Brooklyn Half Recap

Yesterday, I ran and completed my fourth half marathon and third in the past three months. I'll be honest and say I'm pretty 'raced' out for now. I wish I were here to tell you of my original goal of 2hrs, but alas I finished in 2:07:04. A 16 second PR. A friend reminded me that a PR is a PR... so I'll take it.

I ran the BK half alongside 14,000+ runners which had an almost even split between men and women runners! It was a great course through Prospect Park, then down Ocean Parkway, all the way down to Coney Island and the famous boardwalk. I enjoyed this race, and I'd definitely consider doing it again.

The actual race:

I was feeling really great in the first 6 miles. I winded up seeing my friend, Erica, and seeing someone you know along the course is just so encouraging! Thanks for coming out, lady! Miles 1-6 were great, I took a GU at mile 7, and then headed out of the park onto Ocean. I had looked at my Garmin when I was at 6.5 and I was at 1 hr and 2 minutes and I told myself that if I could negative split the last half of the course that I'd be really close to 2hrs. I was hopeful at that point of a great PR and a really proud finish. When I hit mile 8, my knee, which had been bothering me all week (old injury, story for another day) starting getting really tight. I knew at that point it was no longer functioning at 100%. By mile 9, 10, my pace had slowed to the high 9:40's and I knew that the 2hr finish was slipping before my eyes. I tried to stay positive even though I was in pain. By mile 12 I was officially spent, mentally and physically but I knew that I was SO close to the finish, this was not the time to give up and walk. When I made it to the boardwalk and knew I had about 200m to go, I booked it and ran with everything I had (which wasn't much!) I saw my time and knew it was right at 2:07.

I went into the medical tent after receiving my medal because my knee needed to be wrapped immediately, and I just needed to sit down and drink some water. Eventually I made it through the crowds and found my best guy pal in the NYC, Andrew! Yesterday was his first half and he ROCKED it at 1:44:56. I am soooo proud of him!

We hung out in Coney Island for about 45 minutes and chatted about the race, stretched, and laughed (because he's hilarious). At the exact same moment we both got a whiff of Nathan's Hot Dogs and at that moment we knew it was time to GO! Ewww. We went back to his 'hood in Brooklyn and enjoyed a delicious brunch with our medals on! I was so thankful to have a good friend to share this day with! He agreed to run the Philly half with me in September. I have hooked him on this whole running thing! I love it!

When I got home last night after spending the whole day Brooklyn with friends I started replaying the race in my head: "how much time did I waste at the water stops?, should I have taken gu twice?, why were there so many hills in prospect park? should I have worn my knee brace?, etc." I was trying to remain positive and be proud of my finish, but I just couldn't shake the fact that I hadn't reached my goal AGAIN! I was frustrated and then all of a sudden I remembered the date. It was May 19th. A day that is so familiar to me because it's the day I graduated from UT. Yesterday marked my 6 year anniversary from that day and at that point I was probably the heaviest and most out of shape I had ever been in my life. When I thought about that and all that I've done the past 6 years I went from disappointed to proud. Some days it's about perspective, and I needed to get a grip and give myself some credit for the ability to run 13 miles! I never gave up, and never will. I know that I'll bust through 2hrs some day.

I dont even know that girl on the right. I feel like a brand new person!

Up next:

1. Speed Series 5K's in Brooklyn this summer

2. Philly Half Marathon in September

3. THE NEW YORK CITY MARATHON!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :)

Happy May 1st and what else I've been up to!

Hello friends! It's been a while! I apologize for the lack of posts but well life happens sometimes. I am currently in the midst of training for my 3rd Half Marathon of this Spring. It's been fun, but needless to say I'm excited for a break from 'racing' and will enjoy just running for the next couple of months before official NYC Marathon training begins on Monday, July 2nd! It will be here before I know it :)

So I have some BIG news. I have thought about how to go about this for quite some time but well it just never came to me so I figured I might as well just put it out there....

