For the Long Run : Training & Running My First Half Marathon

This post is a long one and a long time coming but I really hope it helps motivate at least one person to get out there and beast a goal of yours or better yet get the motivation to train for your first Half Marathon! 

My journey started in January. We had just gotten done with our year late Honeymoon cruise to the Bahamas. I wasn't feeling all that great about my body & I already knew that one of my goals for 2015 was going to be to CHOOSE (my One Little Word for 2015) to run a Half Marathon. I had been in contact with our old neighbor that had moved away who was going to be running in the Run Hard Columbia Half Marathon, but at that point I would only have had about 8 weeks to train which felt too rushed for me attempting my first Half. So, on a whim on January 20th, I took the leap and signed up for the Palmetto Half Marathon in Sandhills. I would be running the race by myself, but I had a full 12 weeks to train if I set my mind to it. 

My race confirmation

My Training Regimen 

I started out my training only having run 5 miles max. at one time in my life EVER! So believe me, you can do it too if you set your mind to it! I had run XC for 5 years in middle & high school, but I was what they called a MOP or BOP aka middle/ back of the packer ;). Into adulthood, I still love to run but prior to my training I was only running 3-5 miles at a time. 

I began by loosely following this 10 week training schedule from Marathonrookie.com but because of my wacky work schedule, I focused mainly on running 3-4 times a week, doing 2-3 of those runs at 3 miles and one long run each week starting at 4 miles and increasing that long run each week until I got to 12 miles. 

In order to keep track of my runs, I just made a simple table on Word with all of the dates leading up to the race day, April 12, 2015. I placed this table on our fridge and it served as a great motivation to get my runs in each week since I saw it all day long. Each day, I either marked the mileage I completed or put a slash through the days that I had rest days. For a goal oriented person like myself, I seriously and somewhat sadly looked forward to putting my mileage on this table, but even more so on the days where I hit a new goal! On these days, I put an asterisk to show myself how many goals I was hitting on the way to my ultimate goal of 13.1 miles. 

My Running Log

As I hit a new milestone, I also posted a picture on social media just to hold myself accountable and share my achievement with my friends and family. In addition to goals, pictures are my other love language so coming up with a creative way to share my accomplishment was just as fun for me as writing down my mileage. 

6 Miles 

#RealLifeEmojis

8 Miles 

10 Miles 

12 Miles 

Training in general was fun for me because I soon realized that running for long periods of time was more a mental game than anything so as long as I prepared a bangin' playlist, had some good steam to burn off, and stuck to it I realized I could do practically anything. Overall, I tried to focus on getting up to my distances rather than hitting a certain time or pace, so that allowed me to have less stress if I had to walk a few steps here or there or slow down on the hills. Mostly, I just wanted to get to my race and get through it! 

Minor Aches & Pains 

I did run into a few aches and pains that were out of the ordinary for me. After my 8 mile training run, I began to experience some pain in the outside of my left knee. I took a few days off but even when I got back to it, I felt the pain but this time in both knees. After doing some research, I found this is common in runners and it was my IT band acting up. I continued to monitor it as I got up in mileage and still could "feel" it on most runs even if it wasn't painful per se. If it did cause me intense pain I would stop and stretch for a while and then try to start again. The best thing I did for this issue was the light running of the last two weeks before the race that let the entire IT band heal up before my race. 

Favorite Running Gear & Apps 

My Nike + from Race Day!

I was already a Nike + fan before, but I found when training for a specific race it really does keep track of all of the things you need to compare your runs and visually see your improvement. I love that they added the feature to be able to change your playlists mid-run! 

Via

Because I am a runner who desperately needs to listen to music to keep myself motivated and I like to be able to change a song if it's boring me, I needed some sort of phone carrier that doesn't strap on my arm. I ended up finding this HB Tune Handheld Band that literally straps to your hand so you still have access to your phone to change songs & other settings while you run. This was literally a life-changer for me! I loved that this strap takes the weight off of your hand so you don't have to grip the phone for the duration of a run but still is easily accessible. It even has a pocket for a debit card or cash which is pretty convenient. 

