Boston Harvest Half Marathon Race Recap

It has been over a week since I ran the Pennsylvania Boston Harvest half marathon. It has taken me some time to fully digest the entire experience. I had no plans of running in an official half marathon this year, nor did I really plan on falling in love with racing the way I have.

In March of 2016 my roommate and I decided we were going to register for a full marathon; I have no idea why we thought this would be a good idea since neither of us had been running daily and we also both really hated it. My parents tried to discourage me from registering for the full marathon because they thought it would be stupid to run 26.2 miles without ever having even attempted a 13.1 miles or even a 10k. However, I thought that if I registered for a marathon I would be forced to commit to training so I wouldn't be wasting my money on a race I couldn't complete. On April 1, 2016 registration for the Philadelphia Marathon opened and I put my money where my mouth was and officially registered for the race.

When I signed up for the marathon my only goal to was to be fit enough to finish the race. My original plan was to run everyday with the hope that by November I would be fit enough to run 26.2 miles. I do not think I could have come up with a dumber plan, but when May came around and I still hadn’t started my training I knew that I needed to reevaluate my goals.

I decided to listen to my parents who told me it was dumb to think I could run a marathon with no real plan. I knew that it would be beneficial for me set some smaller goals to work towards for the 7 months leading up to the marathon. In early May I registered for another endurance based event, the Palmerton Spartan Super on July 16, 2016 (for more on mySpartan Story click here)! Training for the Spartan Race was an enjoyable way to build my base mileage without becoming bored and discouraged from my goal to run a marathon.

I was running 15 plus miles every week for all of July and I felt comfortable running a 10k/6.55 miles at least twice a week. I finally thought I had built a strong base mileage for me to officially begin marathon training. However, I felt overwhelmed every time I tried to pick out a training plan from the numerous options I found online. Rather then focusing solely on the marathon from August till November I decided it would be more manageable for me to train for a few smaller races in preparation for the marathon.

On August 1, 2016 I registered for my first half marathon, giving me seven weeks to prepare to run 13.1 miles. In just seven short weeks later race weekend arrived and I could not have been more excited. My parents made the 5-hour drive from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh on Saturday, the day before the race. The weather had been a point of discussion all week. The forecast called for high humidity, rain, rain, and more rain all weekend long. I was kind of disappointed that the weather was so crappy since I wanted to take my parents hiking. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to do much on Saturday besides scope out the parking and see the start of the trail where the race would be held on Sunday. If I haven’t mentioned how amazing my parents are let me make it clear that they are the greatest people ever. The Youghiogheny River Trail, the trail the race would be held on is not as close to the city of Pittsburgh as I originally thought it was. I had planned on taking public transportation to and from the race before my parents decided to come, but I don't think I would have made it to the race if I had to take the bus. I cannot thank my parents enough for coming out to Pittsburgh because I honestly don't believe I would have been able to race if they couldn't take me.

For dinner that night we went to an Italian restaurant to carbo load and celebrate my Mom’s birthday. Dinner was full of laughs and good food, lots and lots of food. After dinner we went back to the hotel to get a good night’s rest before the big day.

At 5:45 am the alarm went off and I was up and moving. I was anxious about the weather since I hate running in the rain. I was anxious about getting chub rub since I forgot to pack my Glide. I was anxious about pacing myself. I was anxious about my pre-race breakfast—a bagel and an apple—since the hotel wasn't supposed to start serving breakfast until 7:00am, which is when I needed to be registering for the race. I could feel my nerves getting the better of me before I even left the hotel room. As I begrudgingly left the hotel at 6:30am, I was shocked to see that the the hotel staff had put breakfast out early. I don't think I have ever been happier eating the free continental breakfast at a hotel. With some food in my stomach and a smile on my face we headed to the race venue.

We arrived at the venue around 7:15, which gave me 45 minutes to check in, take pre-race pictures, and warm up. So far the weather seemed to be holding out and I was feeling less anxious about my pacing since the Steel City Road Runners (SCRR) had pacers to pace the race. Waiting for the race was an experience all in itself. I saw runners stretching, bouncing up and down, and moving all around to keep their bodies warm. A few runners went on warm up runs. I even heard one guy talking about how excited he was to run the half marathon since his 10 mile run early this morning was kind of lonely. Some runners were socializing with their friends and others like me hung around their cars to pass the time. Every runner had their own way to pass the time as we waited to see if our preparation was going to pay off.

At 8:00 am the siren blasted and 100 of us were off and running. I started my race running with the 10:00 min/mile SCRR pacers. For two miles I was singing along to Taylor Swift with the pacers and talking about how excited I was to be running my first half marathon.

