Houston Marathon

After ten weeks of training and preparing, racing weekend was finally here.  All of the long runs, speed sessions, and easy runs were about to pay off.  Me and my parents left for Houston, TX early on Friday morning.  Unfortunately Matt has been really busy at work and wasn’t able to come, but he was providing prayer and encouragement from afar. 

Ryan and Abdi

We pulled into our hotel around 4 o’clock on Friday afternoon, checked in, and then headed over to race headquarters.  When we got down there, we realized that the opening ceremony for the Olympic trials was about to take place, so we quickly picked up our packets and then found a spot right next to the stage to watch the opening ceremony. We heard several past Olympians speak including Bill Rodgers, Frank Shorter, Joan Benoit Samuelson, Meb Keflezghi, and Deena Kastor and saw many of the athletes that would be competing the next day for a spot on the Olympic team march in. 

The top four men (Ritz was fourth)

I got up Saturday morning and went on a short run to keep the legs loosened up and then we headed out to watch the Olympic marathon trials. Our hotel was right on the course, so we didn’t have to go far to watch. Their were about 100 men and 150 women competing for the three Olympic spots, the men started first and the women started 15 min. later.  Their course was several loops, so they passed us at miles 1,3,11, and 19.   It was pretty cool to see some of the runners that you always read about competing head to head.  After the runners passed us at mile 19, we walked down to the finish line to see who would end up on top.  The men’s race had four guys who were battling it out with the fourth place guy finishing just 7 seconds behind third place. It was a pretty painful place for him to be, so close to making the team.  On the women’s side there were three women who had pulled away from everyone else so it was more like just waiting to see what order they would finish in.  In the end, Meb Keflezghi (2:09:08), Ryan Hall (2:09:30), and Abdi Abdirahman (2:09:47) made the men’s Olympic team and Shalane Flanagan (2:25:38), Desiree Davila (2:25:55), and Kara Goucher (2:26:06) made the women’s team. Watching that race was pretty inspiring and started getting me excited about my race the next day.

The top four women (the one on the far left was fourth)

After a rough night’s sleep, I never seem to be able to sleep very well in hotels, I got up a little anxious with a hint of excitement for what lay ahead.  I ate a Cliff Bar just to get something in my stomach and then got ready to go.  Our hotel was close enough to where we could just walk to the race start which was great.  We walked out of the hotel and joined the masses making their way in the dark down to the start line.  My corral closed at 6:40am and I got there with just a few minutes to spare after giving and getting last minute encouragement from my parents (my mom also ran). Ready or not it was go time.

Coming down the finish chute

I knew I was in shape to run this race, and that my biggest challenge was going to be holding back the pace when I felt good at the beginning since I’m more used to races where I’m going pretty hard from the beginning and then just trying to hold that pace as long as I can. Not a very good strategy for a marathon.  I started out at what felt like a pretty comfortable pace (~7:48) and was able to hold onto that through most of the first 18-20 miles. Now, anyone who has ever run a marathon will tell you that you’re not really halfway through until you’ve hit the 20 mile mark and that is so true. Those last six miles were killer. My quads were screaming and I wanted so bad to walk, but I knew that if I stopped running I probably wouldn’t start again, so I kept going. I just had to take it one mile at a time, telling myself just make it to mile 23, okay now just make it to mile 24, etc.  The marathon is not only a test of extreme endurance, but mental toughness.

The race course wasn’t particularly scenic or anything, but the crowd support was incredible with hardly a section without people cheering. There were also lots of creative signs along the way such as “you trained for this race longer than Kim Kardashian was married” or “26.2 because 26.3 is just crazy” and George Bush Sr. was even out shaking hands around mile 19.. It was one big loop and pretty flat, but there were a few dips in the last few miles which would have been no problem at the beginning of the race, but after being out for 22 miles the last thing my aching quads wanted to do was run downhill. I really had no idea where I was throughout the race until we passed our hotel. I was so relieved because I knew I had less than a mile to go.  My goal going into the race was to run sub 3:30, so I was more than happy to run a 3:28:56 which ended up being about a 7:58 average pace. My mom finished a little while later and we were able to enjoy the post race festivities together. 

