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Showing posts with label Running. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Running. Show all posts

Race Recap: Breast Cancer Half Marathon


Two weeks ago, I completed a half marathon race during the 26.2 with Donna – The National Marathon to Finish Breast Cancer in Jacksonville, FL.   I’ve mentioned previously that the mission of the 26.2 with Donna is “to passionately produce world class events to raise funds for ground breaking breast cancer research and empower women living with breast cancer.”  Donna Deegan, a Jacksonville, Florida native and a former news anchor on First Coast News, created the 26.2 with Donna – The National Marathon to Finish Breast Cancer in 2006.  Donna herself is a three-time breast cancer survivor, who was first diagnosed in 1999 at the age of 38 and again in 2002 and 2007.  She created The Donna Foundation in an effort to raise research dollars and to bring awareness to women who battle breast cancer and to provide help to cancer patients who have difficulty meeting their financial needs.  If you are looking for a race with a positive message and you like to run for a cause, then this is the race for you.  I’m pretty sure that you’ll have as much fun as I did.  Anyways, here a quick recap of my race experience.

The Expo:

Saturday afternoon I headed to the Prime Osborne Convention Center for the 26.2 with Donna Expo and Packet Pickup. I always look forward to any race expo because of all of the various vendors that show up.  I spent about 2 hours at the expo bouncing from booth to booth checking everything out. I bought some deep discounted running t-shirts, a pair of compression sleeves for my legs and some Jelly Belly sports beans for extra energy along the course.  On my way out of the expo, I stumbled upon a booth called Fellow Flowers.  There were 2 warm and friendly ladies selling really cute logo t-shirts in various colors and bright cloth-like flowers that you can wear in your hair.  The booth was buzzing with so many women, so I had to check it out.  I almost left the expo at that time because I got a call from my BF, but I’m glad that I didn’t.  I needed up getting myself a t-shirt and something for my mom who’s birthday is coming up.  If you have chance, check out their website for some running inspiration and shopping.  So, the best part of me stumbling on this booth was that finally I got to meet Donna Deegan in person.  She just happened to be stopping by the booth to meet the two ladies at the booth.  I have to say that meeting Donna was the highlight of the race weekend.  She was super sweet and took a bunch of photos with other admirers and running enthusiasts.


After I left the expo, I met up with some friends for lunch and then I went home to rest up for the next day.  I gathered all of my running gear and laid everything out for easy access and a quick change in the morning.  I had a quick pasta dinner and decided that I needed go to bed pretty early since I had to wake up at 4:30am.


The Race:

When the alarm when off at 4:30am on Sunday morning I hit the snooze button a few times.  No matter how early I go to bed, getting up at 4:30am is never easy.  Once I finally woke up, I toasted two waffles added some peanut butter on them and got dressed pretty quickly.  I was determined to be on the road by 5:30am.  I walked out the door with my waffles in hand along with a cup full of Naked Green Machine smoothie drink (my favorite).  When I got on the road, I was pretty excited because there appeared to be no traffic.   I thought to myself, I love it when things work out the way I planned out in my head.  My reflection was short lived by the time I got to Jacksonville Beach.  As soon as I got off of Butler Blvd and turned onto A1A, I saw the traffic that everyone warned me about at the expo.  Apparently everyone got the same memo to leave early because I sat in traffic for the next hour.  Luckily, I left early enough that I didn’t think I was going to be late since the race was scheduled to start at 7:30am, but I was still a little nervous. 

While I sat in traffic, two of my friends called to let me know they were just getting to the traffic. At that point, I figured that they were going to be late for the race.  After fighting my way to merge from 2 lanes into 1, I was finally able to park.  I still had about an hour to spare until I made a quick visit to the long lines of porta potties.  My friends called again to give me an update of their location, but they were still pretty far away and still sitting in heavy traffic.  I made my way to the corrals and lined up while constantly keeping an eye out for my friends.  At 7:15am, I started to stretch and warm up for the race and chatted with some ladies from South Carolina.  Finally after a long wait, the race officials made an announcement that they were pushing the start time to 7:45am to allow for the people sitting in traffic to get parked and settled at the start line.   My friends eventually made it to the start line around 7:45am and snuck into the corral with me.  A few minutes later, the race officials made another quick announcement that the race was going to start promptly at 8:00am.  Thankfully, the race started exactly at 8:00am and we were finally off and running!

Unfortunately, I signed up for the race late, so I started in the third corral. Which was a little further back than I would have liked to start. With that being said, I had to fight my way through a large crowd for the first couple of miles.  We immediately started running through neighborhoods of fantastic and supportive Jacksonville Beach locals.  There were so many local folks that stood out in the cold to hand out bottles of water and Gatorade, various foods or simply to cheer us on with signs, banners and well wishes. I definitely felt their energy.  Unfortunately, after running about 3 miles, a friend of mine decided that she needed to stop to go to the bathroom at the one and only porta potty in sight.  Normally, I don’t stop running unless it’s an emergency or I’m in pain, but I made an exception (I’m still trying to figure out why I did during this race, but oh well). Our little detour set me back about 7-8 minutes because the line for this one porta potty was pretty long.  After our little detour, we ran another 2 miles until my friend mentioned that she needed to walk and I let her walk by herself.  I was already on a mission to make up some lost time, so I kept on running.

