Project 12: April

{Our Easter pic... check out those springy colors!}

It's practically the second week of May and I'm just now posting my April recap... I don't know what happens to the days y'all, I really don't. If you're just jumping into things, Project 12 is a fun way to recap the month. I talk about dates, books, movies, things I discovered, important events, and basically anything else I found important that month. You're also supposed to take a picture on the first day of the month- I've decided that if I get a picture within the first week of the month, I'm going to call it good. Because of mine and my husband's work schedules, I didn't even see him April 1st. So without further introduction.... 

DATES

1. Lest you think we go out on dates all the time, this month is proof we don't. We went out to eat a couple of times and had family in town a couple of times so even though I can't say we had "technical" dates, we still had a blast this month. 

DISCOVERIES

1. Sonic shakes are 1/2 priced after 8pm. Need I say more? If you start noticing that I'm getting chubbier in my pictures it's probably because I am. I blame the Oreo Caramel delicacy that I'm slightly obsessed with. 

2. Hobby Lobby by myself is dangerous. Especially when all their wall hangings are 50% off. I had self control and only bought one decoration for myself. 

{That "Eat" sign is the only one I bought for myself}

BOOKS & MOVIES

-BOOKS-

"31 Days to Becoming A Happy Wife" by Arlene Pellicane. Though the title may be trite, this was one of the best books I've ever read on marriage. I would actually say it's in my top 3 books I've read on marriage. I've been working through it since January (I clearly don't read it every day), and it's been wonderful for my marriage! The thoughts she shares are simple yet motivating. I would highly recommend this to any wife, and have added it to my list gift list for newlyweds. 

-MOVIES-

Insurgent. This was the second movie in the Divergent series and I enjoyed it a lot. I would say that I liked Divergent (the first movie) better, but this one was quite entertaining as well. Have any of you read the books?? 

Furious 6. Alright, so I like all these movies. I realize that they're all unrealistic but this one seemed especially unrealistic. For that reason, I didn't like it as much as the previous five. And seeing Paul Walker made me sad. 

NOTABLE EVENTS 

1. My first half marathon ever! It was an exciting weekend to have all my family up and watch me. It was a gloomy day but I landed up pretty much hitting my goal time which was awesome, and now I don't have to be so strict in my training plan (which is probably a bad thing). For a full recap of the run, head over here.

{These are my people who rock...minus a couple people that aren't pictured}

2. Alex shaved and only left a mustache. He kept it for the weekend and even got a couple compliments on it. I, however, made him shave it off before I was seen in public with him because I don't like to be associated with child molester lookalikes. I am 100% serious. 

{100% pedophile status}

3. Easter (spent with my in-laws) was awesome. We relaxed, ate good food, and played our fair share of ladder ball.

{I sunbathed on Easter. Now I haven't seen the sun in two weeks}

4. My younger 21-year old brother (who has been traveling the world since December 2014) happened to be in Nepal when the earthquake hit April 25th. We didn't hear from him for three days after it happened, and though I am incredibly grateful we didn't have to wait longer than 3 days, I do know that those 3 days were some of the longest of my life. I honestly surprised myself in the fact that I was able to stay calm and trust in the Lord. But I definitely broke down and cried when we heard he was okay. He's supposed to be home in a week to walk in his college graduation and I get teary every time I think about picking him up at the airport. 

My heart aches daily for the Nepalese and I still don't know how to help such a hurting nation. I feel useless even though I know prayer may be the best thing I can do. I hope you'll join me in praying for the families of the 7,500 dead, the 14,500 injured, and the many that have yet to be found. 

{My brother pictured on the right, me, and my husband on top of a 14er last fall.}

BY THE NUMBERS

Miles run: 56

New recipes tried: 2. This orange chicken recipe that I'd been looking forward to turned out totally weird and lemon, parmesan, and ricotta pasta with grilled chicken sounds like a way better dish than it actually is. Bummer dude. 

Number of Sonic shakes drank: You don't even want to know. 

How was your April?? Are you seeing the sun in your part of the country?