Houston Marathon finishers

Happy New Year!!

The birthday boy and his dinosaur cake

I hope that everyone had a good holiday season. Mine was great. I went over to Texas and spent the week before Christmas with my sister Devon and her family. I got to be there for my nephew's fourth birthday party which was blast. He wanted a dinosaur party so me and my sister's made him a pretty cool dinosaur cake and my sister rented a jumping castle which the kids loved.

Eli in the jumping castle

The twins and their Christmas crafts

Lindsey and Matt were going to his family's in Laurel, MS for Christmas so I hitched a ride with them and  then my mom came and picked me up from there. It was a long drive, but it wasn't too bad. Eli stayed entertained by watching his favorite movie (Cars) over and over and Lindsey and Matt had just bought a minivan, so we were riding in style :-).
On Christmas Eve, my parents, my grandma, Matt's mom, and his brother and wife came over for dinner. It was my first time doing a big Christmas dinner on my own (though mom did come over and help me stuff the turkey and get it in the oven). Everything turned out good and I managed not to burn anything, so it was a success. Then we spent Christmas day going to church, then out to Matt's dad's, and then finished off the day at my parents' house.
I can't believe that the holiday season is over and it is already 2012. Time is flying by. We got to ring in the new year with Matt and Lindsey who came to visit for a few days, but I have to admit, we were in bed  before 10:30pm (had to get up early to run :-)). Looking back on 2011, it really was a good year. While it had its struggles, more memorable were its triumphs. The biggest thing that sticks out to me when reflecting on the past year is how faithful God has been. He always provided what I needed exactly when I needed it, even though His timing didn't always seem to make sense to me. It's pretty cool to be able to look back on things and see how God was orchestrating things and creating the bigger picture. So often we go through things that we don't understand until we look back on it and see God's purposes for it, whether it be to teach us something or to carry out His plan for us,which is so much better than any plans we can come up with. It's a tough lesson to learn, but this year I'd like to grow in my faith so that I can trust Him in every situation that He is doing what's best for me. I can't wait to see what 2012 has in store and I'm excited about the adventures that it will bring
Speaking of adventures, the next one coming up is my marathon in two weeks. Me and my mom are running in the Houston Marathon on the 15th. Training has been going well and I've been feeling good so I'm excited to see how it goes.

Adrenaline Junkie

Typically the adrenaline rushes that I get come from running or riding (or in the rare case swimming) past someone that I didn't think I would be able to in a race or finishing a killer training session, but this past month has been a little different.  I had two opportunities to get that adrenaline pumping in ways that I was not expecting.

 Just before Thanksgiving, my dad had been offered the opportunity to repel down the side of the Hilton out at the beach.  I thought it sounded pretty cool and I went out to take some pictures.  When I got there, he was all rigged up and had already gone through his practice runs on the parking garage.  he took the elevator up to the top of the building and I went to wait outside.  I watched him come down and walked into the hotel with him so he could take off all his gear.  While he was getting ready to go, the lady who was organizing the whole thing said that they were way ahead of schedule and asked if I wanted to fill one of the empty spots.  I jumped at the chance, I was so excited. 

The volunteers promptly set me up with a harness, ropes, carabeeners, and everything else I needed and took me out to the parking garage to practice.  There wasn't much to it and the garage was only one story high, so it wasn't long before I was 17 stories up ready to repel down the hotel.  I thought I might get a little nervous once I got to the top, but I really didn't.  We started by walking backwards down the roof, kneeling at the edge, and then leaning backwards until we fell off and started the descent.  It was so much fun and right on the beach, so there was a great view! I really enjoyed getting to share that experience with my dad. 

