I spent much of my final run of the year reflecting on 2016 and the changes it's brought. At the end of the year, I usually feel relieved it's over, glad I made it through, but this year was different for me. 2016 was filled with so many beautiful experiences, challenges, and surprises that allowed me to grow in new ways and changed my perspective on many aspects of my life. This year, I learned how to follow my heart and listen to my instincts. I learned how to let go and how to give others the love they deserve, and most importantly, I learned how to love myself despite any self-described flaws, weaknesses, and imperfections. I know this will continue to be a process, but I couldn't be more proud of the person I am today. This year, I made peace with my past and am so excited to see what the future holds for me. I'm so thankful for the people who always supported me during a time when I felt lost and confused and unsure of who I was. It's crazy how much of a difference a year makes. At the very beginning of 2016, I had a blast in Disney World with two of my favorite people in the whole wide world! In March, we closed on our first home, and in May, we found out we were pregnant! In August, Jamie and I traveled to Vancouver and Seattle. My sister got married in November! I feel like that barely touches on my year. There were so many celebrations and even a few struggles along the way as we learned how to balance our relationship, running, and preparing to become parents! Then of course, there were many successes in running during the year.... During 2016, I ran 922.07 total miles (the rounding must be off on Smash Run), which fell short of my 1,212 goal. Given the fact that I'm closing out the year at 37.5 weeks pregnant, I'm pretty proud of getting that many miles in! I was only 29 miles under 2015, and I'm impressed I was able to come that close despite pregnancy and not running any marathons this year. My average pace for 2016 was 10:29, compared to 11:00 in 2015, 10:58 in 2014, and 11:18 in 2013. I ran on average 3.7 days a week, and although this was a little below my goal of 4 days a week, it was still my highest average for any year so far! My best month was April, with 121 total miles and a 9:40 average pace. In 2016, I ran in seven states/provinces: Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Washington, British Columbia, South Carolina, and two countries: the US and Canada! I completed 18 total races (I was pregnant during 13 of them!) - including five half marathons, three 10ks, and six 5ks. I ran my fastest mile (7:42), a half marathon PR (2:03:54), a 10k PR (56:37), and a 5k PR (26:06). I placed second in my age group at a 5k on July 4th - I was 12 weeks pregnant! My best race (both this year and in my whole life) was by far Choo Choo Nine Miler in April. I loved that race and felt so strong during it! I also earned my Half Fanatics after running half marathons on back to back weekends. Here's to so many wonderful memories during 2016, and hopes that 2017 has a chance at topping this year!
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Everyone keeps asking how I've managed to keep running this far into my pregnancy. To be honest, it's the most physically challenging thing I've ever experienced. It's so frustrating to not be able to move like I could just a few short months ago, and the easy thing to do right now would be to quit. I think how hard it is, is what makes it so rewarding. I love the way running allows me to clear my head after a long day. I love the sound of my feet hitting the pavement while I watch the world. Running is my favorite way to spend time with my friends, and it's such an important part of my life. As excited as I am to get back to "normal" running, I'm so grateful to be able to run at all right now (only a couple days shy of 35 weeks!), and I think that's what keeps me going.
I have never been a morning person. Before Emerson, I would have told you that I ran because that's what my training plan said I was supposed to do, or because I knew it would help me reach my goals.
