Tag Archives: running

Week 57: Running the Numbers

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Ragnar Relay medalI want to start off with a few numbers:

- 10 people
- 197 miles
- 4 legs
- 18 miles
- 45 minutes
- 2 times
- 28 hours

What do they mean?

Last weekend, I ran the Ragnar Relay race from Madison, Wisconsin to Chicago, Illinois. There were 10 people on my team. Together, we ran 197 miles over 30 separate legs (run segments). Of those, I ran 4 legs, which meant I had to run a little over 18 miles total in less than 24 hours.

My teammates and I waited at the starting line at 8:45am on Saturday morning, and that was the first time I wondered, Could I do this? I thought I was in shape, but was I really an athlete that could run 18 miles in less than a day? I’d soon find out.

Our first runner, Sami, started with a 9 mile leg at 9am, leading off our team on this loooong running trip across Wisconsin and Illinois. I didn’t have to wait too long to hit the ground running myself; by 11:30am, I was gearing up for my first leg of 7.2 miles. It would be my longest leg, so I was happy to get it out of the way first.

When my teammate before me finished her leg, she handed off our “baton” (really just a slap bracelet) and I took off. Watching the other runners all morning and anticipating my turn had my adrenaline pumping; I was aiming for a 10-minute-per-mile running pace for all my runs, but as I passed the first mile point of my 7-miler, I looked at my watch and saw a 9:12 flashing at me. Whoops! I tried to slow down so I wouldn’t burn myself out, but it was hard making my legs calm down. I don’t think I did a good job of pacing myself because by mile 5, I was starting to feel very tired. Not good, considering I still had two more miles to go, plus three more runs after this one! When I finally finished, I was pooped and hot and tired. But, I took solace in the fact that my longest run was over.

We traveled on to the next exchange areas for the runners on our team, and eventually our first 6 runners were done with our first legs—time to rest! We got some subs, and then we laid down on the ground on blankets for about 1.5 hours and just rested our bodies before it was time to get moving once more.

By about 9:30pm, I was getting ready to run again. I had a 4.5 mile run along a nice bike trail, but was a bit creeped out that I had to run on it at night. Luckily, there were many other runners all around me. I was starting to slow down (oh, the fatigue!), when another runner caught up to me slowly; we started chatting and she helped me pick up my pace again. We ran the last couple of miles together, before sprinting in to hand off to our teams. I was so glad this runner friend turned up just when I needed someone to help me through!

When we finally finished our legs, we had time to rest again—it was 1:30am and we SO wanted to sleep. Sadly, I only had about 45 minutes of sleep before it was time to go AGAIN. And this time, I was our first runner, so I had to wake up fast.

As I stood, half-asleep like a zombie, at the exchange point at 3am, shivering in the cold night and the misty rain that had started to fall, I wondered for the second time, Could I really do this? And, more importantly, Had I lost my mind?! It was 3am and I was about to run 4 miles through the streets of a not-so-safe town; WHAT was I doing? But before I could think about it too much, my teammate handed off to me and I began to run. Just run.

There were plenty of other runners around me, once again, so I quickly realized that I didn’t need to worry about my safety while running in the wee hours of the morning. While I groggily ran the four miles of my third leg, I tried to take in the peacefulness that comes with running in the middle of the night: bugs chirping here and there; a lone pair of tiny headlights slowly growing until they passed; the loud sound of silence that reverberated against the sound of my footfalls on the sidewalk. These were things I don’t normally get to experience during day runs. This was a whole new world I was running in. Before I knew it, the 4 miles was over and I was handing off the baton again.

But don’t worry—I still had one more leg to run! All I wanted to do was close my eyes and take a nap, but I only had about 1.5 hours until I had to run my final leg of 3 miles. As I sat stretching and guzzling Gatorade, struggling to keep my falling peepers open, I thought about how nice and easy a simple 3-mile run would be.

And then it was time. The baton came, I went. I can’t say it was an easy three miles, but, I did it. My legs and body were so tired that I just kept telling myself to keep going and finish—it didn’t even matter how fast I went.