Matt wasn't there to witness that, he was at home and got a call from my dad telling him his wife was about to jump off a 17 story building :-), but the next crazy thing I did was all his doing.  Our 7th wedding anniversary is coming up this weekend, but I will be out of town, so we decided to celebrate early.  He told me he had something planned, but wouldn't tell me what.  We left the house at around 11:00 and I really had no clue where we were going.  After driving for about 40 minutes, he asked me if I knew where we were going, I didn't, and then he looked over at me and said "you're about to jump out of a plane." I was shocked, thought about it for a minute, then got pretty excited.  My parents have both been skydiving and I thought it would be cool to do, but I never dreamed that was what he had planned.

We got to the airport in Elberta, AL, checked in and started getting ready to go. Oh yeah, I do have to mention that I was a little nervous that he was sending me up to jump out of an airplane, but he was staying on the ground to "take pictures" :-). We had to watch the safety videos, sit through a short briefing of what was going to happen, and then we put on our jump suits and harnesses.  Since I had never done it before, I was jumping tandem (attached to an instructor).

When everyone was ready, we headed out to this rickety little airplane and climbed in.  It was pretty cramped and took us about 20 minutes to get to the altitude that we were to jump from.  When we reached 13,500 feet, the door opened and people started jumping out. We were the last to go and I really didn't get nervous until I was sitting on the edge about to jump.  We had decided earlier that we wanted to do flips as we jumped out, so I squatted down at the edge of the plane, pulling my knees to my chest, and then rolled out head first.  It was a rush like no other.  We free fell for about a minute which was incredible and then the parachute opened.  Once the parachute is open it's a pretty relaxed ride down.  The instructor let me hold onto the controls and we did a few spins which were cool, but made me a little nauseous.  I made it safely to the ground after a pretty smooth landing and told Matt that he has to try it, but he told me not to worry about returning the favor :-).

Surprise!!

This Thanksgiving me and Matt totally surprised my sisters and their families by showing up in Texas unexpectedly.  Originally I was planning on driving to Texas with my parents and Matt was going to wait and take time off at Christmas to go out there, but when my parents decided to fly, we didn't think I would be able to do that so I told my sisters I'd have to wait until Christmas to see them.  Not too long after that, my mom told me that she found out she had some frequent flier miles that we could use so we decided to go, but wanted to keep it a surprise.  It wasn't easy to keep the secret and it nearly slipped several times, I was so excited.  I had my sisters convinced that we were going to celebrate with Matt's family and even tried to play off how disappointed I was not to be able to spend the holiday with all of them and the kids :-).

Lindsey and Eli

We flew out of Pensacola on Wednesday morning, had a short layover in Dallas, and arrived in Killeen (about 30 mins from Devon's) at around 3:45.  When Devon and the kids got there to pick up my parents, they went out and greeted them while me and Matt waited for a few minutes inside.  Once they were distracted by my parents, me and Matt snuck up behind them. Devon was shocked and the kids were excited. The next day when Lindsey and her family arrived, she came outside to help my mom carry in her groceries and was pretty surprised to see me standing out by the car. 

Enjoying Thanksgiving dinner

On Thanksgiving we went to my Aunt Pam's house (we had told her we were coming) where they had over 20 people there for dinner.  There was a ton of food and it was all delicious! It was a little different not having to help cook all day, but it was fun to be able to just relax, hang out with everyone, and enjoy the day.  That night me and Devon waited in line at Toys R Us for about an hour and a half for some good Black Friday deals for the kids.  Once we were through there it was about 11:00 and I was exhausted. My crazy sisters went out to do more shopping, but I was ready for bed.  

Family dinner (just missing Kevin) while the guys watched the kids

Playing at the park





New Christmas pajamas

I got to stay for a whole week and Matt and my parents stayed from Wednesday until Sunday. We had such a fun trip and it was so good to see everyone.  I couldn't believe how much the kids had grown and how much older they all seemed since I last saw them this summer.  The twins are talking so well, Isaac is super smart, I was amazed at some of the things he understood and knew, and even little Eli is turning from a toddler into a little boy.  I also got to meet my newest nephew Carter Ames who was born October 10th.  He is adorable and the perfect baby, hardly ever cries, and sleeps really well which Devon is more than pleased about. I can't believe Thanksgiving is already over and Christmas season is in full swing. This year has flown by!