Today I woke up at 5:30 to go out for a run, simply because I felt like it (and I wanted to try out the brand new purple headlamp Jamie bought me!). Pregnancy has turned running into something I want to do, rather than feeling like I have to. It's taken all the pressure off of PRs and mileage goals. I run simply because I enjoy it, and to (hopefully!) give my daughter a happy, healthy life. Emerson Lilly, you are the most beautiful little blessing. You've brought more happiness to my life in twenty-nine short weeks than I ever could have imagined, and I cannot wait to kiss your chubby little cheeks. Momma loves you so, so much! The second trimester has been fairly uneventful as far as pregnancies go. I've been blessed with an easy pregnancy and I had never expected to feel so normal! I've continued running four days a week throughout the second trimester, but have cut my mileage to about 15-20 miles a week. I've also slowed my pace a lot. Since the weather has been cooler, I haven't needed to do run/walk, but instead have been listening to my body and taking a break after every mile or so. Some runs are easier than others, but I am overall feeling pretty good. There were about three weeks where running was such a struggle, and I ended up taking an entire six days off, but my body truly needed the rest. An easy beach run while in Myrtle Beach with my sisters quickly reminded me why I love running so much. I've been back at it ever since, even though that sometimes means sneaking in a little 2-3 mile run! My long runs have been pretty limited since Seawheeze Half. I've done 8 miles a couple times, and ran a 9 mile race around week 25. The race was hot and hilly, so I had to walk a lot, but I'm doing my best to keep the distance up! I figure that will make coming back to running easier after Emmy is born! A couple weeks ago, my running friends wanted to run the last ten miles of the Columbus Marathon course, so I tagged a long for a few miles and was surprised by how great of a run I had! The weather was absolutely perfect, I barely needed to walk, and I loved getting to run somewhere different from the usual! One of the goals I had set when we found out we're expecting was to run a half marathon in every trimester. I kept hearing different things about the official start of each trimester, so I decided to count mine based on the most logical way: math. 40 weeks / 3 = 13 weeks, 2.33 days per trimesterThis means the third trimester started on 26 weeks, 5 days, which coincidentally was the same exact day as Columbus Half Marathon! On race morning, I was unsure of how to pace myself so I decided to start easy and take plenty of walk breaks so I could finish strong. It's a little frustrating not being able to actually race, but Columbus is one of my favorite races and I enjoyed every minute of it. The crowd support is unlike any other race I've experienced, I love the course, and reading the stories of the Children Champions reminded me of how grateful I am to be carrying a healthy little baby. Emerson was moving around quite a bit during the race, which is a strange feeling that I'm still not used to! I love how miles 2-3 on Broad Street I got to watch the speedy runners coming back (mile 6.5-7.5 for them). I saw Jamie here and cheered on a lot of our friends too! Since it was an unusually hot day, I made sure to drink lots of water and go extra slow. Once we made the last turn on High Street around mile 11, I knew I had a lot left in me and had probably been a little too cautious in the beginning. I ran the last mile and a half pretty close to my normal half marathon pace, and it felt so good to move like that even though it was only for a short distance! Once I crossed the finish line and found Jamie, we watched a few of our friends that were running the full, then headed to CRC's after party. I'm so excited that I was able to run a half in every trimester! The first two were before we even found out I was pregnant, and the other two were significantly slower due to lots of walk breaks. However, they were all faster than my first half marathon - Princess almost 3 years ago. I will definitely continue running as long as I can, but for now I'm taking things one day at at time and don't have any more big races planned before Emmy is here.
Half time 13.1/26.2 20 weeks/40 weeks Last week we hit the halfway point in this pregnancy! We had our 20 week ultrasound and know that our little lady is perfectly healthy and is measuring almost exactly in the 50th percentile. I don't have any crazy cravings, but I could eat fresh fruit all day, especially watermelon, grapes, and apples. I'm running four days a week, and have continued 4/1 run/walk for the majority of my miles. Although running while pregnant isn't easy, I'm so thankful I'm able to and plan to continue as long as Emmy and I are both healthy and comfortable! This momma has gained less than six pounds so far, and I finallllyyy have a cute little bump! I am SO excited for fall, and can't wait for caramel apples, boots, pumpkin carving, and cooler weather! Running is so much easier now that it's not super hot out. This week, I ran Wednesday and Thursday with Jamie and Andy (4 and 4.5 miles). Yesterday morning my long run was eight miles but felt slow. When Andy and Wes caught up to me on our way back, we ran together for a couple minutes until my next walk break, and ended up on the topic of how my running pace has changed during pregnancy.
