Bemidji Blue Ox Marathon Training Recap Week 5

My legs felt pretty crappy after my long run last Sunday, so I didn't get in another run until Wednesday morning. I think a combination of way too hot had a major effect on my muscles recovery as well as, my form still starts to suck majorly when I'm dying. So week 5's schedule ran Tuesday-Monday. 

Tuesday was another rest day, and Wednesday it was some miles before the sun. I met Jenn at the track for mile repeats. Unfortunately my stomach was really wonky, so I had to jet to the nearest gas station bathroom after our mile warm up and missed out on repeat number one. No biggie, Jenn had to leave for work earlier than I did, so surely I could get it done after she left! Except that the high school football players showed up for conditioning as I was doing repeat number three. 

My plan was to keep the first two slightly above 8 and the last two slightly below. I haven't run more than 3 repeats in forever, so I wanted to make sure I had enough gas for all four of them. Halfway through the third repeat, I realized my time on the track was coming to an end, so I pushed it harder to make up for knocking off one of the repeats. Hence the much faster, un-consistent final repeat. 8:09, 8:09, 7:49. 

I actually felt GREAT after the final one and felt like I could've knocked out another at that same pace if time had allowed. I guess we'll find out next time this workout shows up on my schedule!

The sunrise over the track was so pretty but my iPhone just couldn't do it justice.

And hot air balloons launched midway through my second repeat. I honestly considered stopping to take a picture because the balloons were RIGHT.THERE. but alas,  I was a good runner and kept going. So they were waaaaay up in the air four minutes later. Womp. Still a cool pic.

Thursday was a rest day, and Friday was six recovery miles under a hazy foggy sunrise. I took it really easy because I had 18 on the schedule the next day and since I started my workouts so late in the week, I had to run a bit farther the day before a long run than I like to do. I usually do 3-5 max.

Saturday I was up long before the sun. No more death by heat for this girl! I was up at 5, but (TMI alert) I was having major stomach issues, so I didn't get out the door until after seven. The stomach issues plagued me for the first half of the run. It was really humid, but much cooler, so I didn't drink much from my handheld until I took my first GU at 4.5 miles. I'm wondering if I was dehydrated already from my early morning stomach problems, and that made it worse? It wasn't fun.

I did 3 minute pickups every 20 minutes, and that really helped pass the time. Much nicer to focus on the next set of pickups vs. the next GU. I also knew I'd get to run into Jenn somewhere near my turn around, so I kept plodding along, shocked at how good my legs and energy levels felt.

I saw Jenn at 8.6 so we chatted for a minute before we took off in our own directions. I took a break from the pickups around this point because I GU'd and my stomach wasn't happy. I took in more straight water from a fountain and gave my Osmo nutrition a break, and my stomach started to cheer up. And my pace started to pick up. It was magical. 

I passed a dude around mile 13.5 and we ended up chatting for a couple of miles again. Unfortunately talking and speeding up while talking lead to more stomach wonkiness, so my finish wasn't as strong as I'd hoped, because I was trying to get my HR to come down.

But looking at my splits after in 6 mile increments, I'm pretty darned pleased. Consistency has NOT been my middle name so far with long runs, as I tend to be D-E-A-D from the heat/humidity and I tend to have major fueling issues, so the end of my runs suffer immensely for it. Not Saturday!

1:03:08 first six miles 1:02:39 second six miles 1:02:20 third six miles Sunday Kyle and I had a super lazy day. By the time I thought about doing my recovery run, it was so steamy out, I immediately threw that idea out.  Monday I got out before the heat advisory was in effect to get in 6 hilly recovery miles. Woof, so humid.

35.5 miles for the week!

Bemidji Blue Ox Marathon Training Recap Week 3

Monday I slept in too late to run, so Tuesday I had to wake up super early to do my speed work session. I planned to race on Friday so I needed to get it done earlier in the week than normal to ensure my legs were recovered.

I had 3x1600 repeats on the schedule with 800 m jog in between each one, as well as a one mile warm up and cool down. It was a gorgeously cool morning and my paces reflect that. A bunch of high school boys showed up during my final lap for conditioning, so I cut my cool down to a quarter of a mile and called it a day. 

Fastest repeats so far! Whoop!

Thursday I did a short shake out run with some striders.

Friday I raced the Lennox Firecracker 10k (race report here), after a half mile warm up jog.