I had trained to run negative splits, and by mile 2 I left the 10:00 min/mile pacers to join the unofficial 9:45 min/mile pacers. This group of runners were going faster than the 10:00 min/mile group, but slower than the 9:30 min/mile group. After a mile or so the group thinned out and I was running alongside three runners who all were carrying a conversation as if we weren’t even running. When I heard one of them mention that our pace was speeding up I made a comment that, “I thought we were speeding up so we could make up ground and catch the sub 1:30:00 racers”. All three of them laughed, and I introduced myself to them and told them this was my first half marathon. Thanks to Jeff, Jason, and Sarah for pacing me, giving me training tips, race tips, talking to me to pass the time, and making me feel like I was a apart of the running community. 

The course was an out and back route, and as I reached the turnaround point I was feeling good—my legs felt fresh, my spirits were high, and there was no rain in sight. For the next three miles we slowed down to a 10:00 min/mile pace. I was feeling a little discouraged by our positive splits, but Jeff, Jason, and Sarah all reminded me it was better to conserve energy than go too fast in the middle of the race only to bonk out during the last 5k.

At around mile 9 Jeff and I began to speed up again while Jason and Sarah remained running at their 10:00 min/mile pace. Just as we were speeding up the rain started falling. Right when the rain started, I mentally flipped a switch and said I was going to run as hard as I could for the last 5k; running in the rain sucks, so if I was going to do it I was going to make it quick. Jeff told me that I had run a smart race and now was the time for me to put on the burners and finish strong!

I felt confident in my training and my capabilities as I began my sprint towards the finish. The rain was coming down hard, but and I kept sprinting faster. I had no clue at the time what my splits were (Final 5k splits: 8:35, 8:02, 7:40), but I felt that I was slowing down by the last mile. I was finally hitting the wall when I heard someone screaming my name. Was I hearing things? Who would be screaming at me to put some pep in my step? To my surprise my dad had met me for the last quarter mile to cheer me on and run me in to the finish line! Hearing my dad cheer me on, and seeing him try to out sprint me was all the push I needed to run my heart out for the last 400 meters. Coming down the final 100 meters an excited yet exhausted smile spread across my face as I saw the time clock and my mom waiting across the finish line cheering me on. I gave the last of my finishing kick and BAM, I was being handed a medal and water! I couldn’t believe it. I finished my first half marathon in 2 hours, 4 minutes, and 14 seconds with an average pace of 9:30 min/mile (I ran my goal pace!!!). My parents and I hung around the finish line to see and cheer on my new runner friends complete their race! Cheering them on to the finish was my way of giving back to them for all the support they gave me during the bulk of the race. 

Sigh of relief as I cross the finish line!

After a nice hot shower, my parents and I went out for one last meal before they headed home. I was sad to see our weekend coming to an end, but I could not be more grateful for my parents undying support!

Post race milkshake!

For seven weeks I trained my butt off to run 13.1 miles. I learned three very important lessons from this experience…

1. I may not be able to control everything life throws at me, but I am in control of keeping a positive and determined attitude no matter what.
2. The running community is full of encouraging and kind people who want to see you succeed.
3. My parents are the most amazing people ever. They support my goals and dreams, hold me accountable, and celebrate each finish no matter what!

The journey to my first half marathon has come to an end, but it only marks the halfway point on the road to my marathon. I am looking forward to working my butt off again for the next seven weeks in preparation for the Philadelphia marathon on November 20^th.

Week 6 September 5 — September 11

Monday: Labor Day marks the unofficial end to summer. I wanted to take a yoga class because it is a great form of active recovery and it would allow me to reflect on my summer. I thought classes may have been cancelled for the holiday, but according to the app I use to schedule my classes they appeared to be on! I signed up for an evening class; I was super excited to go since I had a long day mourning the end of summer with lot of studying. However, my day took a turn for the worse when I arrived at the studio only to be locked out. Apparently the studio decided to cancel evening classes, but they did not update their app. To make things even worse I had to wait for 45 minutes to catch a bus to take me home. I may have cried to my parents at the bus stop, but eventually they were able to talk some sense into me. Everyone has bad days! Your plans may fall through, but that doesn't mean you have to go down with them!! By the time the bus came I had been able to reschedule my yoga class for a later date free of charge and my parents decided to come watch me run my first half marathon!! Although I did not have a great day everything seemed to work out in the end.

Tuesday: 5k at 80% and 45 minutes of cross training. Yesterday was rough, but I was able to pull myself together so that I would not have another bad days this week. I had gym class in the afternoon, which consisted of a ladder workout. We did a bunch of body weight exercises including sit ups, planks, push ups, squats, lunges, and my personal favorite… BURPEES!!! After my gym class I decided to run a 5k at 80% effort. I was a little disappointed to have run positive splits (8:48, 9:06, 9:06) since I thought I was running a lot faster each mile, but on a more encouraging note I was able to keep my pace consistent.