"My pace is around ten, but walk breaks make my average so slow!" Andy looked at his watch. "You know we're doing 8:30, right?" Oh. It turns out my running pace hasn't slowed down at all, and I'm so much faster than I was even a few months ago! It feels insane that I'm able to hold pre-pregnancy paces for four minutes, even if it means I have to take walk breaks. Next week, I'm going to try to stick with someone who runs a ten minute pace to see if I can walk less if I start slower. Today I took Charlie out for 3.5 miles. He was such a happy boy, but is so tired out now. I'm glad I had another wonderful week, and I'm looking forward to an extra day off work tomorrow for Labor Day! I hope everyone is having a great weekend!! <3 The absolute best part about going on vacation is exploring new places to run! This past week, we were lucky enough to do that in two different cities, since we were in Vancouver for Seawheeze Half Marathon, then spent a couple days in Seattle after. I ran with my phone out the whole time because there was so much to look at and I didn't want to miss anything! So... these are our favorite places that we found to run in those cities: Vancouver - the Seawall in Stanley ParkThe fact that I ran here three times while we were in Vancouver should tell you a little bit about how much I loved it :) I mean, just look at these views! We ran the entire length of the Seawall at some point while we were here. I ran three miles on Friday, the half marathon on Saturday, and two miles on Sunday. The lake in the middle of Stanley Park reminded us of Antrim Park in Columbus - one of my favorite spots at home. I loved watching the waves crash into the rocks and seeing the mountains in the distance. I also got to see many famous landmarks in the park, including Inukshuk, the totem poles, Girl in a Wetsuit, and the lighthouse. It was especially a great place to run at because of the flat, paved trail and I felt safe with so many other runners and walkers around! I'd run here all the time if I lived in Vancouver!! Seattle - Green Lake ParkOn Tuesday, we discovered this flat, paved trail around Green Lake just north of Downtown Seattle. One loop is almost 3 miles, and this place was gorgeous early in the morning! The weather was in the low 60s (about 15-20 degrees cooler than what I've been running in), and the sunshine peeking through the trees made this a perfect place to run! Bonus -- Mighty O Donuts is nearby and very delicious ;) Seattle - Discovery ParkWe noticed this park had lots of segments on Strava and decided to go for our run here Wednesday morning. If you stay on Loop Trail (the main loop around that park that is just under 3 miles), you'll have yourself a challenging trail run with plenty of hills, rocks, and tree roots. However, if you venture off to the South Beach and North Beach trails, you'll also be running millions of stairs (two days later, my quads are still burning). Once you get to the beach, the views are so incredibly worth the struggle to get there. We ended up doing 4.5 miles and were completely exhausted for our plane ride home later that day! Despite how difficult this trail was, I would recommend it to anyone looking for a challenge or to switch things up. It was such a great workout and we had pretty things to look at while we struggled through it! :D I'm so glad we had the opportunity to run in both of these beautiful cities! I'm also very happy to be home, especially now that the weather seems to be cooling off. I can't wait to see where our next running adventure takes us!!
Last week, I traveled to Vancouver, British Columbia for Lululemon's 2016 Seawheeze Half Marathon! I've had this race on my bucket list for a while, and I registered back in September - registration sold out within ten minutes and I felt so lucky to be able to do this race. During training, we received a pair of lulu shorts with an exclusive pattern, and everything we were sent before the race was Secret Agent themed - super cute! The expo was on Friday at the Vancouver Convention Centre. Lululemon sells patterns that are exclusive to this event and it's apparently such a big deal that people were lining up the afternoon before. I realize my opinion on this is unpopular, but I don't understand the hype or why anyone would want to wait in line to waste tons of money on clothes that they most likely don't need. J and I waited until later in the afternoon (when the crowds weren't as bad) to check out the expo and pick up packets. We were in line for about 10-15 minutes to get in, and the entire thing was very chaotic. There were people hoarding piles of clothes in the corners and buying things just to resell on eBay for triple the price. Yikes! The expo experience was very lackluster. I picked out two tanks directly off of the restock rack as things were being put out and also grabbed a cute headband and my race things before getting out of there as quickly as I could! The race started at 7 am, which was really 10 am for us because of the time change! We lined up with the 2:15 pacer (poor Jamie agreed to stay with me!) and started a few minutes late. I had no clue how to plan this race - I decided to take it easy and listen to my body. I ran the entire first 5k, which included one of the four big hills of the race. The first couple miles went through town, and the rest was along the water and on the seawall (my favorite!). After this point, I started walking quite a bit. The views while running along the water were so perfect! There was another gigantic uphill before the course took us out and back over a big bridge. There were a lot of people out cheering us on here, and the best part was getting to go back down that hill toward the seawall! Lululemon also had lots of fun things along the course to keep us entertained. My favorites were the group of police (their signs were hilarious!) and the mermaids. The run along the seawall was very curvy and crowded, but the views more than made up for it!! I was so distracted by everything I saw - mountains in the distance, pretty bridges, and the waves hitting the rocks next to us - that I didn't even feel like I ran an entire half marathon! We sped up a lot during the last mile and a half and crossed the finish line in 2:19:53! The finishers were herded on an uphill ramp to get our water, medals, finisher gifts (essential oils from Saje and a navy blue hat), and brunch. It took us over an hour after finishing to get all the way through this! But brunch was so delicious and so worth it!
