Green Bay Marathon Race Recap

5:00 am in the morning on May 15th I woke up extremely nervous, but also very resolute. It was the morning of the Green Bay Cellcom Marathon. The day of my first full marathon.

Booyah!

Making the morning trip to Green Bay with me was my personal cheerleader/photographer/mother extraordinaire. She wears many hats, and today it was a stocking cap because although it was raining and windy the day before, on this day it is just cold and windy.

The start was at 7am on the dot. This race director means business. Knowing that this is my first marathon which means I have really no expectations, I start near the 4:45 pace group but my main goal is to just finish.

Can I just say that I love that purple NorthFace jacket the gal behind me is wearing. I admired it as she promptly passed me. Looked for it later on the course, but I'm guessing that was not a throw away jacket.

Also note, I am not grimacing in that photo--yet--I'm looking for my mom.

Mom was diligently waiting for me up a head. She was calling for me to pose, but the gal behind me yelled out, "She can't stop, she's running a marathon!"

I gave her a wave and went on my way knowing I would see her again between the 4 and 5 mile mark.

One of my coworkers was about at this point along the race route cheering on her daughter who was running the half marathon. I mentioned what I would be wearing to her the day before. She saw me a couple times on the race route. Both times she credited my awesomely bright pink socks for spotting me in the crowd. They are not just for compression, they ARE a fashion statement.

When I saw my mom again around the 4.5 mile mark, she was on the other side of the street. I tried my best to play frogger and make it across the street without getting in front of anyone. I kind of liked my gloves, so I did not want to drop them on the course. So quick photo op and glove drop off.

Five Mile time: 48:50

The first miles on the course were through a residential area with lots of turns and hills. People kept yelling, "It's all down hill from here" when we would reach the top of one.

I would like to take the first time marathon coordinator's mantra instead, "It's a smooth, gentle decline from here." My shins appreciated that thought.

Ten Mile time: 1:38:38

As we were about to approach the part of the course where the marathoners turned right, and half marathoners turned left, I thought back to the expo the day before during the race course presentation.

"Full marathoner's plug your ears for a moment," the presenter whispers conspiratorially, "Half marathoner's when you hit that turn point Lambeau Field will be in your sights. You are almost done! This is when you start to laugh at the full marathoners because you are about to enjoy some beer and brats and they have another couple hours to go. Okay, half marathoners plug your ears."

"Now full marathoners listen up," the presenter continued, "When those half marathoners turn to the left, you can start laughing. Those pansies have nothing on you!"

At this point I'm kind of in agreement with him, I'm feeling great and thinking, "See ya later half marathoners!" This mentality is going to come back and haunt me in about six more miles.

13.1 Mile time: 2:10:12

We turn down a more commercial area with wide open spaces between buildings. This is our first experience with the open wind. So far the residential area has been blocking quite a bit and also mostly at our backs.

One parking lot that is not paved, but has gravel and dirt takes a gust of wind. It kicks it up and a whole pack of us runners have to shield our eyes and run sideways for a moment until the wind drops for a second. That was the first sign things were going to be a little rough.

15 Mile time: 2:31:01

After we pass the 16 mile mark we cross over a bridge and literally hit a wall of wind. On a normal day miles 16 through 22 would be beautiful. They are on a paved trail along the Fox River. Today it is going directly Northeast and into 20-40 mph winds. There is little blocking the wind, and this six mile stretch is not just hitting the physical runners wall, there are moments when I ran into a physical wind wall.

This face is not a smile, it's a grimace in disguise. I choose to walk though water stations during that stretch of the race and tried to draft off a couple of folks. But most of the time I was working this path on my own.

The highlight came right before mile 20. A church congregation brought in about 200 people to cheer, yell, and encourage the runners. Seriously, I could have cried at that point, their enthusiasm took my wind battered body and helped drag it over the bridge and get the wind literally at my back.

Mile 20: 3:31:17

At this point I am just thinking about seeing my family by the finish line. The highlight of this race is the final leg is a run around the inside of Lambeau Field, home to the current Superbowl Champion Green Bay Packers.

I'm dreaming of touching the tundra.

To get into Lambeau we had to go through a long concrete laden tunnel, and at the end we emerge from the players tunnel. I may or may not have hammed it up a bit for the photographers on field.

And on the other side I am trying to get the crowd to make some noise as I come in.

A sight for sore eyes, my favorite cheering section. The big guy in the middle has an awesomely loud voice perfect for cheering on his favorite only sister. Back in the day he was also a state champion cross-country runner.

Coming in for the high fives. Darn wispy hair is still giving me the Donald Trump comb-over look.

Here is a closer look at my run by:

And finally back out of the stadium toward the finish line. My cheering squad rushed out to catch me finish my first ever marathon in 4:53:18

Not the fastest run by any means, but I kept thinking to myself, "Be Courageous". This run is me against myself (and a ton of wind). At the end of the day, no matter what my time came in at I could now say, "I am a marathoner".