My First Half Marathon- A Recap

I shared last week in my reverse bucket list that I ran a full marathon in 2010. I was a freshman in college at the time and was so scared of gaining the "Freshman 15" that I decided I would train for a marathon and then I could eat whatever I wanted. The plan worked brilliantly, but I haven't been motivated to run further than 3 miles since. 

I've done my fair share of at-home workouts over the past few years including a lot of Jillian Michaels and P90X3. Last November, Alex and I decided to go for a spur-of-the-moment run around our new house. It felt incredible. I remembered how much of a release running had been for me freshman year, and it brought me back to the days that I spent training. For the next couple of months I started consistently running, and around January decided that maybe I should train for something. I've always wanted to do a half marathon, so I decided that would be my goal. But I decided that I also wanted to shoot for an under 2 hour half marathon. This averages to be 9:09 per mile. I am NOT a fast runner- my marathon was 11:15 or something like that per mile so cranking it to 9:09 was a pretty lofty goal. But since I had started running in November, I had been consistently running around 9:30 a mile so I figured it was a doable goal. 

I chose the half marathon I did because the course didn't look terribly hard, but I mostly chose it because it coincided on a weekend that my family was coming up to Denver to watch my brother play lacrosse. I had my family and a couple of friends at my full marathon and it made the biggest difference in the world. My husband, my parents, my brother and his girlfriend, my in-laws, my brother in law and his girlfriend, and one of my very best friends all showed up to support me. Let's just say that I had the best cheering squad at the race. Now, onto the race.

-------------

{This was at the starting line... I was SUPER nervous}

Pre-race

I was nervous, you guys! Like really nervous! I wanted my goal time so bad but was nervous about achieving it. I didn't particularly like being nervous, but it was kind of cool to feel that nervous/competitive energy that I hadn't really felt since playing tennis in college. Several days before the race we had had freezing rain and snow, and I knew the course could potentially be really muddy. The forecast that morning was cloudy around 35 degrees with a chance of rain. This was actually perfect for me- I run way better in sub-50 temperatures, I was just hoping it wouldn't actively be raining through the race. I woke up at 4:45 the morning of the race, tossed and turned until my alarm went off at 6. Alex drove me to the race and after 45 minutes of warming up and trying not to get too nervous, I lined up and waited for the starting gun to go off. 

Miles 1-4

My strategy was to go a little bit slower than my goal pace for the first 2 miles of the race so that I wouldn't get tired and hit a wall later in the race. My goal pace for the first 2 miles was 9:15 or 9:20 and this had been really hard for me to do during my training runs (I always started running way quicker). The first quarter mile of the race was seriously muddy despite the race organizers best efforts to put bark down. The mud helped me start slower and I was able to keep a 9:20 pace for the first two miles. I actually kept the 9:20 pace (unintentionally) for the first four miles which started to be a serious mental challenge because I started worrying that I wouldn't be able to make up the time later. 

{This was about mile 5 and I felt good}

Miles 5-9

This course ran alongside a beautiful lake that was absolutely stunning, and had I not been so worried about my time I would have stopped to take pictures because it was gorgeous. This particular stretch of the race was mostly concrete which was a huge deal for me. I had done the majority of my training runs on concrete and prior to hitting concrete I was running on a trail that was fairly muddy in spots. The mud had slowed me down and so I was able to crank up my pace on the concrete (my fastest mile, 8:22, was during this concrete portion). There were a couple of ladies that I kept passing then kept passing me so the little cat and mouse game helped me keep a quick pace. 

Miles 6-7 got a little bit tough because I kept wondering when I was going to turn around. This was also the stretch where I didn't see my cheer squad for about 4 miles, so I just kept thinking to myself "just a little bit further until I see my people". 

{This was mile 10 and as I'm sure you can tell, I felt like death}

Mile 10-12

This was the hardest part of the race for sure. I saw my people at mile 10 and knew it would be the last time that I saw them before the finish line. After the race, they made sure to let me know that I looked like death at mile 10. Thanks guys. There was a lady in front of me that I had passed forever ago and all of a sudden she passed me again. I kept up with her but she was crankin it out at a 7:40/mile pace, and I eventually lost her after a mile or so, but trying to keep up with her meant that my 10th mile was a quick one (8:37). 