 

When I made it to the beach around mile 7, I ate some of my sports beans and one GU energy gel that someone handed me along to way.  I really tried to pick up my speed to make up some time, but my body was slowing down.  By the time I made it to the bridge towards the finish line, I was pretty much spent and in a little pain.  I used all of my energy to run the last 3 miles of the race over a couple of bridges.  All I thought about was getting to the top of the bridge because the finish line is pretty close.  I just focused my mind on the finish line and focused on finishing.  I was pretty happy when I finished, but a little annoyed with myself with my time.  This race just gives me room to improve on my next half marathon and really beat my time for this race next year.

My Stats:

There were 4,250 total race finishers for the half marathon and 3,100 female finishers.   My official chip time was 2:17:17 (which isn’t great, but I’ll take it given my circumstances).  Have any of you competed in a 5k or a half marathon lately?  Do you have a race that’s coming up that you are excited about? Let me know in the comments?

Race Alert: Lululemon SeaWheeze Half Marathon


Hey everyone…I hope that you all are having an awesome week.  I wanted to share some news with you all that I'm pretty excited about.  Why? I recently signed up to participate in the Lululemon SeaWheeze Half Marathon on August 10, 2013. I heard about this race from one of my besties last year and I’ve been thinking about it ever since.  

This race looked like it had a successful inaugural event last August and I’m hoping that this year will be just the same if not better.  This will also be my first visit to Canada. If you want to learn more about the race, check out the photos and video below to get a better idea of why I’m so excited.  All of the details about the race can be found here.  

Quick Race Stats 
What: The SeaWheeze Half-Marathon is 21.1kms (13.1 miles)
When: August 10, 2013 
Where: Vancouver, BC, Canada (SeaWheeze Central at the Vancouver Convention Centre)
Fees: $128 CAD (includes all taxes)



miscellany monday


happy monday everyone! i hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend.  i’ve added my random ramblings to carissa’s miscellany monday party!  check out carissa’s blog here and join in on the fun. 

{one} race recap. i ran in a local half marathon on thanksgiving day and i had a blast. my plan was to finish the race under 2 hours and 30 minutes because i really didn’t train for this one.  my plan was to use this race as a training race for another half marathon that’s scheduled for december.  anyways, here’s my recap - there were 2081 total race finishers and 1046 female finishers.  my official chip time was 2:07:07 and my gun time was 2:08:19 and my split time for a 10k was 58:00.

{two} nwm half dc. i just signed up for the nike women’s half marathon that scheduled for april 28, 2013 in washington, dc.  the registration for this race is done by a random draw and it’s open until december 6, 2012.  each finisher of the nwm half dc will receive an official finisher's necklace designed by tiffany & co. this race is raising money for a great cause - the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  i really hope that i get picked for this race.  it looks like it will be pretty fun. 

{three} black friday and cyber monday. did any of you brave the crowds on thursday evening for some early black friday specials or did you go out early friday morning?  i only went out to macy’s and target a little after midnight.  macy’s was a little too crowded to really start shopping and i found a bunch of great gifts for my nieces and nephew at target.  there were some pretty amazing deals for cyber monday.  i only bought a few things today, but i was able to get some holiday shopping out of the way.  did any of you buy anything today for cyber monday?
xoxo Moody Girl

miscellany monday


happy monday everyone! i think that i’m finally getting back on track.   i just have to take some time to take a few ootd’s for the week and i’ll be all set for the week.  i’ve added my random ramblings to carissa’s miscellany monday party!  check out carissa’s blog here and join in on the fun. 

{one} hurricane sandy. my thoughts and prayers go out to the people affected by hurricane sandy.  a disaster like this really puts everything into perspective. i recently made a donation to the red cross because i wanted to help out in some way.  if you are interested in contributing to the relief efforts, then you can donate to the red cross online (here) or you can donate to the salvation army online (here). 

{two} running. in september, i mentioned that i was contemplating running in the lady speed stick women’s half marathon on november 18, 2012.  unfortunately, i didn’t’ sign up for it this year because of the location and my current job responsibilities.  hopefully, next year i’ll be able to participate in the race.  instead, i’ve decided to run in a local half marathon on thanksgiving day.  i’m looking forward to the race and i’m happy that i will be running pretty close to home.  another race that i’m looking into is the nike women’s half marathon in washington, dc on april  28, 2013.  the race course looks pretty amazing and you get a tiffany's necklace at the end of the race.

{three} san francisco. i had a blast in san francisco and i plan to write more about it very soon.

{four} vote for somebody. although i’ve already voted, i wanted to still remind everyone to get out and vote tomorrow.  hopefully, by now most of you have a pretty good idea of which presidential candidate that your going to vote for in tomorrow’s election.  however, if you are still unsure, don’t let your lack of decisiveness keep you from going out to the polls.  everyone at the very least should go out to the polls and vote for somebody.  and i’m not the only one that thinks this way.  check out this video from a group of children from harlem's democracy prep school who is reminding everyone to vote this year.


xoxo Natasha
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