soon), followed by a 7-miler the following weekend. And then I get to run what I think is THE MOST AMAZING RACE IN THE WORLD (other than Disney, of course!) with my running partner-in-crime for the first time. To say I’m excited doesn’t even begin to describe it.

So, SO excited to do this again…

After the New York City Marathon? Well, we may or may not have signed up for another *BIG RACE* for the week after the Wine & Dine Half Marathon. I’ll tell you guys all about it in my next post…it’s a long story.

Have you ever had a long run where everything just went “right?”

What was your best long run ever?!

In the meantime, I did want to share our latest racing adventure: the Ocean City Half Marathon! Otherwise known as that time we ran 5 miles before a half marathon…for a total of 18 miles!

We arrived in Ocean City on Saturday afternoon and checked into our hotel: the Flanders Hotel. It was actually pretty swanky compared to our usual choice of lodgings, and it was all vintage-y and historical. Kind of creepy in the lobby (not gonna lie), but also pretty cool, especially since all of the rooms are suites so we could easily prepare our favorite pre-race breakfast of cereal and the like.

Ocean City is a cute little beach town, so we strolled around the local downtown area and we I did some shopping, walked up and down the boardwalk, etc. We also grabbed our bibs and shirts at the local running store so we wouldn’t have to worry about it on race morning.

We stuffed our faces with pizza for an early dinner, and hit the hay by 9:30pm. Because that’s how we party animals roll on a Saturday night.

The plan was to knock out a quick 5 miles before the half marathon started at 8:30am. We typically BARELY make it to the starting line on time for any given race, so I knew it would be a challenge…but I really, REALLY didn’t want to have to run 18 miles around the local park again to cross this particular training run off the calendar. I was desperate for some new scenery and a different long run experience for a change. So, it was worth a shot, right?

Well, surprisingly enough, the alarm was blaring by 6am and we were out the door and running by 7:15am. We took it slow and steady. It was easy to navigate the area because basically all of the streets ran parallel to the boardwalk. We did, of course, get some confused looks from fellow runners, and questions like, “Did we miss the start of the race?” and “Aren’t you running in the wrong direction?” Ha. Ha.

We had just enough time to take gels/blocks and duck into our hotel for a quick potty break before lining up for the race. The temperatures were still pretty cool (in the 60s), but the wind was pretty strong that morning, so I worried a little bit about having to run against it. I also worried about how I’d feel once it started to heat up, because the sun was out and I knew it would probably feel pretty warm towards the end of the race, when I’d be struggling the most.

Oh, and the other small little detail I was worried about that morning? I woke up with MASSIVE cramps. Because, yes, that’s right ladies and gentlemen, that special time of the month always chooses THE most inopportune times to pay me a little visit. I had popped some Tylenol earlier that morning, and hoped it would help me survive until the end of the race.

Meanwhile, of course my iPod decided to die on me (despite the fact that I SWEAR it was fully charged) within the first mile of the race, so Todd let me use his and he listened to music on his phone. Bless him. But, I swear, this kind of crap only seems to happen to me!

The first few miles take you over a pretty steep bridge, which I didn’t care for…but there were some awesome views. I figured it was PERFECT practice for crossing that Verrazzano next month!

In those first couple of miles, I actually felt pretty good..my legs were a little tired, of course, but I felt like I had plenty of steam in the tank.

Gotta love bridges…

We were running around a comfy 10:30ish pace, which I thought was excellent given our tired legs, the warmer temperatures, and the fact that I was dealing with womanly issues all morning.

The middle portion of the race took us through town. For a small race, there were actually a decent amount of volunteers out to cheer us on, and ample water/Gatorade stops, which I appreciated. It was definitely well organized…another thing I appreciate in a race!

The course would take us back to the boardwalk for a bit, where we stopped for a bathroom break. I loved that there were plenty of options for “real” bathrooms, if you didn’t want to have to pay a visit to a port-a-potty.

The final portion of the race is an out-and-back…which I generally hate. The wind felt like it was kicking up, and it was behind us for a little while while we ran through town. But then after the turnaround, I knew we had about a 5K left until the finish line, and we were fighting the winds the whole way. Meanwhile, my stomach started to hurt, so I did my best to ignore it…but I could feel the fatigue setting in, and I was crampy and tired of running and my legs were starting to feel ridiculously heavy. UGGGGGGGGH.

I would NOT, however, let myself succumb to negative thoughts (as is my usual M.O.). I really, REALLY needed this run to go well, if for nothing else than to keep my confidence high for our final 20-miler (which is this weekend…*gulp*). This is always the point in the marathon training plan where I tend to fall apart and start doubting myself, so I did everything I could to keep it together.

Photo credit: Chessiephoto.com

We both plodded along. It felt like it took FOREVER to get back to the boardwalk and power through those last couple of miles, and our pace had slowed to closer to an 11ish. But I was soooo happy to see the finish line up ahead.

Photo credit: Chessiephoto.com

Turns out, the course may have been a little short…because we crossed the finish line with EXACTLY 18 miles on our Garmins, and a finish time just under 2:30 — not nearly our best racing time, of course, but it wasn’t half bad for a training run!

Afterwards, it was time to collect our much-deserved medals (which are actually pretty nice!) and stuff our faces. And after 18 miles, I was NOT. EVEN. SORRY. I have to say, it was one of THE BEST post-race spreads we’ve ever seen…with bagels and donuts and scones and caramel popcorn and granola bars and various beverages and…best of all…PIZZA!!!

We took some pictures and tried to re-hydrate before heading back to the hotel to change and check-out. I was delighted to discover that my legs didn’t feel like they were going to fall off, as is typically the case after a long run.

I actually felt…dare I say it…pretty good! (SAYWHAT?!)

I was very, very much looking forward to some beach time…even though it was CRAZY WINDY right by the water. If only it had felt that chilly during the race.

I didn’t even care…we had earned some R&R.

Would I add extra miles to a half marathon again? HELL YES. I know it would be hard to do for a lot of races, but since we were able to snag a hotel room within a half-mile from the starting line, and the local town was safe and easy to navigate, it worked out perfectly.

18 miles in the books!

It wasn’t easy, don’t get me wrong, but with the support of cheering volunteers and being surrounded by hundreds of fellow runners at any given time, those final 13 miles of our training run went by a heck of a lot faster than when we run around the neighborhood for 3 or 4 hours.

Best of all, finishing the half marathon feeling strong did EXACTLY what I had hoped it would do: boost my confidence for these final weeks of training for NYCM! Honestly, I can’t believe we haven’t been doing this all along!

 How do you incorporate races into your training plan?