On Sunday, June 1^st I ran the Niagara Falls Women’s Half Marathon. To give you a better idea of how I ended up registering for this race, I need to back up to October 2013. That was when I had more than one person tell me that I should consider running this particular race. As a new race on the scene, it was smaller, therefore the odds of placing well were on my side. So, of course, I signed up right away.

Now here we are on race day. I was with my husband, our little man had a sleepover with Grandma & Grandpa while Mommy & Daddy had a “getaway” in Niagara Falls. My husband drove me close to the start and then I was on my own. This would be the first time since 2008 that I was on my own at a start line. I started to get a little emotional and shed a few tears. I felt alone even though there were a couple thousand people around me. Everyone else had a friend or a group of friends they were with. I recognized a twitter and instagram friend (@lacesandlattes) at the start, so I introduced myself and we chatted until the start of the race. This actually calmed my usual pre race nerves and was very thankful for it!

This was the first time I felt like an elite runner. I was actually one of the women toeing the start line, with one hand on my Garmin ready to hit the button. Then the race started and boy did it start with a bang! I quickly realized that I was not the only one who decided to run this race to place well, the women this year came to win. For the first km or so I was up there pushing my legs at a 3:15/km pace. I very soon realized that I would not be able to keep that up for longer than 5km, let alone 21km, so I pulled back and settled into a comfortable, yet speedy pace. Since I am not familiar with the Niagara Falls area –other than the Falls themselves– studying the map the night before didn’t really help me during the race. Since I got out to a speedy start, I only had a few women around me and we were well spaced out. It was an experience I have never had in a race and I started to feel like I was just out for a training run. That is, until we started the out and back part of the route when I would see all the other women cheering for those of us up front, and I am not going to lie – that felt amazing!

Action shot

It was a hot morning and with little shade I used the water stations to take micro sips and then poured the rest on my head to cool down.  I have always had an issue with fueling during longer races, mostly because I can’t handle the taste of gels, in fact I gag when I try to use them. I am not a big fan of things like gummies or jelly beans either. My usual pre race food is bread with almond butter & a banana and while enroute to the race, I enjoy half a power bar. This routine has served me well…until this race. I don’t know if it’s because I stepped up my game and was pushing my body faster for longer than it usually goes, but when I got to about 15 or 16km my body literally started to shake because I was more than hungry, I was starving! In non-race situations, when I get hungry like this I get real hangry (hungry + angry = hangry) and everything gets put on hold until I get something to eat (my husband can attest to this). Obviously while racing this is not an option, so I had to dig deep, but I felt myself slowing down even as I fought to keep my speed up. I felt my form go to hell and I knew that if my coach could see me, he would not be impressed! I don’t know if any of you have ever tried to race while shaking with hunger, but I can tell you that I was not in a good place. I didn’t stop though. No way was I going to stop! I thought of my little guy and how I needed to set an example of never giving up.  Then, around 19km I saw another runner friend who was there to support his wife, (Thanks Andrew Chak for the cheering!) and it was the boost I needed for the last 2 km’s. I crossed the finish line a little slower than my 1:40 PB, I crossed just drained and exhausted. The first person I saw was Kathrine Switzer who was there with a hug and congratulations, then a fireman who gave me my medal. Side note, the whole fireman thing doesn’t get me excited (I’m more into accountants…for those that don’t know, my husband is one), so this was certainly not the highlight for me! I enjoyed the cold wet washcloth they handed out, downed a bottle of water and a carton of chocolate milk. I saw my husband and fell into his arms. He was smiling and was so proud of me, but I was too upset at the time to be proud of myself. We found a place for me to inhale a couple of cookies, and checked out my stats. I came 27/1998 overall and 7/372 in my age category. With a few days behind me, I can now appreciate that these were great results, but I wanted that top 10 so bad. The competition was stiff this year and I tip my hat to those women and I thank them at the same time for making me put all my training with my coach to the test. My  husband and I checked out of the hotel and headed straight to the closest Five Guys Burger! A greasy cheeseburger has never tasted so good!