Wednesday: Dance class and 4.12 miles in 35:30 (splits: 9:13, 7:47, 8:38, 8:44). I was supposed to do a tempo run today, but I had so much energy and so little focus I just kind of ran my own little run. I clearly was not paying attention to my pacing which can be seen in my inconsistent splits. Although it was not a perfect run, I have learned that I need to remain focused during my shorter workouts, so that I do not get in the habit of going out too fast and burning out before my workout is over. I know that I need to train hard so that I can race harder.

Thursday: Cross training. I woke up this morning feeling a whole new kind of hurt; clearly I worked muscles in dance class yesterday that I normally do not use. I was dreading my gym class this afternoon because I was so sore. I cried a little bit on the inside when my trainer told the class we were doing a deck of cards workout. You may get lucky and only draw low cards, but you have just as good of a shot of drawing all high cards. Our workout was surprisingly varied with both high and low cards being picked except for one exercise… pushups. I have never had to do so many pushups in one workout in my entire life!!! While I was surprised to wake up sore from dance, I know for a fact I will be feeling it from all the pushups.

Friday: 5.35 miles in 46:44 (splits: 9:19, 8:20, 8:53, 8:23, 9:04). Another Friday, another run on the treadmill. I do not have much to say about this run other than the fact that I was feeling faster than I was actually going. I am so excited for the game tomorrow that I was not very focused on my training.

Saturday: Rest Day. After sixteen long years, the in-state rivalry between Pitt and Penn State was reignited today. Pitt vs Penn State, the Keystone Classic, is a game I have been waiting for since they announced it last year. This game would be the biggest game I would get to attend at Pitt, and I was going to make the best of it. My roommate, Alison, and I headed down to Heinz Field around 8:00 am to wait in line with all the other students wanting good seats for the game. We were pretty far back in line, but I was able to drag Alison along as I weaved our way towards the front of the line. After 2 hours of waiting we finally were allowed into the stadium, which turned into a mad dash for the student section. We sprinted as fast as we could (I am counting this as my active recovery!) and got amazing seats 1 row behind the end zone! We couldn't have asked for better seats and a better game. Pitt held on to win the game in the last minutes when it was looking like Penn State would take home the victory!! Hail to Pitt!!

             *Alison is famous she is in the Pitt News!!

Sunday: 7.57 miles in 1:08:03 (splits: 10:14, 9:16, 8:53, 8:40, 8:48, 8:57, 8:18). I have one more week till race day! For my last long run I did not set any mileage goals, rather I wanted to see how far I could go in 1 hour. I was feeling great today and was able to run an 8:59 min/mile pace, which is 31 seconds faster than the pace I plan to run on race day. I am looking forward to racing and hanging out with my parents next weekend!

My Spartan Story

In the beginning of March of last year my brother texted my family group chat asking about doing a Spartan race with his friends. I did not know much about Spartan other than watching a little bit of the Spartan World Championships on NBC a few years ago; from what I saw on TV the race took athletes up and down a mountain filled with crazy obstacles designed to defeat even the toughest competitors. Although I thought my brother was crazy for even entertaining one of these races I also thought it might be a fun way to begin my journey to run a marathon in November. Road running can become monotonous and boring very quickly, but I needed to build a strong base mileage this summer before my marathon training kicked into high gear. I decided it was time for me to learn learn why someone would be tempted to run in a race specifically designed to defeat them.

When I began researching Spartan race I found that obstacle course racing (OCR) was a new emerging sport with many different types of races to choose from. OCR is a diverse sport and I believe EVERYONE can find the right type of race to suit their personal goals. I found that the two biggest names in OCR are Tough Mudder and Spartan Race. Tough Mudder is not necessarily a race, rather it is a challenge that invites athletes to team up and conquer a 10 to12 mile course littered with obstacles reminiscent of those found on reality shows like Fear Factor, Wipeout, and American Ninja Warrior. There are three main types of Spartan races: The Sprint 3 + miles with 20 + obstacles, the Super 8 + miles with 25 + obstacles, and the Beast is 12 + miles with 30 + obstacles. If you fail to complete an obstacle Spartan throws another one your way in the form of the mandatory 30-burpee penalty for unsuccessfully completing the obstacle. While I think the Tough Mudder provides a physical and mental challenge I did not want to participate in a race in which I would be electrocuted (I was and am still not ready to conquer my fear of electrocution!) This made my decision to sign up for a Spartan even easier since my brother was already running a Spartan race this July and I knew that there were no electrocution obstacles on the Spartan circuit.