Saturday morning Kyle's mom accompanied me on my recovery run around the lake on her bike. It was awesome to have some company because it took my mind off the fact that my legs felt like junk for the first mile.

Weekly Training Recap: Heat Edition

Monday I spent at the lake cabin. I didn't even bring footwear other than flip flops with me, so running was out of the question. Kyle and I did take out the kayaks in the thick thick humidity and we bopped around the lake for awhile. I finally started to get the hang of it, so I challenged him to a race back to the cabin and almost won. I'm secretly training for the next go around.

Tuesday I had big plans to wake up before work to go run, because I knew the temps all week were going to be tippy toeing on 90+ degrees. Well I was exhausted, and slept in until 7 instead. Oops. After work it was so hot I thought I was going to die. So I grabbed my road bike and headed out for some miles instead of a run.

I haven't spent much time on the bike since spring/summer 2012 when I did a half century ride.

It was a great ride, and I managed to sustain 15 mph average. Which is really fast for me, sadly. I was hitting paces in the 16-17 mph range for the most part but there were 2 areas under heavy construction where I had to bike through loose gravel or broken asphalt where I slowed waaaaaay down.

I'm hoping I can throw in a weekly long ride on days that are crazy crazy warm instead of just being lazy and doing nothing.



After the ride I inhaled a good portion of this watermelon. Watermelon is the catalyst for getting me through long runs in the summer. Did you know that?  So good.



I love this shot.



Wednesday I was supposed to met Jenn J. at the track for a speed session but my stomach hurt. :(

Thursday I finally got up before work and got in some miles. Luckily I didn't work until 9am, so I didn't even have to be out the door until 7! I had enough time for 5.5 hilly general aerobic miles before it was time to come home, shower, grab a giant starbucks iced latte (my face stayed this red until 1 or 2 pm.) and head to work.

Friday I had the day off from work so I hit the track to take on my abandoned speed session from Wednesday. I had planned to be there from 7-8am so it wouldn't get so hot, but didn't end up getting there until 8am. Every time we've used this track, it's been after suppertime, so it's nice and shaded. Well, it's completely in sun's way in the morning!

It was hot (80 degrees) and humid (80%). I was drenched after my warm up mile. I did the unthinkable: I ditched my tank top. AND IT FELT MAGICAL. The little breeze I was creating by cruising around the track felt so good on my mostly bare skin. It was a helpful reminder that I need to ramp up the core work and reign in the Qdoba eating, but overall it was great.

I knew it was going to be a struggle to hit my mile repeat paces in the heat and humidity. I gave myself a pass of sorts and would accept anything under 8:30. And if I couldn't hit that pace, I'd just run as hard as I could to get in a quality speed workout with some heat acclimation thrown in for funsies. 

When my first repeat clocked at 8:17, I was certain I was doomed for the remaining repeats, as I've only ran one repeat that fast this spring, and it was on a super cool day.  Uff. I walked a lap, jogged a lap in between to try to cool off a bit, and then took off for my next one. I was hitting ~8:20+ for most of it, but kicked it in the third and fourth lap--8:15. Uff again. I wanted my final lap to be my fastest and probably ran that repeat the most consistent, in that I started at an 8:16 pace and pretty consistently held that to finish. My breathing was really labored that last half mile, so I cranked up my music so I didn't have to hear it.

Feels great to have knocked out my fastest set of mile repeats this year (and really for the last 2.5-3 years, probably) in some of the most difficult weather I've ran in for awhile! Give me a nice day, and I'll be dipping sub 8 for these guys (eeps! I remember that being REALLY HARD.)

Saturday I worked and it stormed all day.

Sunday I intended on doing my long run but it stormed all day with major flooding. My left hamstring was aching a little bit, but it may have been nature's way of forcing me to take a rest day.

September in Review + Devil's Workout

September In Review

Total Miles: 121.2 up from 114.5 last month. (86.1 miles from September 2010.)  Oh hai similar injury post SF half.... we see each other again....

Total Time: 18:56:33 up from 18:04:30 last month. (13:18:55 last September.)

Total Runs: 19 for an average of 6.38/run.

Highest weekly mileage:

9/26/2011 — 10/2/2011:

35.1 Mi

5:28:01

Favorite run: My 13.1 training run where my time was almost the same as the SF half time.  :P  It felt effortless and the weather was gorgeous.  And I ran through my old stomping grounds, which is always fun. 

