Marine Corps Marathon

Pic: Me and John post race at the Beer tent

Things have been so busy as of late that I am finally getting around to updating everything. The Scrogginsdesign Website, facebook, flickr, and these here blogs. Back in October, I took a week to discover the wonder of Washington DC and also to run the Marine Corps Marathon. This race was:
my 6th marathon all together
my 3rd one in 2009
the first one I've ran with friends since my first one (st louis with Casper)
the hardest I've ever run (the course was outrageous)
and the most amazing!

my time was 5'34 (my 4 best time) and it was just so amazing. You dont know how incredible it is to have a Marine put a medal around YOUR neck and tell you he's proud of YOU. Just so special to me being a Marine Corps Brat, being surrouned by Marines again (only this time they were all so young looking!) and run with them. Just amazing, and to finish at Arlington Cemetary and see that statue of Iwo Jima after finishing something like 26.2 miles...
you dont even fell the pain anymore.

truly inspiring. I have posted all the pictures from my trip on facebook.
Click here to view my adventure!

Oh Glorious Rest

So you know that last post where I was supposed to run 20 miles...I didn't.
I had actually been avoiding this blog for quite some time cause the training for Seattle just wasn't going the way I had wanted it to. I could blame the extreme heat that had been going on in Missouri which was a contributing factor. I could barely breathe just walking out the door, but in short I just didn't even try to push myself into it either. I had gotten one long run of 17 miles between Cincinnati and Seattle and just didn't even run the last 3 weeks before the race - heat index did get up to 110 :(

So on to Seattle. The Thursday before the race we had a softball game for our drinking league and needless to say with my lack of activity the past couple weeks took a toll on my quads. To be frank, they were burning. When entering Seattle, I realized how hilly the city was and proceeded to have a panic attack Friday night before the race.
Had I prepared enough?
Will the course be a hilly bitch?
Should I have opted out of softball this week?
Is this just going to be a repeat of Memphis? (I got really hurt and had to walk the last 6 miles)
Should I have just sucked it up and trained in the heat?

All of this was plaguing me throughout the night. Race day was saturday. Starting time was 7am, but out of the 25,000 runners didn't actually pass through the starting line until 7:40. My quads still burned from softball, but it was a good sore and I just thought we'd see how I felt towards the halfway mark cause I can always just go with the halfers if I'm not up to it - but I didn't come to Seattle to do go halfsies :)

The course was not as hilly as the city makes up think it would be and it definitely wasn't as hilly as Cincinnati. The race was quick, when it was over it didn't even feel like I had been out there for 5 hours. I raced my second best time 5 hours and 24 minites - beating my st louis time by one minute. It is such a relief to know that my body is used to this by now and that the 3 weeks off didn't hender my performance at all and in the end probably actually helped me cause it gave me a much needed rest between the 2 marathons.

To me though, the best part of running was that I added an interactive element to my race and allowed people from home to follow me on twitter throughout the race. I updated every so often and tweeted pictures and whatnot - which was nice to have something to take my mind of running. But the feedback from people was so encouraging. I'm so glad that people got into that. It felt like they were right along with me on my 26.2 mile adventure. So thanks to everyone who got involved and lets look forward to the Marine Corps Marathon in October!

Click here to follow me on twitter!

UPDATE: Pictures from Seattle

Cincinnati Marathon

One Word Review: Hilly!

The course was definitely one of the most difficult I've faced yet. My own description would be comparing it San Fransisco. My hip started bothering me from mile 3 on and I even considered just doing the half at mile 10...but that would be silly ;)

I met a girl name sarah around mile 16 from Kentucky. It was her first marathon and we ran a good 7 miles together before separating. Maybe we can get together again and run the Kentucky Derby marathon next April. 

Right now I am recovering and I start back up my training tomorrow and pick up right where I left off for Seattle in June. The elevation chart for that doesn't look the most promising, but after Cincinnati, I feel up for about anything. 

UPDATE: PICS FROM THE RACE and the rest of my trip to OHIO

Denver Marathon

State number 3 down.

Completed: October 19, 2008

People warned me that this would be a tough one because of the altitude. I was worried but trucked on to the mile high city. I actually took the week before the marathon off from running. I was beginning to feel the wear of running everyday and was getting quite burnt out. I think that this totally worked to my advantage. Also with the help of the Nike + invention, which completely revolutionized my training, I was well prepared for this race. 

It was so amazing. I completely recommend this race to anyone. It was beautiful, clean, and the course was almost flat with at most a couple of hills. The only complaint that i have is that, and this only happened once, runners were stopped by cops to let traffic go by with much dismay by runners trying to make time. I myself had a goal of 5 hours. I had signed up for the pace group and actually stayed almost 10 minutes ahead of them for most of the race. I was so pissed when they passed me at mile 24. But was very happy with my time of 5 hours and 3 minutes which is 22 minutes faster than my personal best for the marathon! How exciting right? 

Seriously though, this marathon was perfect. The course, the recovery time, the freebees. I loved every aspect of this place. I even want to move denver now. Ugh it was everything. I cant stop talking about how fabulous the past four days have been. So I'll just leave you with the links to my pictures...

Pre race day/Race day

Recovery Time/Amazing Denver

I actually had so much fun training for and running this marathon that I'm already researching my next couple marathons. I think that since I only did one this year, that I'm going to do 3 next year. Cincinnati on May 3, Seattle on June 27, and the USMC in DC in October.

Memphis, TN Marathon

Completed December 1, 2007

Ran half of the marathon with my friend Sarah Wilson then she was done and had to run the second half by myself. Started having hip troubles at around 17-19. My hip started really bothering me around 21 and thats when I started walking. Met up with my boyfriend Dan at mile 23 and he walked with me for 3 miles to keep me motivated. Ran that last mile and was taken away in a wheelchair. Memphis was kind of dirty and the stations ran out of stuff before people could get to them. The sights were pretty cool though. Ran past the zoo, the pyramid, the famous elvis statue, and more. The race ended in the Cardinals triple A team's stadium. It was a sight to be held. I ran the race in a Mizzou jersey because they were playing Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship that night. Unfortunately they lost, but the day lives on...

For Pictures, Click here.

St Louis Marathon

Completed April 12, 2007

Ran with Katie Casper. Pretty much the most amazing and painful experience I've ever felt. First 20 were a breeze, hit the wall at 23, runner's high at 25. Amazing. and Beautiful. I've seen a side of St. Louis that I've never seen before. Ran through the Brewery, Forest Park, Delmar, Clayton, by WashU. Post Race, went to the Cardinals game. Got drunk off of one beer ;)

For pictures, click here.