A Running Bean

GR Marathon – Sunday, October 15 (Marathon)

- badass tough strong powerful gritty brave courageous women who bust their butts to make their own dreams come true, or who pick themselves back up if they don’t quite make it to the goal and they keep on going.

- Katie

Hello followers! It has been a while – about a month – since my last post. It has been hard to find time at work to fit in an update. On Memorial Day weekend, I completed my first marathon. It was a total blast, and I will absolutely be doing one again in the future. This Sunday, I am racing a 5K! I mostly picked this one because my friend did it in 2015 and got a cool shirt. I will be pretty disappointed if I don't get a cool shirt this weekend. My next race is in 2 or 3 weeks; I will be participating in the Tri Del Sol triathlon for the second year in a row. After that: who knows?? Stay tuned!

Yesterday I completed my first 25K race! It went SO much better than my half marathon in April. I went into the race with the goal of being comfortable; if I was running so fast that my breathing became labored/uncomfortable, then I would let myself slow down. It wasn't my lungs that got me in the end – it was my legs! By mile 13, I was pooped. My legs felt very heavy. I was pretty impressed with myself, though, because I didn't walk until approximately mile 12 or 13 (to eat an orange slice, and again a little down the road to change my music over). Not a single time did I slow down to walk before that point. I give myself major kudos for that! I found an older man wearing a cool mountain guides t-Shirt around mile 1 and followed him until about mile 7. He was keeping a very steady 9:10-ish pace and quickly (and unknowingly) became my spirit guide. I tailed him for miles because I was comfortable with his pace and he gave me something to concentrate on, other than my music. I named him Gerald in my head :) At mile 15-ish, we were closing in on the finish line, turning onto Fulton and getting ready to run across the Fulton Street bridge, when the skies opened up. It started pouring freezing cold rain and hail! My feet and shorts were soaked, my hands swelled up into claws, and the sweat that had dried on my face began running into my eyes!! It burned and stung and I kept getting momentarily blinded. Everyone around me was screaming and trying to get pumped up. Five minutes later, when we crossed the finish line, it had stopped. I grabbed the three chocolate milks I had been dreaming of, chugged two cups of blue Gatorade, ate a yogurt, and stuffed some bagel into my mouth. Good to go. I shivered/shuffled my way back to the Cherry/Commerce ramp (whyyyyy did I park so far away?!) and headed home. I am feeling pretty good today, too. No major aches or pains. I even went to my friend Lindsay's bachelorette party last night! I am looking forward to a low-key and relaxing Sunday. My dad and I are seeing David Sedaris at DeVos Hall this afternoon. I can't wait! Marathon Saturday is now less than two weeks away. I am getting pumped but also super freakin nervous. We'll see how that goes. - Katie

I've had several GOOD runs on my own over the last week and a half. The photo is from my run on Monday – over five miles on an easy out and back route. I am so proud of myself for that run. I started out slow, allowing myself to be okay with a comfortable pace. If my breathing wasn't effortless, I let myself slow down. I kept a consistent pace over the first half of the run and felt positive about both the run and myself for the whole time! By mile 4, I had warmed up really well and ended up striding it out over the home stretch. It felt so good to push myself, knowing that I was very close to home and didn't have to save up any more endurance. I got as low as 7:25 during the last mile but averaged out at 8:40 overall. I have another night off tonight, but it is cold and rainy, so I will probably log a 5K on the treadmill and call it a night. I would love to do 6 miles tonight, but I don't have the patience to do that on the treadmill!! Overall, I'm feeling much more positive about running and I'm really looking forward to my marathon in a few weeks.

The company, staff and runners are some of my favorites to follow on social media. Not only do they make beautiful running clothes, but they also post race updates (hello, LA Marathon!) and chime in on important issues in the running world (hello, weird sponsorship rules for Rio!). As a group/company, they are all about championing strong women and appreciating your body for its individual strengths and capabilities. As founder Sally Bergesen tweeted today, “every pace is welcome on Oiselle Volée. And I mean EVERY pace.” They are inclusive, inspirational, and empowering. And that is why I am excited to say that I have officially registered for the Volée!!!! I can’t wait to receive my Oiselle singlet and represent such a kick-ass company while racing this year.

My fourth 13.1 is in the books. It was a terrible awful horrible train wreck of a race. My head was not in it today. I got very anxious about 1/3 of the way into the race and got extremely wrapped up in thinking about my time goal and how long it would take me to get there. I got overwhelmed by the amount of work in front of me and was compulsively checking my pace every few steps. It was awful. I physically may have been in shape to do the race (and I did finish), but my lack of mental conditioning absolutely destroyed me. I spent half of my car ride home from the race crying and saying terrible things to myself because I was so angry and disappointed in myself. I pride myself on being a very competitive person, but when that competitive spirit turns on you and cannibalizes your mental strength and ability to persevere… it gets real ugly, real fast. I’m glad that I finished (and in the grand scheme of things, I ran a 10:00-ish average, which isn’t HORRIBLE) and now I can start subconsciously burying all memories of that race and forget that it ever happened 😉

1. I wish I had a CML singlet so I could rep my workplace during all of my races. 2. ...What am I going to wear?? 3. I should probably set out my clothes. 4. What will I eat for breakfast?! 5. I hope I don't have an intestinal freak out during the race (every runner's nightmare) 6. I wonder if I should write a pace chart on my arm. 7. Is a PR feasible when running with an injury? 8. Am I really actually injured if my leg doesn't hurt? 9. I hope I don't hurt myself tomorrow by doing this race. 10. Should I even remind my family about this race? What if my parents get mad at me for not resting? 11. I will need someone to take my picture after the race... So maybe I should tell them. 12. What would it be like to show up, run a race knowing that nobody is there to cheer you on, and just go home like nothing even happened? Seems v. chill. 13. I can't believe I have to wake up at 5:30 for this... 0.1 - tomorrow is gonna be awesome.