Most hardcore run:  I always loathe mile repeats and tempo runs that are longer than about 4 miles, so I felt pretty b.a. when I knocked out my 3 x1600 m repeats and 7 mile run with 5 at tempo (in which I hit 1000 miles for the year without realizing it... so yeah... that's fun...)

Favorite race:  It didn't turn out at all like I expected, and in hindsight, I probably should've dropped out of the race, but I finished my 7th consecutive Sioux Falls half marathon, and only 3rd time going sub-2.  So I'll take it.
Bike Miles: 25.  Yay.  Only because of semi-injury.  Boo.

Favorite Jams: My heart's a stereo.  I've been listening to it on repeat for interval workouts.  LOVE.

_____________

Speaking of mile repeats, I had more to take care of on Monday.  When I was looking at my training program before starting the run I realized, "neat-o I haven't taken a rest day in a week, this should be fun!"  Luckily because it's race week I only had 2 x1600 m repeats on the schedule which doesn't seem as scary as 3+.  The goal pace of 7:37 was slightly daunting, however.

Not sure what's got in to me lately, but I knocked those puppies out in 7:30 and 7:29, and definitely had enough gas for more.  Bring on Fargo!  Oh yeah... I'm racing tomorrow.  So fingers crossed for me, eh?

And in horribly bad race photo news, here are some of the train wreck shots from the Sioux Falls half. 

So yeah........ it was just a smidge warm...........

Weekly Wishlist + Scarves for PRs

Last night I knocked out some mile repeats for the first time in a long time.  I seriously can't remember the last time I did mile repeats, and I'm too lazy to check my running log for proof.  So just go with it.  I usually loathe mile repeats aka the devil's workout, which probably means that they're the best training run for me, because they suckkkkkkkkkkkk.

Anywho.  I had 3x1600m repeats at 7:41 pace and I was a little concerned as to how my legs would hold up.  I did a "test run"  (bahahahah punny) with the slower tempo run, but had yet to run FAST (for me) since the half.  I was pretty surprised/impressed! 

7:34
7:35
7:36

I did a mile warm up and half mile jogs in between the repeats, and a mile cool down.  It's always nice to "run" your workout instead of having it run you, ya know?  And I was so stoked about how well the run went and was bragging to KK about it, the enthusiasm must've wore off, because I think he agreed to accompany me on part of my run tonight.  Finger's crossed he wasn't just talking in his sleep.  :/  (likely, sadly).

And now on to the fun stuff.  The weekly wishlist:

I need this like I need to breathe.

Often?  Heavily?  I don't even know what that means, but yeah.

Buy it here.

I'm mildly (grave understatement) obsessed with Yoda. This is awesome.

Buy it here.

These are just too cute.  I love them stacked like this too.

Buy it here.

Buy it here.

This is a kid's scarf, but I don't imagine my neck is much bigger than it was at 14, so I think that's ok, right?  Polka dot love.

Buy it here.

This matches my bedroom.... I want it in a print.  So pretty.

Clearly I'm on a scarf kick.

Speaking of scarves, if you're new around these parts, I crochet super soft infinity scarves to help fund my running/racing addiction.  I started last fall, and it was a great way to supplement some crazy race fees and travel costs.  Plus I think the scarves are super pretty, and can't justify making myself one in every color, so this is the enxt best thing.  I don't have nearly as much time to devote to crocheting as I did last fall, but wanted to let you know that I am taking some orders, and it would be best to get your order in early as it's first come first served.

The scarves are $30, and the shipping and handling in the U.S. is $3.  There are a ton of colors to choose from, and each scarf is custom crocheted.  I'm also working on a super pretty cowl, so stay tuned for that unveiling.  Take a look here for some completed scarves and color options.  If you're interested, leave a note in the comments with an email to reach you a, or shoot me at email at jerbearshares [at] gmail [dot] com

The Devil's Workout

Last week I made the mistake of looking ahead on my training program.  DON'T LOOK AHEAD ON THE TRAINING PROGRAM.  Needless to say, I've been freaking out about my hardest workout on the 12 week schedule:  7 miles; 4 x 1 mile repeats @ 7:33-7:43 with 800 m. jogs.  I vaguely remember dominating said repeats a couple of weeks ago, but there were only 3 of them.  Not FOUR.  Four is a lot.  Ick.  Also, those were done on a treadmill, without elements.  Again, freak out central.

