Zooma Cape Cod Kick-Off Recap!

Happy almost Friday everyone! As you may know by now, I was lucky enough to be selected as an ambassador for (the brand new) Zooma Cape Cod Half Marathon and 10k For Women which will be taking place on 9/22/12 in Falmouth, MA. This past Tuesday I attended a FUN Zooma kick-off event at City Sports in the Back Bay. The event was a blast; it was wonderful to meet the other ambassadors as well as mingle and run with other ladies who attended the event.
Since I live in Boston and regularly attend runs at City Sports, I led the 3 mile group on the evening's run. It had been a long time since I ran with a group of women...what FUN! I especially loved the 3 women who were training to run their FIRST half marathon. The 3 women agreed that Zooma Cape Cod would be their first and ONLY half marathon but everyone else knew that simply wouldn't be the case! Little do they know...right??  We told the ladies that they'll have their 2nd half marathon planned within 30 minutes of finishing Zooma.
The event gave participants (both women AND men) lots of freebies! They even raffled off a free entry for the half marathon! Muscle Milk and Cytomax were there giving out free samples too. The event seemed to be pretty well organized and the turnout was great. Several new people showed up for the event and I sincerely hope they will return to the City Sports run club very Tuesday night at 6:00pm!
Check out (some of) the lovely ambassadors below:

Michelle (her energy was amazing!) Me, Nancy (OMG, cutest pregnant lady EVER!) Samantha (she's got her own "love on the run") Jess (she is one fast mother runner!!) and Brooke (the event leader, such a nice lady!)

It was great to meet everyone and I'm really looking forward to meeting the other ambassadors in September. Zooma Cape Cod is going to be such an incredible event! No matter what kind of runner, jogger, walker you are, this event is for you! This event is all about health and fitness and having FUN! If you're looking for that perfect race, this is the one! I have done 6 women's races and I can tell you they truly are special, powerful, welcoming and everyone is so encouraging and positive. I sincerely hope you consider signing up for the race! Don't forget to use the coupon code CCAMB7 when you sign up to save $10 off the half and $5 off the full. Hope to see you all on September 22nd (or sooner!!!)

5 Things Friday

1. Had a great week of working out but I'm still not too confident about running a sub 3:35 marathon next month. Sometimes I think I'm crazy for thinking I can do it so soon. I was ready to do it in April, but now I feel kind of lazy and out of shape. Too much resting with 2 marathons and a 50 miler. I've got the endurance but not sure about the speed. It's hard to explain to non-runners how one can feel "lazy" after completing 2 marathons and an ultra but I know you understand what I mean. It's just so much rest!

2. Did you know that I am an ambassador Zooma Cape Cod Half Marathon and 10k? The race is set for 9/22/12 in Falmouth, MA. It's going to be a blast! I LOVE races for women! Check out Zooma's website HERE to register for the race and check out the other ambassadors! Such a great group of ladies, can't wait to meet everyone! Don't forget to use coupon code CCAMB7 at checkout to save $5 off the 10k and $10 off the full.

3. For those of you who don't know, Ryan is now officially a professional engineer. He found out a couple of weeks ago that he passed his PE exam. So proud of him!!

4. Earlier this week I opened up an Etsy shop. So far I have already sold 3 things! Check out my Etsy shop HERE. Also, see the pictures below. Everything comes in a pack of 8 and anything can be made special the way you want.

5. I started doing TRX workouts 2 weeks ago...HOLY COW! It's an unbelievable workout! So hard! Gets my heart rate up and makes everything sore the next day. If your gym has TRX equipment definitely talk to a trainer and set up an appointment! It's so worth the money!

Missed BQ (by a couple of minutes)

Well we all know that it was a HOT Marathon Monday back in April for the Boston Marathon. So it's no surprise that I did not re-qualify for Boston AT Boston this year, like I wanted to. As soon as I saw the weather I decided that my one goal for Boston would be to run the marathon without feeling like I ran a marathon. I took Boston very easy and took lots of walk breaks and ended up with a 4:11:00. Luckily, I had also signed up for the Providence Marathon which was just under 3 weeks after Boston. I figured if i did not BQ at Boston then I would surely get it at Providence.