As for clothes, because my race was in April, it was perfect weather for shorts and a t-shirt. I picked my Good Vibes Only shirt from Mulberry Press Co. because it is not 100% cotton which is better for running, my favorite Adidas running shorts with the inner lining, a lightweight Under Armour hat that I decided on the week before the race to block the sun out of my eyes & avoid having hair falling in my face, a Target C9 skinny strap sports bra, and my Asics sneakers. I ran a test run with my race outfit minus the hat a few weeks prior just to make sure nothing was overly irritating. I really recommend testing out your race day outfit because I had to try a few different sports bras before I landed on the most comfortable one.

Finally, a race day playlist is a must if you run with music! I had recently downloaded some new songs that I hadn't had the chance to overplay yet so I put those popular songs in the list a few times throughout just to perk me up & get me singing along in my head. I also tried to make sure the most motivating and upbeat songs were placed at times in the race like miles 5, 8, 10 where I knew I could possibly be hitting a wall and needing some extra motivation. My theme song throughout my training & the race day was One Republic's- I Lived. Such a good song and the lyrics are soo motivating!

Race Day // April 11, 2015 

When race day came around, I had only run 12 miles during my max. run so just completing the race was a mileage milestone in itself. I was overly giddy while I checked in and got my bib with my name on it. I lined up with the 2hrs. 15min. pace runner since my goal was somewhere under 2hrs. 20min. As long as I was in front of this runner I knew I was golden for my goal! 

Thankfully, I had a great support system that day! My dad and his girlfriend came into town and made it to two points along the race and Brandon showed up to 4(!!) places along my route. It was such a nice motivator to look for him along the way and have him there supporting me on my big day. Other family members farther away showed support too, like my mom who texted me right at race time and let me know she was thinking about me & at about the 7 mile mark, my sister texted me saying she wished she could be there and that she knew I was doing a great job and she thought I'd be around mile 7 which was right on! 

The first five miles felt like nothing, mostly because it took that long for the packs to spread out and for me to settle into a pace. Just the excitement of all of the other runners alone made me really pick up the pace in the beginning which I knew I could not keep up for the entire race. 

I settled into a good pace around mile 4-5 and was still feeling pretty good. The course was an out and back kind of deal so as I was hitting the farthest point, I got a huge cramp and some knee pain and had to stop to stretch. Another runner actually passed me when I was stretching and said "you got it, keep going!" I thought that was so generous. Here we were all struggling through mile 7 or so and a stranger was helping motivate me to keep going. 

Mile 2

Mile 4

I got back to running quickly though and only stopped to walk a few steps on a long gradual hill around mile 10. The worst part of the course I ran was that on mile 1 we ran down an off ramp from one road to another, so on the last mile we had a pretty steep hill to climb which was like torture at that point. I came into the finish line with a good bit of energy I had saved for a final burst and even made eye contact with Brandon & my family which made it all worth it!

Mile 11

Mile 13 // Finish!

 

What started as a bucket list item became an accomplishment that I am very proud of. Not only can I say I am a Half Marathoner now, but I wouldn't doubt it if I sign up for another one in the future. I've already been looking at a possible one in October. Throughout this journey, it was entirely for myself, not for anyone else and that's why I think I am the most proud. A goal I set for myself that seemed almost impossible, I accomplished with 3 months of hard work! 

If you have a big goal like this, don't let it sit forever! Write it down & check it off, one day or one run at a time! 

If you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments or email me! :) 

Peace, 

Allison 

life lately: june edition

Happy Summer y'all! Is anyone else tired of the 95-100 degree weather in our famously hot city?! Here's some of what we are up to this summer! 

making a Summer Manifesto of adventures we hope to complete this summer! 

eating Snack Factory's Pretzel Crisps dipped in Dark Chocolate which are amazing, anything & everything on the grill, & homegrown #FitzgeraldGarden cucumbers & tomatoes! 

drinking homemade moscow mules (such a refreshing summer cocktail!) & cold brew french roast coffee.

reading Bossypants & still hoping to read Me Before You soon! 

watching Bachelorette (this season's bachelors are way too emotional for me!) & Orange is the New Black's 3rd season- soo good!

wanting to visit RJ Rockers Brewery this summer because they have my favorite beer, Son of a Peach! 