So here's the deal.  I decided to play a game with my brain.  See, I convinced myself that I would do my mile repeats on Wednesday.  After deciding Monday night that I didn't want to run, the thought briefly occurred to me that I could do my mile repeats Tuesday morning before work since my legs would be nice and fresh.  However, I didn't let this information go to the freak out part of my brain to obsess over.  Instead, freak out part of the brain still thought I was doing an easy paced 9 miles.

When my alarm sounded, I got out of bed and grabbed a couple of bites of a protein bar and got ready for my run.  That's when I let my brain know what was up...... to some.... uh... resistance.... (apparently part of my brain is a child).

Jeri:  Guess what..... time to do some mile repeats!
Freak Out Brain:  Nuh uh.
Jeri.  Yup.  No reason not to.
FOB:  Sure there is.  Don't wanna.
Jeri:  It's light out.  It's nice out.
FOB:  Don't care.
Jeri:  You're going to have to do them on the treadmill otherwise.  You hate that.
FOB:  So.
Jeri:  You'll be stuck doing them with tired legs.  You'll freak out even more about that.
FOB:  Nuh uh.
Jeri:  If you do them today you don't have to obsess over them for the rest of the week.  You can start obsessing about the 22 miler instead.
FOB:  Lalallalalalalala...not LISTENING to you......
Jeri:  Fine.  You can wear all green for the run.
FOB:  Well ok then.

Once I got Leprecauned Up, I hit the road for the run.  It was freakin' chilly out there.  It took me through the first mile warm up and first mile to actually felt like I was warm.  Honestly, the first repeat might've been one of my most difficult.  Also, didn't help that it was almost primarily in to the wind.  The second mile was great because my legs seemed to memorize the pace.  The third mile I lost my headphones (FYI yurbuds may be sweatproof, but they're not jeri sweat proof) and was shocked at how hard I was breathing.  Yikes.  It's almost nice to have the music cranked up just to block that out!  The fourth mile was tough.  I had to haul some major booty the last quarter of a mile to get my pace where it needed to be.  Stole borrowed a mantra that kept me going almost as much as Taylor Swift has been lately (yes, I did listen to Haunted on repeat for a good chunk of one of the miles....shocker):  Don't think just run.  Yes, by repeating this mantra, I actually was having to think, but let's ignore that point, k?

I did the repeats in 7:39, 7:38, 7:39, 7:39.

Consistent little bugger huh?

Runner's Christmas + Random Musings

When I came home from work on Monday, I opened my mailbox to runner's delights spilling out!!!  A pair of compression socks from Oxysox (review to come later) and a pair of Yurbuds that I won from Jill.

Yes, it does appear that one leg is longer than the other, no wonder I have so many random aches/pains.

Wednesday I could not bring myself to run my tempo run or my mile repeats, however, a bike ride sounded like the bee's knees.  I had planned to do an out and back on a portion of the bike trail for ~14 miles.  When I had 13 miles down, I decided I wanted to keep going to hit 25 miles.  Of course I made this decision while the wind was at my back, so I was hating life the last remaining 6 miles.  Sick.
Random musings from the ride:

• When I don't have my iPod I have the same song on repeat in my head. For this ride it was Katy Perry's Teenage Dream over...and over.... and over.... And the worst part is that I don't know the words/lyrics to the song.  This excerpt was this one on repeat:
• I might get your heart racing
  In my skin-tight jeans
  Be your teenage dream tonight
  Let you put your hands on me
  In my skin-tight jeans
  Be your teenage dream tonight
• Except this is what was actually playing in my head:
• Hmmm hmm hmm
  in my skin tight jeans
  hmm hmm hmm teenage dreams tonight
• Hmmm hmm hmm
  in my skin tight jeans
  hmm hmm hmm teenage dreams tonight

• I saw a guy biking with a bike helmet on (good) but with the chin strap unhooked (not good).  I wish I knew what his reasoning behind this was.... "Hmmm if I fall, the odds of me falling at x angle should give me 98% protection against the blow of the concrete to my cranium."  Perhaps he had this train of thought after a previous fall sans helmet chin strap.
• More cleavage on the bike path.  Apparently I need to get the ladies OUT....more aerodynamic er something.
• I suck at doing math while working out (not brand new information, mind you).  I ended up doing 24.5 miles.  I suck.

I did 24.5 miles in 1:39:54 (14.7 mph).