On Saturday, May 5th I will graduate from a Masters Degree Program I have been working on for the past two years. What?! I know some of you are very surprised because quite frankly I have not talked about it on zee blog or on twitter. There are things about my life I decided to keep to myself. Not for any particular reason but solely because I made the decision to stick to blogging/tweeting about fitness/running. I don't talk a ton about my personal life at times, but I wanted to share this with you all!

So yes, last Thursday I turned in all of my documents for the completion of a Masters Degree. I have been attending the same school that I work for Nyack College- Alliance Theological Seminary. I completed a degree in Urban Ministry. Yes, I went to school to study about theology, the church, and how the church functions in a Urban setting aka, New York City.

I need you to know that I am a Christian first, and a runner second :) My faith is something that is really important to me and I wanted to come to a deeper understanding of the things that I believe are most important in life.

There ya have it folks.

FAQ:

Now that you are done are you moving back to Texas? No. I am planning to continue living and working and running in New York City.

Are you changing jobs? No. I will continue to work at the school as an Admissions Associate and I'm an intern at my church.

Why couldn't you ever run on Saturday mornings? Because this semester I was finishing up my last two classes. Yes, 14 weeks of Saturday classes. It was tough!

How did you manage a job, a masters degree program, and running? I have no idea. By the grace of God.

More questions, just ask :)

My family will be in town this weekend to celebrate! Woohoo!

More/Fitness Recap

Going into More/Fitness my overall goal was only to finish strong. In my opinion I finished DC in a horrible condition and I never wanted to experience that again. My ultimate goal in the half marathon distance is to break 2hrs, and let's face it, in Central Park that was realistically probably not going to happen. Not to be a debbie downer, but Central Park is tough, and two loops around the park, and a part of a third? Yeah, not easy. Or not easy for this girl! :)

My morning started liking every other race (all 3 of them) have before with a whole wheat thin, peanut butter, and a banana. I chugged 32 oz of water from 6-7am and then split a cab with my neighbor, Theodora. I checked my bag and made it over to the corrals. I signed up for this race a long time ago and somehow ended up in the last corral. Looking around I realized I knew I wasn't THAT slow and I just couldn't fathom starting at the back of 7000 runners. I cheated (shhh) and moved up about 4 corrals and started in the middle of the pack. It started raining while we waited and I was definitely not a happy camper. Luckily by the time the gun went off it had cleared. My Garmin had a perfect signal before I got to the start line but must have gone into power save mode and then lost it RIGHT when I got to the start line (Awesome). I crossed the start and realized I needed to go regardless of the Garmin having a signal or not. I think it caught a signal pretty quick as I ended the race right at 13.11.

The race: miles 1-3 were great, I felt fine, weaved out from some slow runners/walkers (why were people already walking at 1.5?) and kept a steady pace. When I got the top of Harlem Hill something was going on my with my stomach and I was definitely worried. I pressed on and somehow it passed. Whew! I thought I'd be seeing some friends at mile 5, but alas I missed them. I shot around one loop of the park and was feeling ok. I wasn't looking at my Garmin much and just wanted to run. Again, was never sure of an actual time goal. I knew I'd be seeing my roommates in between mile 7-8 so I pushed through to them. I could see them from afar and they started screaming with signs! I am so blessed :) At mile 8, my besties in NYC were going to be there to hand me a bottle of water. I saw them from afar opened my GU packet and got to them said THANK YOU and kept going. The GU didn't do much for me as far as energy but I figured it was best I take something. My good friend Morgan and her cute dog were right at the Engineers Gate and seeing them made me so happy too! I pressed on through the East Side and met the Harlem Hills again. UGH. By the time I passed those and got to mile 10 I was pretty done. My legs were very tired, felt very heavy, and even my left knee was starting to hurt. I contemplated walking just to get a little break but I have too much pride for that :) I knew I'd be seeing some friends at mile 11. I saw them, more signs, more cheering. It lifted my spirits some but I was could tell my pace had slowed down a lot. Finally made it to mile 12 and I was like, ok, Leticia only 1.1 left. You can do anything for 10 minutes. A little past mile 12 I saw Jocelyn hauling right in my direction! I immediately lifted my hands and was waving like a crazy person. She was running 22 yesterday so she wasn't quite done. Seeing her absolutely made the rest of the run so good! I kept up with her speedy pace and she made that last mile fly! We split ways at mile 13 and she went up Cat Hill and I sprinted to the finish. I felt SO STRONG in the end and I was glad I pushed that last mile. I finished with a huge smile on my face and was just so happy to be done! I had no idea what my time was because I knew my Garmin was off and when I sprinted through the finish I didn't look at what the clock read. I found my friends and we snapped a pic! Half marathon #3 in the books with a big smile to prove it! To God be the Glory each race, thankful for His strength!