When I went to register for the race on my brother’s team I found out he never actually did anything further with Spartan other than asking my parents to do it. Like many people my brother likes to talk about doing things, but he never seems to actually do what he says he is going to do. For about 2 weeks I was begging my Pitt friends and I was on my brother’s case to rally his friends to sign up so we would have a team—I read a lot of blog posts recommending to run your first Spartan race with a team. After all, if you are going to suffer it might as well be with friends who can help lighten the mood and motivate you to end the suffering by conquering the course! Eventually my best friend Taylor and Elliot’s best friend Aidan registered and we officially had a team! We originally planned to do the sprint, but since I was using this race to build my base mileage I thought the Super would be better bang for my buck. I know it might have been a little selfish of me, but I convinced my teammates that the super would be more of an accomplishment. If we were going to actually do this we might as well go for the gold and do the longest most grueling course that Spartan was offering that weekend. If there was a beast offered that weekend I probably would have been crazy enough to try that!

It might have taken some time to get registered, but by the beginning of May I was ready to begin training my body and mind for the Palmerton Spartan Super on July 16^th. I decided that I would try to run at least four days a week so that I would be consistently building my base mileage and maintain my cardio endurance. I also tried to follow the free Spartan workouts that were emailed to me everyday. I sprinkled in some hiking and biking and by the time race day came I felt ready.

The morning of my race was very exciting and nerve-racking. My teams start time was at 10:15 am, but we arrived at Blue Mountain well over an hour beforehand in order to park, check in, and hopefully see the elite men jump the fire and cross the finish line! We

Might not be the perfect picture, but meeting 

Hunter was something I will never forget

made perfect time and were able to check in, take pre-race pictures, and be one of the first groups of people to line up at the finish line to cheer on first wave of elite finishers! Ryan Atkins proved once again that he is one of the best in the business claiming another first place finish in the NBC Spartan Championship series. Current Spartan Race world champion Robert Killian took second and my favorite Spartan racer Hunter McIntyre took third. I admire all three of these men, especially Hunter. I am a huge fan of his TV series Boundless and was really inspired by his story, so when he walked by me I froze and was unable to congratulate him on all his success. Thank god my mom was there because she called Hunter over; because of her outgoing personality I got to meet and talk to him about Boundless, The Spartan Ultimate Team Challenge, and I got to thank him for inspiring me to realize my full potential as an athlete and person with ADHD (I will elaborate more on my ADHD and athletics story in a future post). Seeing the elite men finish and meeting Hunter made me even more hype to actually get out on the course and Spartan Up!

At 10:15 sharp our heat was called over the start wall to begin our Spartan journey. My heat happened to be a special heat because defending Palmerton Spartan Super champ and Spartan Pro Team member Amelia Boone would be racing on crutches alongside Spartan Race Pro Team Adaptive Athlete Amanda Sullivan Love. Both of these women are amazing athletes and knowing they were running in my heat made the day even more special; if these women could do it on crutches I sure as heck had no excuses to complain about what obstacles and terrain I would be facing! We yelled the Spartan pre-race chant and then we were off and climbing our first hill of the day!

After four hours and forty minutes of tortuous fun my teammates and I jumped the fire and finished our first Spartan Race. When I crossed the finish line I finally understood Spartans moto “You’ll know at the finish line.” I did not run the Palmerton Spartan Super to compete with the elite athletes that I saw on TV a few years ago, I ran to compete against myself. I ran to show myself that I was capable of conquering any challenge put in my way. I may have missed the spear throw, the monkey bars, the ape hang, and the rig (I clearly need to work more on my grip strength), but I did not shy away from completing my 30

Looking strong and falling in style!

burpees every time I may have failed. When I crossed the finish line after 8.2 miles and 32 obstacles with a smile on my face I knew that this would be the first of many finishes to come in this OCR journey that I call life! I now know that I am capable of running up and down a mountain that I am used to snowboarding, I am capable of pushing myself to keep going even when my mind is telling me to stop, I am capable of motivating not only myself but my friends and strangers to be the best they can be, I am capable of putting together and following a plan to reach my goals. I might not be an elite athlete standing on top of the podium, but that doesn’t change the fact that I AM SPARTAN! 
I plan on continuing my Spartan journey next year with the goal of completing my first  trifecta. My first race of the 2017 season will be the Ohio Beast on May 20th! I hope to return to Palmerton next year with my teammates and maybe even add a few new Spartans to our team (I am looking at you Dad)!! AROO! AROO! AROO!