Philly

I'm back!

January 29, 2012 by Kristy 9 Comments

Hello! I’m back from a 1 week blog vacation! Last week I (finally) made the switch to self-hosted and RTLR got a little makeover! I could not be happier with how it looks. Since the blog was under construction I though it was best to save all my witty, insightful posts until it was back up and running 😉 If you’re using GR, click out and let me know what you think!

I wish I could say I did all the work but I’m not that tech savvy at all. I didn’t want to screw it up, lose all my previous posts, and lose followers. After doing some research I went with Blog Genie to not only move to self-hosted but also do the makeover. Rita was amazing! To say I highly recommend her would be an understatement. I think I asked a billion stupid questions. She answered each one of them…quickly. I was probably not the easiest customer either. I tend to be a bit….ummm, picky. Anal. You name it. Rita was patient, implemented all of my changes, and then promptly sent me another screen shot so I could see the design. I love the results and I love that it only took a week. Other blog services I contacted had a waiting list (months!) or were incredibly expensive.

I have to give another shout-out to Sandy, who designed my header. Sandy is my friend Trish’s co-worker and is amazingly talented. Way back in May of last year she designed the RTLR logo for our Team RTLR 5K shirts. The skyline you see in the background is Philly (and pretty damn accurate, I might add). I used this logo for my business cards too and couldn’t wait to have it as my header. Thank you Sandy!

So that’s what I’ve been up to this past week. I loved all the emails and tweets of concern about my blog being under construction and why I haven’t posted in awhile.

A Walk Down Memory Lane

September 20, 2011 by Kristy 20 Comments

This blog is only about 9 months old so many of you have only seen a brief snapshot of my running. I want to walk down memory lane and show you how far I’ve come in 10 years. This post is not about bragging but about showing you that anything is possible…if you want it badly enough. For me, qualifying and running the Boston Marathon were dreams of mine for the past 10 years. I’m sure people thought I was crazy talking about BQing when I was still hours (yes, hours) away from my BQ time. But Boston was always in the back of my mind during every marathon.

Marathon #1: Marine Corps Marathon 2004 – 5:12
My goal was to finish. I treated this marathon like a party. I stopped and chatted with Matt, I stopped for pee breaks, I stopped for stretch breaks. I seriously spent a half hour stopping.

Marathon #2: NYC Marathon 2005 – 4:36
A huge improvement but I should have done some hill work.

Marathon #3: Marine Corps Marathon 2006 – 4:58
I had a terrible training cycle and my head just wasn’t in it. I was ready to quit at mile 10.

Marathon #4: Marine Corps Marathon 2007 – 4:11
I told you I loved the MCM! I was finally beginning to make some progress here. I was ecstatic with this time!

Marathon #5: Philly Marathon 2008 – 4:12
Oh, I was pissed about this one. It was 15 degrees at the start…I never warmed up and my lungs burned since I wasn’t acclimated to the cold yet. Just awful.

2009: I took a year off marathoning to get married, buy a house, and honeymoon in Europe 🙂

Marathon #6: Pocono Marathon May 2010 – 4:13
I was livid about this race. It was much hillier than I thought (this is the sole reason why I always train for the worst case scenario). I hated the marathon and the course. I had a great training cycle but hit the wall HARD at mile 19. Up until mile 19, I was on track for a sub-4:00 but I fell apart mentally. At this point I was SO SICK of finishing in the 4:1x range.

Marathon #7: Steamtown Marathon October 2010 – 3:58
Redemption! Finally, a sub-4:00! This was a great marathon too. Gotta love the downhills.

Marathon #8: New Jersey Marathon May 2011 – 3:52
We all know what happened here…

Marathon #9: Lehigh Valley Marathon September 2011 – 3:43
BQ BABY!

How did I manage to shave off 30 minutes from May 2010 to September 2011? Hard work and determination. I’m not naturally speedy. I didn’t run track or cross country in high school or college. I didn’t hit the running genetic jackpot. I’m just an average runner who dreamed big. That’s it. If I can do it, so can you.

Tomorrow’s post will focus on what I did physically and mentally to shave those 30 minutes off.

Do you have big running dreams? Share them!

Weekend Fun + Week 1 Recap

June 6, 2011 by Kristy 10 Comments

6/6/11
7 miles tempo / 1:01 / 8:43 avg pace
1 mile easy, 5 miles at 8:35 (MP), 1 mile easy

Date day/night with Hawk was fun. First up was a stop at Kelly Drive.

Yes, I really am this un-tan. It’s not the camera flash.

Mr. Hawk seemed to enjoy himself.

Next we strolled around Philly and got some drinks. Guess who we bumped into? Mayor Nutter (a.k.a., mayor of Philly)! He was checking out a menu with 2 other people (staff?). Matt and I were across the street and one of his staff noticed I was holding my camera and waived us over for a picture. Mayor Nutter is always present at all the Philly races so it was nice to meet him in person. Of course, Hawk got in on the picture.

The rest of the day went unpictured: dinner, trying to find a patch of grass for Hawk to use as a toilet, sleeping in, and brunch (pancakes for me, french toast for Matt).

Lehigh Valley Marathon – Week 1 Recap
MON: 5K + 1.5 mi warm-up
TUE: 8 mi tempo
WED: rest
THU: 8 mi easy
FRI: 5.4 mi easy
SAT: 13 mi long
SUN: rest

A total of 39 miles for the week. Overall, I’m happy with how the week went. I got some hill training in and did my tempo run on a trail. I also like how I’m starting out at 39 miles, considering last cycle I maxed out at 43 miles 🙂 Fun, fun!

How was your weekend? Any good races or training runs? Are you tapering or just starting up like me?

A Steamy 10-Miler and Week 16 Recap

April 25, 2011 by Kristy 8 Comments

4/24/11 (yesterday)

10 miles

1:32

9:12 avg pace

Spring turned into full blown summer here in Philly. It was 67 degrees when I started running on Sunday (at 8am!) with lots of sun and humidity. Initially the weather felt great but by mile 3 I was feeling the heat. My 9:00 pace felt hard; my breathing and heart rate were more indicative of an 8:30 pace. The miles dragged on and on. I wanted to end with a few miles at marathon pace but there was just no way.

I’m definitely the type of runner that needs to acclimate to hot or cold weather. Sudden, big swings in temperature are not good. It takes about 2 weeks to acclimate myself and then I’m fine. Today’s run wasn’t the best confidence booster for the marathon but I know it was 100% due to the heat. Thankfully the forecast for Sunday’s race is calling for mostly cloudy with a high of 63 and a low of 53. I’d prefer it to be a little colder but I’ll take what I can get!

Week 16 recap of NJ Marathon training:
MON: rest
TUE: 6 miles at marathon pace
WED: 6 miles tempo
THU: rest
FRI: 6 miles easy
SAT: rest
SUN: 10 miles “long”

28 miles for the week. The taper is working because I feel lazy and sluggish 🙂

Do you need to acclimate to hot or cold weather?