Chugging water at the end

Now for the Pros and Cons breakdown:

Pros:
-Gorgeous route going past the falls twice, pretty cool and that mist felt amazing…even if it fogged up my Sunskis
-Swag bag: wine, make up, lip balm and more?! Awesome
-All women: while there were some men, it was nice to not worry about all that testosterone
Cons:
-8am start, already it was too hot at the start with that blazing hot sun, a 7:30 or a 7:00am start would be amazing!
-Packet pick up was too long of a wait. I have never waited longer than 5 mins to pick up my kit, but it took me 60 min! A huge part of that was having Kathrine Switzer at the end of the line for pictures and autographs, which while amazing I think should have been separate from the actual pick up.

Will I be back next year? Quite possibly, and I will be back even stronger and faster!

Have you ever run an all women race? What was it like?

By the falls on the walk back to the hotel

When I run I have to listen to music. Like for real, I have to listen to music. Not only do I have to listen to music but I will spend hours picking the perfect songs to add to my playlist and if after a run I feel like it doesn’t fit, I delete it instantly and continue my search for more (No one is safe as even Beyonce’s Single Ladies got the axe after a 10k race). I have a wide variety of music that I like to listen to, Foo Fighters to Kanye, you name it I listen to it…..Just no country and no Taylor Swift or One Direction or Selena Gomez…..well, I think you get the idea. Below I have just a few songs that carry me on both my training runs and races. I love to get lost in my music and enjoy my day dreams…..If you’re lucky I will share some of those said day dreams in this post. For the sake of this post let’s say that I am running 10k. Oh and one more thing. Please don’t judge my taste in music, thank you.

When I start off my run, I like something upbeat, cheesy and pop-y, something like…..Pitbull!. Yep, love me some Timber. Not only is it terribly cheesy but it features Ke$ha! Hello!!! Winner! It gets me warmed up and feeling good. I like to think positive quotes and thoughts to set me off on the right foot.

This takes me straight into some Avicii…really I love any Avicii at this point; I Could Be the One, Wake Me Up, or more recently Hey Brother. Now I’m getting nice and warm and my breathing has settled into a nice comfortable breathing pattern.

Are you ready for super cheese? How about some Owl City featuring good old Canadian born Carly Rae and It’s always a good time, this gets me smiling and tries to encourage me to “have a good time” – get it?? 😉

At this point I am at about 5 or 6K into my 10K, so I’m starting to pump my legs faster and harder and I need MKTO, Thank you. This song reminds me of the retreat I went on last March with an incredible group of ladies who have inspired me more than they will ever know, so this song takes me to a happy emotional place that gets my heart even more full. I’m smiling, I’m having fun and this is what I think look like:

Yeah…not quite right, in reality this is what I look like all sweaty and red in the face with flared nostrils…cute

Now is when I need to fly so this is when I need some old fashioned musical theatre. My go to song? Defying Gravity from Wicked and when this song comes on I am speeding and my legs are flying. Especially when it gets to the following part: “I’m through accepting limits ’cause someone says they’re so, some things I cannot change but till I try, I’ll never know!” It reminds me that a lot of people look at me and think I don’t look like a typical runner, so I must not be capable of achieving my race goals. I use that as motivation to keep going and prove that I can and will succeed. It is also during this song that I start to envision my success that I hope will come as a runner, and this is what I see in my mind:

As I am nearing the end of my 10k I need some angry music, queue Kanye West – “uh huh honey” and I Am A God. Enough said, no? I actually have a plethora of Kanye to listen to as I run. I need serious inspiration to get my game face on:

Some might find it a bit much to spend so much time putting together a playlist, but for me it’s a typical Monday J My music inspires me to run faster, further and stronger.

Do you listen to music while training and racing? What do you like to keep you going?