I felt really gassed at mile 11 (probably from going way too fast in mile 10), but a lady that I had been running either right in front of or right behind  most of the race passed me and yelled "we're almost there". That was exactly the boost I needed, and a perfect example of why the running community can be so dang awesome! 

The rest of mile 11 and 12 all I could think was "If I ever get the idea to do this again, someone shoot me." I also started counting down from 100 to distract myself from my misery. 

The Finish 

The race organizers didn't put a "Mile 13" sign out (for you half marathoners- is this normal??) and I kinda got thrown for a loop. I rounded the corner and realized I was closer than I thought so I started picking up my speed as much as I could. I glanced at my watch and saw that I was at 1:58 so I told myself "Go Sarah go, you're going to make the 2 hour mark!" 

I sprinted as fast as I could towards the finish line but the last quarter mile (right before the finish line) seemed muddier than when I had started and I felt myself getting stuck. I was focused on trying to get through the mud without twisting an ankle and just felt this incredible frustration as I felt myself slowing down. 

I crossed the finish line and glanced down at my watch and saw 2:00:06 (2 hours, 6 seconds). At this point, I could care less. My husband, family, and friends were all at the finish line and all I could do was bend over and catch my breath. I got really super dizzy and it took a good several minutes before I caught my breath and was ready to smile for pictures. 

{"All About That Bass"- one of my favorite songs during training}

{My in-laws with the funniest sign}

{5280 is the feet of elevation of Denver... that's my beautiful momma}

Post-Race

I smiled for my fair share of pictures as the elation of finishing my first half marathon set in. I was happy with my time- it wasn't the 2:00:00 or less that I had hoped but I just knew that if the last part of the course hadn't been so muddy, I totally would have reached my goal. Since then I've had my moments of "if only I had run faster here...", but for the most part I've been content with my time. I knew that if the weather conditions were different, my time probably would have been different too. 

I finished 51st overall (out of 163 runners), 7th out of 30 in my age division (Females 20-29 years old), and 17th out of 97 females. I felt pretty proud of how I finished considering it was my first half marathon, and my stats leaves room for improvement in my next half!  

{Most of my people.... from top left clockwise: my hubby, one of my closest friends, my brother in law and girlfriend, my brother's girlfriend}

I stood around chatting with my friends and family and just enjoyed being done with the race! My people were awesome you guys. I guess someone along the course that was running close to me said, "Man I wish I was Sarah!" Someone else said, "I guess Sarah must be about to pass me!" And one lady said with desperation in her face, "My name is Michelle" and my squad started cheering for her by name. Having all of them there with their awesome signs made the race so much more fun and made all the difference in the world. 

It's been two days since the race... will I do a half marathon again? Probably. Will it be anytime soon? Probably not. Towards the end of my training I was getting tired of how much of my time it was taking, so for now I think I'm just going to enjoy running whatever mileage I want at whatever pace I want.

Oh yeah, and after the race one of the booths was giving out a fitbit to whoever could hold the longest plank. You were also entered in a drawing for a gym membership and some pretty awesome other prizes. So even though I was exhausted, I had to try. My brother's girlfriend beat my mom and I, and none of us were close to the longest time that won the fitbit (7 minutes something). 

{Check out our form! ;) }

If you're wondering, I used this half marathon training plan. I have an upcoming post explaining why I chose that plan, and some of my tips on how to avoid injury while running. 

In case any of you were wondering, my splits (according to my GPS) are below. 

Mile 1    9:23

Mile 2    9:15

Mile 3    9:15

Mile 4    9:18 

Mile 5    8:58

Mile 6    8:22

Mile 7    9:13

Mile 8    9:18

Mile 9    8:29

Mile 10  8:37

Mile 11  9:03

Mile 12  8:56

Mile 13  9:11

Final Time: 2:00:06

Average Split: 9:11

{All my people minus my Dad and brother who had left already for my brother's lacrosse game}

Would you or have you ever run a half marathon? If you have run one before, what's your strategy for running it?