BAA

The Waiting Game

October 18, 2011 by Kristy 18 Comments

10/18/11
8 miles / 1:08 / 8:30 avg pace
*progression run

The best things in life come to those who wait…sometimes. Ugh, the waiting game. Not one of my strong suits due to my lack of patience. Lately, I feel like I have been waiting for everything. Big stuff, small stuff, whatever. The B.A.A. tested my patience last month and I waited. I feel like that kicked-off a waiting frenzy.

What exactly am I waiting for? Here’s the list…both big and small.

Work-related news. Which could be good, bad, or just meh. That’s a biggie.
Daylight savings. I’m sure you early morning runners can sympathize. I can’t wait until November 6. A 7:15am sunrise is just way too late.
Knuckle lights…on backorder. Apparently Alyssa mentions them on her blog and starts a knuckle light craze 😉 Thankfully they should come in this week. Just in time for daylight savings.
This fabulous Fall/Spring coat…also on backorder. I decided to live on the edge and not get all black. I hope it doesn’t snow before I wear it.

via

Holidays. I can’t wait for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Decorating, cookies, Turkey Trots, and taking Hawk to see Santa (oh yes we do).

What are you waiting for these days…big or small?

I’m Running The Boston Marathon (it's official)!

September 30, 2011 by Kristy 27 Comments

OK, OK…I know…enough of the Boston talk! But I promise this post won’t be whiny.

It has been a long 2 1/2 weeks since this happened…

Thanks Amanda for the video! Pay no attention to my bad form.

But I finally received my acceptance email from the B.A.A. on Thursday (at 2:11pm, not that I was waiting or anything). What did it take?

6: emails to the B.A.A. from me
4: phone calls to the B.A.A.
1: fax to the B.A.A.
1: email from the LVM race director* to the B.A.A.
1: email from the LVM race timer to the B.A.A.
*this email came from Gerry Yasso (yes, Bart’s brother). Bart designed the LVM course. I love Bart Yasso and now his brother is pretty awesome as well.

I cannot believe it’s finally official!

AND, I cannot believe how lucky I am.

After the NJ Marathon (May 2011), I knew I could BQ. I was lucky enough to get another shot at BQing and found a marathon within driving distance the day before Boston 2012 registration opened. Talk about down to the wire.
There was hurricane Irene, then more flooding, and 90% humidity leading up to the race. I was lucky enough to get a cool and overcast day with little to no mud.
Then the unthinkable happened, Boston registration was still open on September 19th and I was lucky enough to register.

Little did I know that I was about to get even luckier…

One second slower (say I had a violent sneeze during Mile 24) and I would not be running the Boston Marathon.

This is a dream come true! There are no words to express how happy I am right now!

Boston will be my 10th marathon. What a way to ring in the double digits!

PS – My running twin, Cindi, is going to kick ass at the Twin Cities Marathon on Sunday. Stop by and wish her the race of a lifetime!

Boston Update: Thursday Edition

September 29, 2011 by Kristy 13 Comments

If you want to hit “mark all as read” in your Google Reader because you are sick of hearing about Boston, I don’t blame you. I’m pretty damn sick of it myself.

The update is that I still don’t know. I make daily calls to the B.A.A. (I swear there is an audible groan when they hear my voice). I send emails and faxes. Has it helped speed up the process? Nope.

Yesterday I was told there were 300 runners in my situation (most of them ran international races) and they hope to get through them yesterday and today and let us know on Friday. I was told they are not giving away my spot; just checking that my finish time was not falsified. They have 2 emails (which I also faxed to them) from the LVM stating that my finish time is 3:43:46. What the hell more do you need?

Maybe I’ll hear today? I’m not holding my breath. Take your damn time, B.A.A.

In the meantime, I’m trying to focus on other things. Like the fact that I’m running a 5K this weekend with my niece, Sarah (her second 5K!).