Thursday I finally sucked it up and decided to do my mile repeats.  Although I did take it down from 5 to 3, because really, who needs 5 mile repeats??  [shudders]  Four last week literally almost killed me.  I  had to hit up the treadmill at the gym, because -news flash- the sun sets ridiculously early now, and Aaron has yelled at me far too much about running by myself at dark.

The repeats were tough but not terrible, and I honestly could've squeaked out another, but was very hungry.  Mental note:  You sweat a lot at the gym.  Please keep this in mind when selecting shorts to wear.  Please stick to navys and blacks to avoid broadcasting your severe swass to the entire gym population.

I rocked my repeats in 7:23, 7:25, 7:25.

Check out Miss Zoe's giveaway!!

Mile Repeats: You are the Bane of my Existence

I waited until the last possible minute to head out the door for my mile repeats on Monday.  I loooooathe me some mile repeats yo.  Running hard for a mile is...hard.  Which must mean they're effective.  Damn it.  [End Rant]

My schedule called for 3 x 1600 @ 7:30 pace (with a mile warm up and 800 m. jogs in between each mile).  To be honest, the schedule also suggests a 1/2 mile jog after the warm up mile (not going to happen) and a full mile cool down after the final 1/2 mile jog (again not happening).  So instead of the 7 miles, I was already down to 5 1/2.  Looks good to me!

After my inital warm up mile my legs felt pretty heavy.  I hadn't ran since Thursday and I could feel it. Two days of rest is perfection.  Three days and my legs get rusty.  It's science, I swear.  After the first 1/4 of a mile, my legs started to feel good, and every time I checked my pace it seemed to be right at the 7:30 mark.  Imagine my surprise when it actually clocked in at 7:44.  GRR!

When the 1/2 mile jog was up, I decided to set the virtual partner to 7:30 pace, as that seems to be a better indicator of pace than the pace on the Garmin's front (don't ask why).  Since I was sweating profusely, my bezel got all confussled and thought I was jabbing it repeatedly when really that was many droplets of sweat coating the watch.  I literally spent 5 minutes trying to get it figured out, only to realize it was still on cycling mode from Sunday's bike ride.  UGH!  I tried to change that too, and eventually got it under control. 

My next mile came in at 7:36.  The final mile I switched off the virtual pace (since I have my Garmin locked b/c of the "perspiration issue" I can't toggle between the Virtual Pace and screen that shows the distance, which is beyond annoying) and tried to run by feel.  The last mile was at 7:41.  Fiddlesticks.  I was super bummed, until the following morning when I saw on the schedule that the mile repeat pace range was 7:28-7:45.  So then I was happy. :)  Made me realize that I'm not quite where I thought I'd be as far as 5k pace/speed, so I shouldn't be surprised that I haven't hit my 22:xx 5k goal for this summer.  The workout also gave me some great confidence going in to Saturday's 5k.  PR or BUST!!  Or else just have fun doing something you love....one of the two. ;)

Back To It

I have to share an awesome email I got from my manager post-marathon.  Or I guess just the card attached to the email.  It. Is.  Awesome.

Prior to doing the marathon, I had wanted to do a half marathon in mid-June.  I found one and created my training program to start 8 days after the marathon.  Turns out 8 days was this Monday.  On the schedule 3 x 1600 @ 7:28-7:45 pace.  What the hell was I thinking putting my most loathed workout right off the bat??  Silly Jerbear.

The crazy thing was, I was actually excited about doing the mile repeats because I was so stinkin' sick of not running.  Since it's currently late July- August weather outside (90+ degrees +100% humidity+ 40 mph winds = wtf???) I headed immediately to the gym.  Hey, when it's this hot, you get your warm up and sweat-on during the drive too the gym.  Who needs a warm up?  Seriously...yuck.

I got to the gym and got going on my mile warm up.  Body assessment:  knees are a bit tight but feel good otherwise.  I stretched after the first mile and then got to it.  I was surprised at how great the first mile felt--7:37.  I was not surprised about the copious amounts of sweat pouring off of me.  I chose to walk the first .1 of my recovery 1/2 mile and jog the last .4 of it.  As soon as I started the slow jog my IT bands were screaming at me.  I decided to give the second mile repeat a go to see if they speed would loosen them up.  Nope.  After another quarter mile I realized that doing the full mile would probably just do my harm then go, so opted to bump up the speed a smidge and end with an 800 m. instead.  I finished it in 3:46.  I did another 1/2 mile walk/jog cool down.