Post run I went an capitalized on my free hat/massage/snacks at Athleta and then went to brunch at Lansky's with my besties, and some other twitter friends were there too! At brunch I discovered my official time of 2:08:07 with and average 9:47 pace. No PR, but proud of my time. I never walked even when my legs tried to convince me to and I finished strong which is what I wanted. Central Park is no joke, even when you train there. It's just so different in a race!

Sara and I at brunch. All I wanted in my life was a mimosa and pancakes and that's exactly what I got! :)

So what's next? NYRR Brooklyn Half Marathon on Saturday, May 19th. Now this race my friends I has some BIG goals for. I really really really want this to be the sub-2 half. It's a relatively flat course and I think a PR is in the cards for me if I'm smart the next four weeks. Here we go!

PS: 201 days till the NYC MARATHON! I officially registered with Team World Vision today! Feels a tad bit surreal! 26.2 miles! I CAN do this.

"Running is a mental sport and we are ALL insane."

Thoughts on a week of rest!

This is my friend Jaclyn and I last Sunday at brunch in DC! She completed her first half marathon last weekend and I am SO proud of her. She's been one of my best friends for almost 10 years now and any time spent with her is beyond enjoyable. She is truly one of my favorite people on this earth!

Since we are talking about last Sunday, let's go ahead and say that it's also the last time my feet have hit the pavement. I went on a shakeout run with Theodora last Sunday night when I got home from DC and haven't ran since. Not because I didn't want to, but because I physically could not. Post race I was having a decent amount of pain in my right shin and figured that with compression sleeves/rest it might help. On Monday the pain increased, and moved from my shin down to my ankle. On Tuesday morning when I woke up after sleeping in the sleeves, I could tell that my ankle was very very swollen. I could barely walk. Each step was a painful reminder that something was wrong. By Wednesday night the pain had diminished some, and on Thursday my doctor friend took a look at it and said that while it was swollen it did not seem to be anything too drastic. He assured me that rest/ice/elevation were very very important in the next few days, and said he wanted me to rest from running for an entire week which would mean no running till Monday. I am planning on heading out for 3-4 miles tomorrow morning and praying that my body cooperates.

I feel like despite the frustrating feeling of not being able to run (or walk comfortably for that matter) I've had a lot of time to think about running and what role I want it to play in my life. This week had lots of up and downs... both emotionally and physically. I wondered and questioned my training, my body, my endurance, my passion, my goals, my desires, etc. I had lots of time to think since I wasn't working out! I came to the conclusion that running is and will be a big part of my life for a long time, but I've also realized that I want to be smart. I put a TON of pressure on myself before last weekend. I had a meltdown when I realized how many hills there were and that's just not something that needs to happen. That much pressure takes the fun out of what this should be about! Here's the thing. I want to ENJOY running without the pressure of feeling like I have to PR every single time. Yes, it's important to set goals and push yourself, but not to the level where it's the most important thing in your life. The bottom line is that I love running, but running doesn't define me, and never will. It's a part of my life, but not my life. I want to get better sure, but not at the cost of injuring myself for good. I want to move forward and be smart and truly always listen to my body. I am not superwoman. And while some may disagree, 13.1 miles is a respectable distance. It's not a joke what your body goes through in those 2+hrs. Maybe this week was needed both for physical rest, but also for me to be able to have a more healthy relationship with running in my mind. I'm excited about races to come, and want to excel, but not at the cost of my sanity! :) This is a recreation, not my job! In 3 weeks from today I'll run the More/Fitness half and after this week I'll evaluate what my goals can realistically be!