Catching Up

Carter with his proud brothers and sister

I have been a slacker when it comes to blogging recently, but alot has happened since my last post.  The most exciting thing that has happened is I have a new nephew.  Carter Jonathon Ames was born to my twin sister and her husband on October, 10.  Unfortunately I have not been able to make it over to Texas to meet the little guy, but I can't wait until I can!! He was a healthy 8lbs 5oz and he is adorable. Their other three kids adore him and enjoy taking turns holding him.

On October 22, me, Matt, and my mom ran in the Great Pumpkin Run in East Hill.  We have done it a few times and enjoy going back to it, especially for the homemade pumpkin bread.  It was a 5k race which is nice because it is over so quickly, but not so nice because it hurts like heck.  I just have to keep telling myself that it'll be over in 20 minutes :-).  I started off lined up at the front because there are always a ton of kids that run in this race and I hate having to weave through them as they sprint for 30 seconds, stop to walk for a minute, sprint, and so forth.  The gun fired and we were off, that first 200 meters is always the worst as I try to stay near the front and get settled into some type of rhythm.  Starting out, there was one girl who was about 20 yards in front of me and another who was right with me.  The one who was right with me didn't last for long, but the one in front of me lasted longer than I expected.  I passed her after about one mile into the race.  The race course is pretty nice, but there is one decent hill right before we reach mile two. Once over that, I knew I was on the home stretch and just had to hang on.  I ended up running a 19:38, getting first place (female), and winning $100...sweet!



I'm in the middle in red



Training has been going pretty well.  I've backed off on the bike a little bit and increased my time running as I prepare for the Houston Marathon in January.  I'm pretty excited (and nervous) about that race, the last time I did a marathon was in 2008.  The cool thing is that the Olympic Marathon Trials are the day before my race, so we are going to watch that in person.  All of the top runners will be there fighting for a spot on the 2012 Olympic team.




 Yesterday I ran in the Pensacola Half Marathon.  It was kind of a last minute decision to jump into it, but I figured it would be more fun than doing a long run on my own. I even got my mom to run it with me.  I woke up yesterday, went outside, and was expecting cool air, as I woke up to ice on my car the morning before.  Unfortunately, it had warmed up considerably. I barely needed a jacket. The race started at the Veteran's Memorial Park downtown and we got there around 5:45 to prepare for the 6:30 start.  I wasn't going into it with a whole lot of expectations, just wanted to have fun and see what I could do. 

Mom (in blue) around mile 3

I had never done the race before and I enjoyed the loop course. It was a nice change from the typical out and back races.  I felt pretty good through the first 8 miles, but the last 5 were a little tough.  Once I reached the top of the 12th Ave hill, my legs were a little tight and never fully loosened up after that.  After the halfway point, I never saw any other women except the one that was a little ways in front of me and gradually gaining time on me.  However, when I got to about the 12.5 mile mark this woman came running up next to me, she was going at a decent clip and I had to speed up a little to keep up with her.  She gradually started picking up her speed and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to stay with her. I tried to throw in a few kicks to try to shake her, but couldn't. Eventually, it came to a sprint down the final stretch and I was able to edge her out by 3 seconds, earning me second place female and 15th overall.  Mom also had a great race and was recognized at the finish line as a veteran of the US Army.





Santa Rosa Island Triathlon

Last weekend, I participated in the Santa Rosa Triathlon one of the finest triathlons in the US, which fortunately for me, happens to be held here in Pensacola.  Race weekend started with me and my mom volunteering at packet pick-up on Friday afternoon, where we spent a few hours handing out packets to the athletes.  When we were through, we headed over to the expo to register for the three bikes that they would be raffling off the next day after the race. 