But, of course, I still managed to finish at my 10-minutes-per-mile pace, because we know I can’t not care how fast I go… As I got to the line and handed off the baton for the last time, I took a (gasping) sigh of relief. I was done—I had run 18 miles and I was DONE!

Several hours later, our entire team crossed the finish line in Chicago, Illinois, 28 hours after we had begun the race the day before. I marveled at the fact that 10 people could run 197 miles in such a short amount of time—and reassured myself that even though I had many moments during which I wondered if I had lost my sanity out there on the pavement somewhere on the way to Chicago, at least I was in good (equally crazy) company.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?

P.S. The medal we got upon finishing couldn’t be any cooler—don’t you agree? C’mon, it’s a bottle opener! You better believe I tested it out that night when I got home.

Just run.
Amanda
@jockey_amanda

Week 56: Girls on the Run

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Last weekend, I laced up my running shoes for a great cause: Girls on the Run®!

My older sister and I signed up to race with the Northwest Illinois division, which included about 650 young girls, each with an older “running buddy” to guide and cheer them through a 5K race. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but when my alarm went off at 6am on Sunday morning, I was excited to see what was in store for me.

My sister and I got to the race area, and I met my 10-year-old buddy, Lexi, who was quiet at first. As we stretched with the decorated group of girls from her school, she fidgeted with the giant flower in her spray-painted hair and the plastic beaded necklace around her neck. (I got lucky and missed the hair spray-paint pre-race festivity…my sister, however, went home with green, pink and yellow striped hair!)

I asked Lexi about her school, how long they had been training to run, and was she nervous? She said they had been meeting twice a week at her school to run, talk about things going on in their young lives, and have fun with friends. The week before, they had done a training run of 3 miles. It was hard and she had to walk some, she said, but she finished it! So, she was nervous, but more excited.

“Did you do a training run?” she asked me.

“Oh…I did a couple.” I said nonchalantly. (I wasn’t sure what she might think if I told her I had run 13 miles a few weeks earlier!)

As we corralled into a mass of giggling, jumping girls and older (also bouncing around) adult buddies, we kept stretching and chatting away. I learned that Lexi was also in soccer, about to get her black belt in karate, liked playing volleyball, wanted to join track and cross-country in two years, and also wanted to start learning how to ride horses. Busy girl! We sang along to “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” and before we knew it, we were counting down to the start.

10…9…8…

“You look like you’ll be pretty fast,” I said to Lexi. “Am I going to be able to keep up with you?”

“Don’t worry…I can slow down for you!” she replied.

I laughed to myself, and then, we took off. We ran slow and steady for the first several minutes, and almost a mile into the run, I was so impressed that all these young girls were able to run so far, especially with their legs half the length of mine! Everyone was smiling, encouraging each other, and cheering their girl friends along. It was inspiring to see all these young girls there for each other and helping each other.

We ran and walked our way along the 5K route to the sounds of encouraging parents and brothers and neighbors; when we stopped to walk, we picked a landmark ahead (a lamp post, a tree, a car) to start running at again. When we ran past others who were walking, we gave them a boost and told them they were doing great as well. When we finally got about a quarter mile from the finish, we figured out what to do as our victory pose as we crossed the finish line. Adrenaline kicked in, and Lexi took off—and this time, I was afraid I actually wouldn’t keep up! We sprinted our way to the finish, through the giant pink and green balloon arch, to the tune of cheering parents and friends. As we crossed the finish line, we threw up our arms and joined in the cheers. Lexi got her medal, her dad snapped a photo of us, and then we went to cool down and stretch.

The whole experience was so great: to see so many young girls there, excited to be running even though it was early on a Sunday morning, and their parents so thrilled for them, really made me so happy and inspired. To me, it didn’t seem like a big deal to join the 5K and run with my buddy, but in the end I could see the difference it made. I will definitely participate again next year, and I encourage you to see if there is a Girls on the Run division nearby you! You can check here: http://www.girlsontherun.org/map.html.