looking forward to one of my childhood friends, Katrina, who is coming to visit this coming weekend & showing her around my favorite spots in Columbia!

celebrating my college friend Maggie's 1920s themed bachelorette in NYC at the end of last month. It was such an incredible weekend and the theme fit her personality so well! 

planning our trip to Ohio around 4th of July for our friends, Maggie & Brad's, wedding! 

working out using the 21 Day Fix program. So far it is definitely intense but easy enough to stick to because it's only 30 minute workouts every day. I haven't quite started the eating program yet but hoping to see what just the exercises do for staying fit this summer! This 100 degree heat is not prime time to run in that's for sure!  

playing the last few games of our Softball seasons (I was in two leagues & Brandon was in 5(?!)). While I truly love this season, I am always just as relieved to have it over and have less obligations of our time off. 

enjoying the date nights we've been working in as much as possible to maintain our sanity since our schedules have not lined up often while I've been on nights.

feeling excited about this new BHG cube organizer in Weathered finish I found at Walmart that is almost an exact replica of Ikea's Expedit shelf that was discontinued but for a lot less! I put it together and put it in our loft area for DVDs and other storage.  

loving this stage of life where we have lots of time to share with friends & enjoy adventures as just the two of us and looking forward to the future when our time will be much more limited (not yet of course! ;) ) 

Peace, 

Allison 

Happy {Heart} Day 2014

Happy Belated {Heart} day! I hope you had as relaxed and enjoyable a day as we had. Thankfully we had the day off so it was awesome. It started with a delish breakfast in bed of a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel (yum!) and hand dipped chocolate covered strawberries. No joke, a Sherri's Berry's commercial had come on the TV at the gym the other day and I totally pointed to Brandon like these look good *wink, wink*, *hint, hint.* Surprise, surprise he remembered and even MADE them himself. I was impressed!

Once we finally got dressed for the day, we were off to Sam's club (I know, how romantic!) where we picked out a mattress and box spring for our guest bedroom with some of our tax refund. No big deal, it just took us practically a year to have a decent bed for guests to sleep on! So you know what that means?! Who's going to be our first guests now that we have a proper guest living quarters?? By the way, shout out to our AWESOME neighbors who helped us pick up the mattresses in their truck!

We also stopped by Sears at the mall because it was having crazy closing sales on everything. We got a standing miter saw for wicked cheap so I am excited that I can finally do some larger scale building projects! More on that soon.

Finally, we went to the Riverfront park in Columbia where I had seen these awesome red barn doors last week to take some Valentines/ Winter photos on self timer using my tripod. If you didn't know, I love self timer! I'm not going to lie we have gotten some of our favorite travelling photos using self timer. Usually it goes something like this: I set up the camera on a random bench or using my purse to angle the camera on the ground using Brandon as my model, set up the self timer function, and then sprint (sometimes up to 50 yds., no joke haha) to my position, where I quickly wipe the sweat from my sprint, and then try to look as "natural" as possible. It is probably quite the sight to see but it is a thrill nonetheless. Especially when I get the "perfect" shot I was looking for. 

It was a really fun afternoon activity to get some now that we're married shots. I am hoping to do a photo session like this for each season of our newlywed year. By the way, self timer and trying to get a perfect heart with two peoples hands is harder than it sounds.... 

And what kind of winter photos would they be if there wasn't any snow?! We just got hit here in SC with a snow/ ice storm (one of the biggest in like a decade) and an earthquake all in the same week so I'm so glad there was still some snow left on the ground on {Heart} Day. 

His face is priceless.

Newlywed life is treating us pretty well. Although there are definitely those days I want to throw a snowball in his face...just for fun! Hope you had a great Valentines. 

Peace,

Allison 

Birthday Explorations in Greenville, SC

This past Saturday (Jan. 4th!) was my birthday. My sweet husband came to me the day before and asked what city I would like to explore for a day trip the next day and suggested Greenville, SC. Not gonna lie, I think he sneaked a peak in my 2014 bucket list because I swear I never told him that I was hoping to go there sometime this year to check it out. We had heard great things about it from many of our friends who had been there and so of course I immediately jumped on board. We googled the city and came up with a list of sights and breweries to hit up while we were in town. 