Race morning the alarm clock went off a little before five, not that I really needed it as I had already been awake for thirty minutes.  Me and Matt got up and quickly got ready to go.  Preparation was a little different this time as it was the first time that me and Matt were both going to be racing.  He has done lots of running races with me, but never a triathlon.  We got the bikes in the truck and headed out to the beach.

When we got over the bridge and saw the flags waving, we realized it was going to be a windy day and with the purple flag up, there were going to be jellyfish in the water.  Once we had unloaded our stuff and started heading over to transition, we couldn’t believe the line that we saw to get into transition.  We got in the back and waited our turn, thankfully it moved pretty quickly.  After we had racked our bikes and set up our transition, we walked over to the beach to where the swim would start. 

While waiting for the swim to start, we found my parents who were also doing the race and chatted excitedly and maybe a little nervously with them.  The final announcements were made, the national anthem was sung, and then the first wave of swimmers were off.  I was in the 8^th wave and Matt was in the 10^th wave, so we had a little bit of time to wait (the waves were separated by 3 minutes).  After what didn’t seem like too long, I was standing at the water’s edge waiting for the horn to go off.  The horn blew and we ran in, did a few dolphin dives, and started to swim.  The water temperature was great and it was crystal clear.  The bad thing about that was that you could see all of the jellyfish around you.  I probably saw 8-10 that were floating beneath and around me and got a few mild stings.  I felt like I had a decent swim and completed the 600 yard swim in 12:04.

After the run up through the sand and into transition, I was out on the bike course.  The course was pancake flat out and back and with the way the wind was blowing, we had some crosswind and a little bit of a headwind on the way out, but then a tailwind on the way back.  Being in one of the later waves, I was passing people pretty much the whole time and with the younger guys starting behind me, I had several of them fly by me.  I was so happy to hit the turnaround and get to enjoy a little bit of help from the tailwind on the way back.  The 18  mile course took me 53:05 to finish. 

One good thing about that bike course and having the help from the wind on the way back is that it lets you start the run with legs that are a little fresher.  For the first quarter of a mile or so, my legs just didn’t feel like they wanted to move at the speed I was asking them to, but once I settled into it, I felt a little better.  The good things about sprint races is that they are over quickly, the bad thing is that they hurt more as you try to push the pace J.  By the time I was on the run, I had a pretty good feeling that I was in the front of my age group, but I also knew that there were some fast ladies who had started earlier than me so I tried to push and close that gap as much as possible.  I was happy to turn into the parking lot and have the finish chute in sight.  One goal I had oing into the race was to run my first sub-20 minute 5k and I knew it was going to be close.  I crossed the finish line, looked at my watch, and saw that I had run a 19:38. 

Now that my race was over, I could relax and focus on cheering on my parents and Matt who hadn’t finished yet.  I walked over to the outskirts of transition and saw that Matt hadn’t come in from the bike yet.  Not long after, I saw him coming and cheered him on as he started the run.  Meanwhile, my mom had finished, so we waited together to see Matt complete his first triathlon.  He did it and actually finished with a pretty stellar run time for a first timer. 

Once everyone was at least on the run, we were able to pick up our bikes from transition and pack them up.  Then we headed over to the best part, a lunch catered by Carabba’s and the post race party.  Charles Gheen and the crew that puts on the Santa Rosa Island Triathlon know how to put on a fantastic race and top it off with a great post-race party.  I had lots of friends and people I know that had also done the race and it was fun to catch up with them and hear their stories.  After eating a delicious meal, they did the award ceremony where I found out that I got first in my age group and second overall (fourth overall if you count the elites that raced), but unfortunately did not win any of the bikes that were raffled off.  Team MPI showed up in force and had several podium finishers, including the overall female winner. 