Happy Sunday, friends!

Rock and Roll: DC Style

So, I have to admit... I'm just not much of a blogger! I always have full intentions to be better and post my thoughts but it just doesn't always happen! However, after this weekend and already reading all the race recaps I'm inspired to possibly start blogging more. No promises though :)

Here's my shiny metal that I WON! :) HA!

I'm going to go ahead and put it out there from the get go and say that I didn't hit my goal of Sub 2hrs. I finished in 2:07:20. I'm sure your immediate thoughts are that I'm disappointed, upset, etc. To be quite honest I realized at mile 10 that I would not be hitting that goal, and when I crossed the finish line I honestly was not disappointed AT ALL. I was proud of my time because I knew that the course was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. It had a lot of hills and I had done very minimal hill training, etc. Lots of factors played into my time, but I don't want to write them out because they are boring. My perspective is simply that Saturday was not by day for Sub 2... but it's coming. And it's coming in 2012. Mark my words.

I won't bore you with all the details of my race. What's done is done. I've looked at my stats, and realized I made some rookie mistakes in the beginning. Miles 1-6 were fabulous, 6-9 were tough, 10-13.1 were just rough. Hey, at least I'm being honest. I will say that I ran a 8:30 MILE in a RACE! That's about the same time as my speed workouts... I guess they worked? :)

This post is mainly to reflect on how far I have come in this whole running journey. If you don't know my story, I started "running/jogging" about two years ago. While I was on the train home yesterday it dawned on me that two years ago I could BARELY run one mile. On Saturday I ran 13.1 (13.24 according to Garmin but who's counting :) ) I have come a long way, friends. A very, very long way. In fact, this was only the third race I have ever done in my life. I have many years/races in the future to improve on my time, so not hitting my goal on Saturday is just not going to get me down. I am mostly thankful to have a body that is able to do that. If you didn't know in October of 2009, I decided that I was tired of living in a body that wasn't healthy. I was overweight, unmotivated, and had no energy! I told myself, enough is enough! Over the course of 9 months I lost 95 pounds, and since June of 2010 have never looked back. I'm doing things in my life that I never thought would be possible. So today, I'l rejoice in the fact that I have a brand new PR (Personal Record). To God be the Glory.

TEXAS REPRESENT: Morgan, Jaclyn, and Me!

Overall, a fabulous weekend. No regrets. No disappointments! The support that I've felt in this journey overwhelms me. I have some really awesome friends. Thank you all!

A VERY VERY special thank you to a woman who devotes so much time to me: Michele . I could not be more thankful for you! :)

Up Next: More/Fitness Half Marathon on April 15th in Central Park! LET'S GET IT!

Just Run.

Source

I saw this picture tonight on Pinterest: a site that I do not frequent, but do so every few weeks. Tonight I needed something to get going with this post. In exactly four weeks from today I will embark on my SECOND half marathon! I'm running the Rock and Roll National Half in Washington DC alongside a couple of my dear friends! I'm beyond pumped! I had a BIG goal in mind, and was working very hard for about a month in preparation to beat my sub 2:00hr goal, which would be shaving off 8 minutes from my first half in Philly last September. On Tuesday, January 31st when I woke up with an immense amount of foot pain....