Rant n' Rave

September 26, 2011 by Kristy 16 Comments

9/26/11
4 miles easy

BOSTON UPDATE: I should know by today or tomorrow if I’m in (or out, but I’m trying to think positive, so let’s just focus on the “in”). My stomach is in knots and I’m terrified. My BlackBerry will not leave my side today or tomorrow and every time it blinks, I’m going to say a little prayer that it’s the B.A.A. giving me good news. Fingers crossed…

RANT
Back in July, me and my friend Sara decided to sign up for the Great Urban Race – Philly. Think Amazing Race but on a much smaller scale. We both have wanted to do this type of race for awhile and were excited. We even came up with a great team name – Rally Girls, after Friday Night Lights (we are huge fans). Loooong story short, the Great Urban Race sucks. I successfully registered but Sara could not (it kept charging her for 2 participants). Sara called and emailed the GUR staff numerous times and, essentially, they could not fix their registration issue. Sara even asked if they could do something manually if she provided her credit card numbers. Nope. GUR’s solution? Come down on race day and we can register you for $60 (the late registration fee, because it was our fault we weren’t registered on time). Hell no.

Since I was the only Rally Girl registered and the rules are you need 2 team members to race, I asked for a refund. They refused. So, for what it’s worth, I’m blasting them on my blog. Consider yourself warned if you sign up for a Great Urban Race event.

RAVE
Back in June, Molly and Al from races2remember sent me a pace band for the Lehigh Valley Marathon. I love myself a pace band and fully intended to use a 3:45 band for the LVM. These aren’t ordinary pace bands though. Split times are based on the elevation profile of the marathon you are running. Races2remember staffers run marathons all across the country to “test out” the course (by the way, this would be my dream job). So you get a pace band with realistic split times based on downhills and uphills. Their list of marathons (and half marathons) is extremely comprehensive. The LVM is a very small race, and it was listed.

You can get a set of 3 pace bands for $7.50, so you can mix and match finish times. I would highly recommend them if you are into using pace bands.

Got any rant or raves to share on this Monday?

*I was sent a pace band at no cost in exchange for my review; however, my opinions are my own.

Updates And An Unexpected PR

September 19, 2011 by Kristy 16 Comments

Updates first, good stuff second!

Update #1 – Boston Registration
The very, very good news: registration is still open and I was able to register at 10AM today (yay!). The bad news: per the B.A.A., those who are the fastest among the pool of applicants in their age and gender will be accepted. Accepted athletes will be notified by September 28. Not only do I have more waiting ahead of me, I’m BQ-1:14 (1:14 under my BQ time). So all the runners who are BQ-4, BQ-3, and BQ-2 will get accepted before me, until slots run out. Clear as mud, right? I cannot take this waiting anymore. But I have to remain positive – I got to register today, which I didn’t think was possible one week ago.

Update #2 – CBS Philly Most Valuable Blogger Awards
I was robbed! I checked the website last Thursday and found out I didn’t win (thanks for the heads up, CBS Philly). A gluten-free blog won, which I find hysterical. We live in a city that lives off soft pretzels, cheesesteaks, and Tastykakes and a gluten-free blog wins! That’s random. But thank you to everyone who voted each and every day. I’d like to think I came in second place 😉

Update #3 – Giveaway
I will pick 3 winners tonight, so there’s still time to enter!

I had a race-tastic weekend! On Saturday we did a Family Fun Walk and managed maybe 1 mile in 19 minutes. Thanks to Hawk’s pooing, sniffing, and general lack of walking in a straight line.

Sunday was the Philly RnR Half Marathon (aka, Team RTLR Half).

The weather was absolutely perfect. I had originally planned to run this race for run but at the starting line I decided to see what pace my legs could do. What did I have to lose? If my legs got tired halfway through – oh well – I’ll just slow down during the second half. I wasn’t surprised when my legs settled into marathon pace (8:30). At mile 6, I got this incredible surge of energy and my pace dropped to 8:15s then 8:09s. At mile 9, I thought I may have a shot at PRing so I dropped my pace even more (again, if I crashed and burned it didn’t matter…so why not?). Splits for miles 10 through 13:

M10 – 7:57
M11 – 7:42
M12 – 7:36
M13 – 7:37

I crossed the finish line with a 1:48:33 – good enough for a 1-minute PR!! My legs were more sore post-half marathon than they were post-BQ. Ouch. I won’t be racing again anytime soon (meaning the next few weeks).

Ann, Sara, and Jen: you ladies did an amazing job! I’m very proud. Each of you looked so strong at the finish!

DSCN1779 — Sara was all smiles at mile 13!

Have a great Monday! I have the day off and I’m going shopping!