To make a long story short...I decided that I would run Providence with a pace bracelet and NOT my Garmin. You may remember previous posts where I wrote about running PRs withOUT my Garmin. That's right, I'm faster when I leave my trusty pal at home. I think pace bracelets are a GREAT tool. HOWEVER....a pace bracelet only works when the miles are accurate, right? Well apparently whoever put out the mile markers for Providence did not place them in the right spots (or perhaps they were measured wrong?) I have no clue what happened, all I know is that the mile markers were off. I had some miles where (according to my pace bracelet and stopwatch) I ran just over 7 minutes, and I had another mile that was 11 miles. My first mile was 7:40 pace, even though I looked over my shoulder and saw mile 25 before running past mile 1. Mile 2, I was right on pace (8:09 average) but by mile 3, I was running over 9s on average? Mile 4 I was back to 8:09 average. I reached the halfway clock at 1:43:10...but 3 minutes later I ran over a mat in the street that had a race official...wait...was that the halfway mark? Or was it where the clock had been? A couple miles later I ran by another clock...I figured it was mile 15, but a couple of minutes later I ran by a sign (on the wrong side of the road and facing the wrong direction) that said "MILE 15." According to my pace bracelet, sometimes I had a 3-4 minute cushion, and other times I only had a 10 second cushion. What? How is that possible?? By Mile 19 I had a 4 minute cushion and I knew I could keep it going for another 7 miles, I was feeling great. I was confident that I would BQ. The next few miles were more spread out (1.1-1.3 miles I would guess) and all of a sudden by the time I reached mile 21 my 4 minute cushion was completely gone!! What?? I was so confused. The whole way I was so confused. I should have just worn my darn Garmin but when you run a race you expect the mile markers to be accurate. I don't need a GPS to pace myself, running dead-even splits is one of my strongest abilities in running. It's pretty hard to make up time at mile 22 but I was fighting and trying to pick up speed. I got to a pretty big hill and I could feel my pace slowing. I was still so confused...if those last few miles were longer will the next few be shorter? Do I still have it?? I felt sad because earlier int he race I was running with a big pack of women who were trying to BQ, I broke away from them at mile 11 but even as my pace slowed in the final miles not one of those women passed me again. On the final stretch, I ran by mile 12 of the half marathon...but wait, where is mile 25 of the marathon?? Mile 25 should have been before mile 12, since I had an extra .1 miles to run. It's the same course the last 1.5 miles....Mile 25 was about .3 miles AFTER mile 12 (wth?). The whole thing was very confusing. In the end, I didn't make it. 

Do I blame the misplaced mile markers for my missed BQ? NO WAY, of course not. It certainly made for some confusion, and it was really frustrating, that's for sure. If the mile markers were more accurate I probably would have had less stress and would have had a more average pace (sometimes I'd pick up the pace bc I thought I was falling behind).  I definitely wasted energy with the mile mishaps and I definitely lost some time at the big hill at mile 22, oh well, not a BQ day for me.

So what's next? A secret marathon. Yes, that's right. I have 1 more shot to BQ before the race goes on sale in September. I can't explain why but I kind of just want to keep it on the DL. Sorry friends, but I'm not spilling any beans here. All I'll say is that I'm working hard and feeling confident for the next race. 

50 Miles for 1 Year!!

Can you believe we just celebrated out FIRST wedding anniversary already?!? WOW, what a fast year!

On May 27th (our actual anniversary) we ran the Pineland Farms 50 miler in Maine as part of the Pineland Farms Trail RUNning Festival. Sound familiar? We ran the 50km last year, 2 days after our wedding. This is one of our all-time favorite races. The course is gorgeous, the trails are non-technical (very hilly though), the race directors are wonderful, the on-course support is unbelievable and the course is extremely well marked! I also love the participants, some of the nicest runners I've ever met! The race shirts were great (female sizes too!!!) and the finisher cowbells are a nice alternative to finisher medals. This was our 3rd year taking part in the festival.

The 50 miler started at 6am and the morning was nice and cool for Ryan. Our plan was to finish in under 11 hours and since we had both finished 50 milers in under 11 hours before (on a harder course) we figured we'd have no problem coming in sub 11...as long as the heat held off for Ryan. The first 4 hours were cool for Ry but once the sun came out he quickly got HOT. On the second of three loops, Ryan forgot his hand held water bottle which was a huge mistake. Luckily I had my hand held still so we shared what I had. We slowed down a lot that loop. Between being hot and not having much water, we both decided to forget 11 hours and just take it easy. We ended up finishing in 11:52:24. Longer than we wanted, but it was just more time we got to spend together on the trails. Surprisingly, my leg muscles were not sore at all after the race or in the next few days. The first time I ran a 50 miler my muscles were MAXED out! I was taking baby steps and going down the stairs on my butt for at least a week. What a difference!

We stayed in Maine from  Friday 5/25- Monday 5/28. It was a great 1st anniversary weekend. We will definitely be back for our 2nd anniversary. Maybe we will see some of you there too? It really is one of the best races in New England!!!!

 May 27, 2011

 May 27, 2011

 Last year's race. I told you the race director was awesome. He got us this special cake last year!!!

Last year in our "Just Married" shirts. A few people remembered us from last year and wished us a happy anniversary.

I need to figure out how to get pictures from Ryan's iphone to the blog, because that's where all our pictures are form this year.

I will be doing a post soon on my newest love...SPARKLE SKIRTS!! I just ordered my 6th skirt today, they are amazing. Stay tuned!