I did 3.5 miles in 33:09.

warm up	1 Mi	9:39	9:39	9:39
Interval	1 Mi	7:37	17:16	7:37
Recovery	0.5 Mi	6:21	23:37	12:42
Interval	0.5 Mi	3:46	27:23	7:32
Recovery	0.5 Mi	5:48	33:11	11:36

I stretch stretch stretched and then hit the stationary bike for some ridiculous gossip mag catch up and more leg loosening up.  I think I'll omit the rest of my speed work this week for some easy runs and then hit the ground running (<----yeah... I went there....) next week, since I only have 5 weeks till race day.  WHOO!!!

I do have some pain in my foot somewhat reminiscent to what I had last fall.  If I remember correctly it was a combo of playing volleyball and wearing shoes with too many miles on them.  The shoes I'm wearing are about 100 miles shy of what I usually get out of them (literally I got 430 out of my purple versions of the ones I'm currently wearing, and have 300ish on the pinks), but I bit the bullet and bought a new pair today.  There's a chance I just need a little more stability while my body is still healing, and I can still use the pink ones for some cruddy weather runs so I can still get some use out of them.

And in still more aren't you sick of hearing about my marathon news:  I found a video of me starting the race!  I was pretty excited because my parents were beyond bummed they couldn't be there, so they were able to see me run 2 seconds of my 4 hour and 12 minute race. ;)  You can see me at 1:30-1:33 running towards the middle in my pink shirt and green shorts. :D



Make sure to check out Beth at Shut Up and Run's Sweet givewaway!!

Speedy Legs + Inspiration

Wednesday I had the dreaded 1600 m. intervals on the schedule.  Of course we were under a wind advisory, because that seems to be the name of the game lately.  I decided to head to the gym.  Speed workouts are actually kind of fun on the treadmill.  When I started the run I was shocked at how great my legs felt.  I seriously felt like I could've BQ'd if I had tried.  (Ok, not at all, but you get the idea.)  I hope my legs feel that fresh and great race day.  Wowsers!  My iPod decided to putz out and me after my warm up mile, so I chose to sing Blink 182 - Miss You over and over in my head during my repeats.  

I did 7 miles in 1:02:29 for a pace of 8:56.  Average interval pace was 7:47.

Warm Up	1 Mi	9:39	9:39	9:39
Interval	1 Mi	7:47	17:26	7:47
Recovery	0.5 Mi	5:29	22:55	10:58
Interval	1 Mi	7:48	30:43	7:48
Recovery	0.5 Mi	5:25	36:08	10:50
Interval	1 Mi	7:52	44:00	7:52
Recovery	0.5 Mi	5:26	49:26	10:52
Interval	1 Mi	7:44	57:10	7:44
Cool Down	0.5 Mi	5:13	1:02:23	10:26

The once hated 1600 m. repeats are now actually --dare I say it?-- fun.  Oy.  When did I become a distance runner?!?!?!?!

Thursday night I headed out for an easy 8 miler.  Since it was late and already dark when I headed out, I had to run a pretty hilly route to run through a super safe part of town.  My legs were feeling the speed workout from the night before.  I ran to my old apartment and ran an old route from a few years ago.  I love the area of town because it is super safe and there's almost zero traffic, so I don't have to worry about dodging cars.  About halfway through the run, it started to rain lightly.  I've said it before but I l-o-v-e running in warm rain.  It was seriously such a beautiful run.

I did 8 miles in 1:15:23 for a pace of 9:26.

I have a list of things I want to do/need to do in my spare time.  Last weekend I finally got around to doing one of the things in the "want to do" category:  my inspiration board!  Over the last year I've been putting my race bibs on my refrigerator post-race.  Well it's getting a bit full, so I wanted to do something with them but to display them a bit better.  Behold the board.  :)

I have all of the race bibs from every race I ran in that required a bib, including 3 from high school (bottom left corner 2000, middle bottom, and the GREEN one from the state track meet my senior year)! As you can see I've done quite a fit of the races multiple times.  I also included some fun inspirational words/quotes/sayings.

Some highlights/closeups:

My favorite bib because it A) has my name on it B) is not boring and WHITE and C) makes me look FAST because I was in corral A.  Haha.  Also, Race Like a Girl....you know it!

Pace band for 3:40.  Someday. :)

I've had this Green Bay Cellcom Marathon ad cut out of a Runners World magazine for 4 years (hence the super old logo).  

Run happy. :)