And now, I leave for my next running adventure. Pictures and stories to come next week, folks.

Fat Stats:
Starting weight: 166 pounds
Last week: 149 pounds
This week: 149 pounds
Goal weight: 145 pounds

Happy days,
Amanda
@jockey_amanda

Week 52: Six Years and 13.1 Miles Later

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My cheesey medal!This past January, I printed off a 6-month calendar and wrote out a training schedule to prepare myself to run a half-marathon. Looking at the training plan then, it seemed almost impossible that I could build myself up from not running at all and coming back from an injury, to running 13 miles in one go. But, I also knew that with a plan in place, a goal in mind, and my stubborn motivation, I could do it.

I started with training on an elliptical, then running laps on an indoor track, until one day I decided that I was beginning to feel “in shape,” so I bundled up to run outside.

I ran through snowstorms, wind, rain, fog, fatigue, sunny days and quiet dusks. I got hurt, I got sick, but I didn’t let it derail me. I got better, and I got back on my plan. I didn’t follow my training schedule perfectly—I did what I felt like doing, when I felt like doing it, but I always did something, even if I didn’t always want to.

So, on this past Saturday, when I stood at the starting line for the “world’s cheesiest marathon,” the Wisconsin marathon, it felt surreal to me. I felt like I was just going on another one of my long training runs—only this time, with about 4,000 other people coming along.

It was supposed to be cold and rainy, but when the starting gun blasted and we began running, the clouds seemed to dissolve and the sun came out. We were off, off onto this 13-mile journey that I had waited so long for.

It took me the first few miles to get accustomed to running in a crowd. I enjoyed the sun on my face, the slight breeze, and the volunteers and community cheering on the sidelines as I passed by them. I grinned at them all. They couldn’t know it, but they were witnessing a rite of passage: I was finally running a half marathon!

About 6 miles into the race, I still felt pretty good, but I realized that I had been running faster than my anticipated pace of 10 minutes per mile. At mile 8, the fatigue started to set in, but the site of my boyfriend and friends cheering for me (and snapping a few photos) on the sideline put some energy back into my never-ceasing step. I kept moving, thinking about how I was already over halfway done with the race.

I turned the race into two goals: Finish the first ten miles, and then it’s a nice, easy 3 mile run after that. Mentally, it helped me to think of it as two goalposts, rather than just, 13 miles to go! But physically, there was no way to fool myself. By mile 10, I still felt pretty good, but I could tell I was getting tired. At mile 11, I hit the proverbial “wall” and knew the last two miles would be tough. And they were. My joints and knees ached, I felt hunched over due to the fatigue, and the sun had disappeared, leaving me to fight against a chilly, unrelenting breeze. But not once did I think, I can’t do this.

Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle. My feet kept moving. Almost there.

And then I was there: I could first hear, and then see, the mass of people cheering along the pathway to the finish line. I had about half a mile to go, and from somewhere inside of me, the last reserves of energy and adrenaline were unleashed as I took off, running fast to that finish line.

2:11:52, the clock read as I crossed the line. Not too shabby.

I had done it: After 13.1 miles, I’d finished my first half marathon.

I told my mom later that now the half-marathon is over, I’m left thinking, What next? She asked if I would run a full marathon. I told her, “I’m not crazy—only crazy people would want to run 26 miles in one go!”

To which she replied, “I don’t know—I think running 13 miles at once is kind of crazy.”

You might be right, mom.

But then, you always knew I was a little crazy, didn’t you?

Fat Stats:
Starting weight: 166 pounds
Last week: 149 pounds
This week: 149 pounds
Goal weight: 145 pounds

Stay cheesey,
Amanda
@jockey_amanda
P.S. A big thanks to Jockey for paying my entry fee (and the fees for all my co-workers) and encouraging us to be healthy!

Running by at mile 8, and then looking cheesey & happy with my friend & co-worker, Sami, after the race.