 

MPI IMFL Training Camp

Last weekend me and Matt had the chance to help out with a training camp for Ironman Florida that my coaches at Multisport Performance Institute put on.  There were 10 athletes from 3 different states (one all the way from Missouri) that attended the camp, none of whom had raced the iron distance before.  The camp ran from Friday through Sunday and was held in Panama City Beach.  It was basically a primer for athletes that are preparing to do the Ironman Florida race in November either this year or next.   It was a chance for the athletes to see the course, get some tips from veterans who have done the race before, and get all of their questions answered. 

The first event planned for Friday was a run along the first part of the race course.  Unfortunately Matt had to work that day, so we weren't able to make it in time for that.  We got to Panama City Beach around 6:30, just in time to meet everyone for dinner at the Boatyard Restaurant.  During dinner, we were able to get to know the athletes, enjoy some great seafood, and go over some of the logistics of the camp. 

At 5:45 on Saturday morning, me and Matt met Coaches John and Mark down at the beach to get ready for the first open water swim session.  We carried the kayaks down to the water and put the buoys in to mark the course.  Around 6:30, Mark and John gave a lecture on open water swimming and then the athletes were able to get in the water and practice what they had learned.  While they were swimming, me and Matt were in the kayaks watching over everyone and giving people a place to rest if they wanted to.  The water was absolutely beautiful, crystal clear and we even saw some dolphins pretty close by.

 Once everyone got into dry clothes, we all caravaned about 25 miles away to the middle of the bike course.  Everyone set off for a 60 mile loop, which was the back half of the course and me and Matt were the sag wagons.  We leap frogged the riders in a van and a truck and stopped at different places so they could refuel, fill up their water bottles, or get any help they needed.  It was a good ride, only one rider got a flat that we were able to get changed quickly.  Everyone did great and seemed to really enjoy it.

By the time we were through with that, everyone was starving, so after getting quick showers, we met at Mellow Mushroom for lunch.  Now that everyone's stomachs were full, we were ready for something a little less intense.  We headed back to the condo for a lecture on the race week schedule and all of the little intricacies that go with racing an ironman.  Afterwards we did a walk through of the transition area and went over how everything goes from changing tents, to picking up T1 and T2 bags, to other details that go into racing the iron distance. It was a great opportunity to discuss some things that the athletes otherwise would probably never have thought of.

Now that our food had settled and the sun was starting to go down we were ready to get back at it for the last event of the day.  We drove over to the back side of the run course and ran the loop through St Andrews Park.  It was just a couple of miles and we kept it pretty easy, I think everyone's legs were pretty beat up from the ride earlier.  Since I hadn't ridden, I was feeling pretty good and decided to add on a couple of extra miles.  Matt patiently waited for me to get through and then we decided to pick up Subway for dinner and take it back to the condo.  We were beat and Matt wanted to catch some of the football games. 
We met at the same time on Sunday morning to set up everything for the open water swim.  Mark and John gave a brief lecture on entry/exit of the water and then the athletes got a chance to practice.  Once in the water, Mark and John discussed and demonstrated how to draft and then gave the athletes an opportunity to practice.  They finished the session with a relay race that ended in a photo finish :-).

The last session of the camp was a ride on the front half of the bike course.  We took off from the hotel, which is where the transition area is on race day, and basically rode an out and back course.  Since the course was a little simpler, we only needed one sag wagon and I got to ride.  The whole group stayed together for the first 8-10 miles before we started splitting up.  I stayed with Coach John through the first half, tucked right behind him for most of the way.  It was a good hard effort for me, though I'm sure it felt like a piece of cake to him.  The way back I took it a little easier, stayed with another guy for about a third of the way, and then just rode alone.  We did about 50 miles total.

This camp was fantastic.  I heard nothing but good remarks from the campers about how glad they were to get the experience of seeing the entire course and the opportunity to learn from Coach Mark and Coach John.  I learned so much from being a part of it and know that I would feel much more confident after having gone through it if I were planning on doing the race.  We were pretty tired by the end of it, but we had so much fun.  The athletes were all a blast to be around and had great attitudes.  Good luck to you all as you race this year and next!!