Once we got there we grabbed a much needed iced coffee at a small place called "Coffee To a Tea." I loved the clever name and their coffee was very good despite the fact that I made the mistake of getting iced coffee when it was 30 degrees outside. Yes, even to us transplanted northerners this is what we consider COLD now! (My northern friends and family are probably shaking their heads in shame right now, hehe.) Then we were off to the Liberty Bridge in what is known as Falls Park that we had heard so highly about. And boy does the name do it justice! The falls were gorgeous and everywhere you looked there was a beautiful view. 

 The bridge itself was pretty amazing too. It is a suspension bridge ( I believe) and has really great lines. It gave me the opportunity to work on my skills with my brand new Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens that Brandon got me for Christmas! It literally is night and day in comparison to using my Canon 18-55mm lens that has always been my go to lens. I love how crisp the images are and how you can really focus on the forefront of the photo and leave the rest blurry in the background if that's what you're going after. 

Gotta have the layers! "Ohh you both have laaayers. Cake has layers! Everybody likes cake!" Name that quote...

...Shrek, anyone?!?

Handsome Hubby.

Brandon and I really love exploring new places and cities. I think over the last four years we have gotten really good at finding the touristy spots as well as the less known wonders in each city we go to. We LOVED Greenville! If you ever get a chance to visit, it is a really clean and pretty city with an artsy edge that I always love in a new place. 

Can you see the focus vs. blurry aspect in this photo?! Isn't it awesome?!

Off to the side of Falls Park is this really amazing tree with an exposed root structure. It was seriously one of my favorite things we saw all day. I know, I'm a nature obsessor, but it was really neat in person! We couldn't resist taking some pictures next to/ on it. (P.S. I didn't see the No Climbing on These Roots sign until after I had already climbed on them. Oops!)

I am still slightly (okay, SERIOUSLY) obsessed with my combat boots. These babies are from Target and they are my favorite Target purchase since before Thanksgiving! They are so comfy and casual and yet they dress an outfit up just enough with an edge to it. All day long Brandon heard, "make sure to get my boots in the picture!" "No really, do a long ways photo so you can see my boots." It must have gotten to his head by this point because he actually got a really great image of them above! AmIRight?! He's getting pretty good with a camera if I do say so myself. Must have a good teacher. ;) 

Next, it was off to lunch at the Brick Street Cafe. Warning, when you walk into this place you are going to want to order a cake entirely for yourself... No joke. It is half bakery, half cafe, and the aroma from the bakery was like 10 times better than those cake batter candles they sell at Yankee Candle. We settled with one piece of the "Best Chocolate Cake You've Ever Had" after lunch. And boy, was this an understatement. It was the most delectable piece of melt in your mouth goodness EVER. As the waiter who brought us chocolate cake in Portugal 3 years ago said, it was "death by chocolate with extra death."

Is your mouth watering yet?!

 Once we were full of food, we could move on to the alcohol part of the day. We walked the Main St. and explored some of the shops where I found these adorable letter books at Anthroplogie. They're $20 each but I'm thinking I might have to find a way to DIM (do it myself) for wayy cheaper. Can you find Waldo, errr... Brandon?? 

We then hit up the Dark Corner Distillery on N. Main St. Now, I am not a liquor person by any means but any time there is a $3 tasting with a free shot glass, I'm in! Surprisingly, I did try (baby portions) of the six samples of Whiskey they had. While my gag reflex got a good workout, I kept it all down and was very proud of myself. However, I will not be a Whiskey girl (like my friend Jes) anytime soon! Beer and wine for me please!! 

The inside of the distillery was well worth the time to go check out though. 

Then it was off to the Breweries on our list. We checked out Quest and Blue Ridge Breweries and had a great time at both. I got a new growler to add to my collection at Quest Brewery and a new t-shirt from Blue Ridge. We also ended up eating dinner at Blue Ridge and I had some amazing ribs. 

All in all, it was a fantastic birthday thanks to my hubby for knowing my love of explorations and adventures! I think 24 in 2014 is going to be a good year! Nothing like a bunch of even numbers to start off the year right. 

Peace, 

Allison