I really enjoyed this course and I have to say it's definitely my favorite course I've ever run! However, it wasn't my favorite race because of how crowded it was and how much weaving I had to do. This is definitely not a PR race. It's a challenging course with a couple of big hills, but I think we've established by now that I don't mind a challenge :) Seawheeze was completely worth the trip from Ohio and I'm so glad I got to experience this one! Despite feeling wonderful during the race, recovering from this one was difficult for me and I felt more like I had run a marathon. Luckily, our lovely friends Lululemon treated us to a post race couples massage at Vida Spa! Combined with some foam rolling and a recovery run on Sunday, my legs were feeling back to normal in no time!
Running has been difficult for me for the past couple months for several reasons:
1. Recovering from running back to back half marathons was tough!! 2. It all of a sudden got super hot and humid in Ohio. 3. I'm fourteen weeks pregnant! Jamie and I made the exciting announcement last weekend after Columbus Running Company's Mile Dash.
We found out about the newest addition to our family back in May, and things are going very well so far! I was lucky enough to not have morning sickness at all, and my doctor says I couldn't possibly be more low risk. We decided to have the Harmony test done at 10 weeks, and found out we're having a girl (and she doesn't have any chromosome abnormalities)!! I'd add in a bump picture here, but unfortunately I have absolutely nothing to show. I have gained a whopping eight-tenths of a pound so far. J is probably starting to get sick of me asking every morning if he sees my bump yet haha!
The only struggle has been my energy level - I swear I get 8 hours of sleep every night plus 2-3 hour naps on the weekends and I'm still exhausted all the time! I'm starting to feel a bit better now that I'm in the second trimester. I have only been running 3-4 days a week, and I'm honestly a little frustrated by not being able to do more. On non-running days, I've been either swimming, walking, or doing yoga to get a little bit of exercise in. Some days are harder than others, but I have still accomplished a lot of great things so far this pregnancy. I ran my two fastest half marathons ever on back to back weekends -- this was before we found out. I ran my fastest mile ever (7:42!!) at track a few weeks ago, and I also placed second in my age group at a super hilly Fourth of July 5k!
A few things I learned to make running a bit easier during the first trimester: 1. Slow down! I have been mainly doing run/walk again (4 minutes/1 minute), but the last few weeks I've been able to skip some of the walk breaks. I'm hoping to go back to normal pace and all running this trimester, but so far my average pace has slowed about 30-45 seconds per mile - that's including the walking. 2. I've been bringing water on almost every run. I hate bringing extra things on my runs, but this is one thing I haven't skipped. I like to fill it up mostly with ice so it's still cold during my run, and I take a drink during every walk break. 3. Listen to your body and don't be afraid to take a rest day. I'm honestly not the best at this one, but I'm trying! 4. The dreadmill is sometimes necessary when it's super hot out. I've been planning my runs around the weather by starting my long runs extra early, waiting until it cools down if I'm running after work, and picking the worst weather day of the week to stick to the treadmill. I'm honestly surprised by how wonderful I feel! I wish I could be running more, but I'm doing well with listening to my body. I'm so excited for Vancouver, SeaWheeze, and Seattle in a couple weeks, and I just registered for Columbus Half! I'm planning on doing a few shorter races too, and trying to maintain my distance and pace throughout the second trimester. I need recommendations on a belly band -- I'm hoping I'll have a little bump soon!!! Less than 25 weeks until my little Princess is here <3 |
Hello, my name is Alyssa!I'm a momma to Emerson Lilly and two fur babies, a distance runner, and just a girl full of sparkle and quirks. I love traveling to races and exploring new places to run! I started this blog in 2014 as more of a journal to keep track of training for my first marathon, and I've continued to post about training, races, and other things happening in my life. Also, I'd like to be your best friend. :) Categories
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