And since the Packers did just win the Superbowl, the metals were inset with a bit of good old pigskin. I think this is my favorite metal so far. Especially since a couple days later it was confirmed the course was 800 feet too long and adjusted our times. So in less then a week I had a new PR.

Not too shabby if you ask me.

Bonus benefit of this marathon, after I collected my metal, we were treated to brats and Stevens Point beer. Only in Wisconsin.

French Toast and 5K's

The morning was brisk, but warming slowly. The fall air had a perfect crispness and I wanted to celebrate it with one of my favorite breakfast meals: French Toast. But I'll come back to that.

I also wanted to be well fed before my 5K that started in an hour. Especially since my body had been dragging during my training runs earlier in the week.

It was the 17th annual St. Joes Food Pantry 5K. This is a fun easy run for a few reasons.

• First, it is an awesome cause. There is a minimal entry fee, but you are encouraged to bring can goods to the race and help stock St. Joe's shelves. Win-win for everyone.
• The Beautiful course is a major bonus. Half of the race is run over the Trestle Trail, which used to be an old railroad line across Lake Butte Des Morts.
  
• The rockin' door prizes. They have a ton from local sponsors. And although the odds are in my favor that I should win one, I never do. Nonetheless there are loads of goodies to be won, and I did get a stick of Noodles and Co. chap stick "Asian Mediterranean American". I'll take the small victories.
• It's a Portsmouth Start, so anyone can be the winner.
  

Despite all the awesomeness of this 5K, I was battling my own demons. Every run over the last week I have been feeling sluggish. My pace times have been fairly close to what I am used too, but for some reason I just don't feel fast. I do not know if there is a runners term for this sluggish feeling other then, uhggg.

But I finished the race strong, unfortunately I did not know my official time until a few days after the race. Part of that was my problem because I forgot to set my watch. The second being that although there was a clock at the end of the race, it did not necessarily mean that it was anywhere close to my time since it was a Portsmouth start.

For those who might be curious to exactly what that entails, runners start in waves based on age. Runners on the more mature end of the scale get a bit of a head start, as well as those on the very youthful side (i.e. 12 and under). As the ages move toward the late twenties early thirties, the waves start closer and closer together. My wave was #34, so I started roughly six minutes after the first runner.

When all was said and done, I finished in 26:55 after adjusting for my Portsmouth start, which put me in 154th place. If you took out the Portsmouth start and just ran it like a "traditional" race, I jump to 132nd. Not a big deal to me, feeling as sluggish as I did I was just happy to cross the finish line.

The best part was there was a young pre-teen who finished just ahead of me who turned around in the chute with a huge grin and put his hand out to me for a high five, "Awesome race!"

"Right back at ya!" I 'heart' runners of all ages. We are pretty cool people.

The awesome thing about this start, the winner of this race finished with a time 34:54 min. Because of her adjusted start time, she beat out the second place finisher who had a time of 17:19 min. And both of them beat out third place finisher with the fastest time over all: 16:45 min.

The best part, the winner was a women 84 years young. Dang girl, if I can finish a 5K in under 35 minutes when I am in my 80's, it will be a miracle. For obvious reasons, she received a very healthy round of applause and cheers when she accepted her 1st Place metal.

So back to the French Toast. I am fairly certain the only reason I was able to drag my lazy behind across the finish line was thanks to this little yummy friend. So not to leave ya hangin', here is how I make my favorite breakfast food:

The Cast:

• 1/4 cup wheat flour
• 1 cup Almond Milk, Vanilla flavored
  
• 1 pinch salt
• 3/4 cup egg beaters
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  
• 8 slices of wheat bread

The Method:

Add the wheat flour to a mixing bowl. Slowly whisk in the almond milk. Stir in the egg beaters, cinnamon, vanilla extract and nutmeg until smooth.

Get out the good ol' frying pan and turn up to medium heat. Soak bread slice in the mixture, and flip to make sure it is thoroughly saturated with the yummy batter. Pull out of mixture and gently hit it on the side of the bowls to get out the excess batter.

Cook on frying pan until the side begins to golden. Toast may raise in the pan slightly due to the flour mixture. Top with berries and a a few tablespoons of Maple syrup.

Then go run a 5K. --Wait, how did that get into my recipe accordion?

Fox Cities Half Marathon ::: Recap

Last year I slipped on some gravel and my ankle bent one way and the rest of my body went the other. It swelled up pretty quickly, and the next day I went into the doctor where he immediately informed me that I tore the ligament in my left ankle. It was the middle of the summer and I was training for the fall races, but that was going on hold.