It has been two days since I completed the #STWM. I have been on a roller coaster of emotions ever since, from sad, to happy, to disappointment, to pride etc. I was once told that the feelings you experience after you finish running a marathon are very similar to the baby blues one may go through after giving birth. Since I have completed two marathons, and given birth I can quite honestly say, yes, yes they are similar. All day Monday I would have moments where I would spontaneously burst into tears, and staring back at me was a very confused 2 ½ year old little boy.

For months I had been training hard to get a Boston Qualifying time – for my age that would be 3:40, which was perfectly doable for me. My training had been going great. Even during the gross heat waves over the summer, I was out every morning training, and doing my long runs early Saturday mornings. When I had any aches or pains, I visited my chiropractor (AKA, the miracle worker) and I would be good to go again. Fast forward to three weeks before race day and there I was in a silly amount of pain down the entire left side of my leg. My Piriformis, IT band, TFL, all of it, was one giant mess of fascia and muscle that was just screaming out in agony. I doubled my chiropractor appointments, I added massage, I rested, I slowed down my pace, and I bought KT Tape! I did everything I could to ensure I was in the best position to succeed on race day without injuries slowing me down.

Race day 6am. I have never woken up so ready on a race day before. I had my usual nerves but I knew that I did everything that I could to prepare myself for this day, so I was ready for the challenge. My husband and I wished each other luck – he ran the half – and went into our corrals. The first 21k felt AMAZING, 21 – 32 felt GOOD, 32 – 42 felt…..like…..CRAP. All my injuries attacked me with a vengeance and I was fighting with my body the rest of the way. I cried and I had to slow to a walk at some points to try and shake it off and I came this close to calling my husband to tell him that I just couldn’t do it. I slowly watched my BQ goal slipping away as the 3:40 pace bunny went speeding past me (I had been way ahead of him until about 34k). I kept thinking, I’m just not strong enough, I’m just not fast enough, and I’m just not good enough. At 37k when a random lady who was cheering on the side told me “Lisa, you’re almost done, you can do this”. Of course I cried some more, but then I thought of my son. I thought if I quit now, what kind of example does that set for him? Mama’s no quitter! So I powered through and hobbled over the finish line at 4:11.

Motivation from my son for 42.2k

This was the first race I’ve done where I have turned off my music for the last 500m. I wanted (and needed) to hear the crowds cheering. I heard my name being yelled out at least 20 times from complete strangers, encouraging me right to the end. That is one of the great things about STWM, the support of so many people you have never even met. I can’t put into words the emotion I felt as I neared the end of a race to find huge crowds cheering with the finish line so close. I think I even managed a smile as I crossed the finish line. Weaving my way through the bagels, yogurt and bananas, I found my husband and I cried as he was telling me how proud he was of me. I continued to walk and found a friend who had come out to see me. I fell into her arms and cried even harder and through my sobs I managed to get out that I was upset because of my injuries and I didn’t qualify for Boston. She just hugged me harder and told me how amazing I did.

If you had asked me after the race on Sunday if I would run another marathon I would have said there was no way. But it is two days later and I have had time to rest (since I can’t really walk all that well) and do a lot of thinking and I will say this; I haven’t reached my Boston goal yet so yes, I will be running #STWM 2014.

In fact once I have healed my training will begin. Am I proud of myself yet? Yes I am. I ran this marathon over an hour faster than my last one, so there’s a new PB 🙂

Overall I have loved every second of my training and race day. I loved being apart of the CRS family and being a Digital Champion. I have had the opportunity to meet some pretty incredible and inspiring runners who kept me going on days I may have just wanted to crawl back under the sheets and sleep.

Thank you Canada Running Series for an amazing race day and an amazing experience overall. 🙂

I know some of you may be wondering about how my husband did after my last post Love and Running with my Husband…….He ran his half in 1:35, a new PB. What does that mean? It means the competition is on and on like Donkey Kong. This girl needs to beat that time! And so the cycle of friendly competition continues. Who knows, maybe one day he’ll step up to the big race!

Did you run the #STWM? How do you feel? Doing it again?