Back story: on Thanksgiving day I woke up and set out to run 3-4 miles before indulging in some turkey for my favorite holiday! I felt a slight pain in the arch of my foot but decided it was probably nothing. I went and met a friend at the park, and within minutes my pain continued. I knew something was 'off'. I took the next few days off from running and came back to NYC still in slight pain. After many reviews and advice from running friends I figured I might have a minor case of plantar fasciitis and one of the first pieces of advice was to REST. So that's what I did. I did not hit the pavement or a treadmill for FOUR entire weeks. On Tuesday, December 26th I started my training for the half and all was well. I was hitting way under 10 minute miles for all my training runs, and felt strong for four solid weeks.

I ran a long run on Sunday, January 29th of 8 miles and kept a really good pace. On Tuesday, I woke up and could barely walk. Each step I took was BRUTAL. I took some meds, stretched a lot, and used a small tennis size ball at the bottom of my foot in hopes it would get better. I did some cross training and by Saturday I had decided I was 'much better' and went out and ran SUPER stupid fast for me for 10 miles. Within minutes of finishing that run I was almost at the point of not being able to walk again. The week of February 5th was awful. I was ready to throw in the towel. I was hurting. I felt defeated. I remember on Wednesday finally letting it all out and I literally cried a lot of tears because of pain, but more because I was SO SO frustrated with myself for not being fully healed the previous Saturday and pushing myself beyond my limits. I made my injury worse. Thursday was better, and I knew I needed to do a long run on Friday because I would be busy the rest of the weekend. I set out and did 9 slower pace miles, and finished virtually pain free. I couldn't believe it. I listened to my body (and my fabulous running coach) and it really did work. Was I running sub 10 minute miles? Nope, but I wasn't hurting anymore. This week I was back in the game and my foot has continued to heal. I successfully ran 12 miles on Friday AM with two new friends basically PAIN FREE! PRAISE GOD! :) Aside from some minor soreness around my toes, my foot feels so so so much better. I'm not saying this injury is completely over and never coming back, but for now I'm doing better. I could not be happier.

Through all of this it made me step back and think about why I'm running at all. I came to the conclusion that running is for ME. It's not for anyone else. I don't need to impress anyone with my times, my goals, or my dreams. I've learned to stop comparing my achievements to everyone else's because it minimizes all that I've accomplished. The bottom line is that I'm probably never going to be as fast as some of my 'running role models', and you know what? That's totally ok. If I dont ever run a sub 2:00 half marathon, that's ok too. Why? Because I now have a body that can even think about running 13.1 miles. I now have a body that does things I never could have dreamed of would be possible. I'm not quitting. I've just had to refocus on why I'm doing this. There's no doubt that I was made to do this. I believe that with all of my heart. God has given me this crazy passion for running and I know He knows the desires of my heart to keep me strong! I'm never giving up. EVER.

MY DREAMS. MY GOALS. MY RUNNING JOURNEY.

Happy Valentine's Day! :)

Happy Valentine's day, friends (all two of you....) In honor of Valentine's day I'm going to write a list of 10 things/people/places that I LOVE!

1. I love to run. There is a freedom I find when I'm deep in the zone, just me, the ipod and the trail.

2. I love my bed. Truth be told, my favorite part of the day is climbing in bed after a long day and knowing that I'll soon be able to slumber for 7-8 hours. Pathetic? Maybe. But I dont care.

3. I love Texas. Born, and raised a Texan. Always and forever.

4. I love the Fantastic Four. My three BFF's are my community, accountability, and truly the best friends I could ever ask for. There friendships mean the world to me.

5. I love peanut butter, breakfast tacos, and chips/salsa/guac. I could LIVE off these things and be content for the rest of my life.

6. I love quality time with people. It brings so much joy to my soul to spend time with people I love.

7. I love my family. Though they are 2000 miles away from me, I love my big ole Mexican family. I love that we speak two languages, laugh, and always have a good time.

8. I love greeting cards, snail mail, and thoughtful emails. Words of affirmation mean a lot to me.

9. I love eating out! It's true. Especially in good company, with my FAVORITE foodie: Lauren.

10. I love, love. God is love. I am able to love you deeply because of HIS great love for me.