It was hard to be patient while it healed. I knew I was not going to have time to train for the fall season and that was a bit disheartening. The brisk fall air was out, and I wanted to be pounding on the pavement. Instead I was wrapping my ankle trying to be a good patient. I felt a bit lost.

Sunday was the Fox Cities Half Marathon. I have been training for this since the doctor gave me the go ahead that everything was healed up. I followed my training schedule religiously, took my cross training seriously, and have been eating like a lean-green fighting machine.

And in part of that preparation I made schedule from my anticipated pace so that my family would know where to show up and cheer me on at what time.

Unfortunately my prep work was slightly flawed, but I am getting ahead of myself.

The Start

Mom proved once again why she is a saint, she picked me up at 6am and drove me to the starting line. She also served as my official event photographer.

The guns went off at 7:00, and it took a few minutes before my pace made it over the start pad. I did have my 2 seconds of fame on the local news. In their marathon video package I appear for a blip at 0:21 mark. At least they captured us when we were still looking fresh.

For the first couple of miles I just went with the pack of runners, and maneuvered my way around until I found a group of folks who were at a comfortable pace. It appeared we were all strangers, but keeping up a nice conversation. I do not know if it was the adrenaline, but I felt amazing, me legs were fresh and the weather was crisp and perfect for running.

We approached the first "hill" of the marathon, an overpass going over Highway 441. I felt confident, having added a lot of hill practices to my training schedule. I cruised over, and lost much of the group I had been pacing with the first couple of miles.

Settling in I turned up my tunes and ran to my own groove.

The Pace Sheet is Going to be Off

I hit the 5K marker and looked at my watch to see my time at about 25:25. Doing some quick mental math I panicked for a bit.

Alright, I might have slightly hyperventilated, but nothing bad enough to scare the other runners around me. I was way ahead of the pace I set for myself, but I had found such a groove that the miles just slipped by.

Worried I would overwork myself now and have nothing left for the end, I pulled back a bit. Even so, I knew I was ahead of my pace chart now.

At the halfway maker I glanced at my watch and knew I was just a bit over an hour. Still well ahead of pace. Scarfed down an energy gel and continued on my merry way.

It was at mile 9 that I finally found my Mom again. I waived frantically to get her attention. It was apparent that she was not expecting me yet, because she fumbled for the camera and tried to get a snapshot. Of course she yelled for me to stop to make sure she had a record for photographic posterity, but I knew if I did, I would never start up again. Thus starting the first in a series of amazing rear shots.

The second came a mile or so later when my Mom drove down a side street and found me again. Unfortunately resulting in another derrière exhibit.

Of course, the only shot of me actually running where my face is visible was taken at the start of the race and I look entirely too happy.

The Finish Line

My race settled in so well that I started to pick back up again after the halfway point. I cruised through the final "hill" aka bridge, surprising myself as I continued to pass folks during the charge. On the final stretch I began looking again for my family, needing some support to carry me through the last mile and a half.

I scanned the crowd lining the street, Mom was ahead. I gave her a grunt in acknowledgment and she cheered me on. One of my friends was there cheering on her husband and gave me a shout out. The rest of my family was MIA. I had a feeling that they were following my original spread sheet quite religiously, and were going to show up after I had passed through.

Knowing they would be there in spirit, I rounded the final turn up the lake front. The last time I ran this stretch in the half marathon I had been chaffing and feeling ready to throw in the towel. This time I was moving steadily and determined to finish strong.

The final 200 meters were killer. I wanted to sprint it in so badly and finish strong. My legs were jell-o. I ignored the pain and just pounded in. The clock overhead read 2:03, and something or another. I knew I started about a minute after the gun went off.

The volunteers wrapped us up, gave us our metals, and pushed us to the food tent to refuel. All I could think was my time was somewhere in the 2:02 range. I had beat my PR by over 15 minutes!

It took me a bit to find my Mom in the crowd. She was by the finish line area when I came up behind her as she was talking to a woman who had her blackberry out. The woman asked my mom, "What's your runner's bib number?" She looked at the screen, "She already finished."

"What?" I head my Mom say.

Coming up behind her I said, "Hi Mom!."

"Oh my gosh! When did you finish?"

I shrugged and looked at the time clock, "About 10 minutes ago."

"But, how did you get past me?" I shrugged again.

Mom was distraught she did not get a finishing photo, and after promising her I would buy one of the official race photos, she smiled and we took a couple of celebratory shots with my metal.

My official finish time was 2:02:56, demolishing my previous PR. I had to push myself--there were a few times during the race where I grimaced, but my thoughts were positive and I knew I was well trained. I was determined to finish that bad boy.

And now I am mentally getting to a place where I can start training for the full marathon. I felt good during the race, my recovery after it has been fantastic. Now I want to work on the next challenge.

I also want to work on pacing charts, because *ahem* apparently I am not too efficient at that.