Monthly Archives: February 2018

It Went Down In Phoenix–The Expo

Posted by hellyontherun in Phoenix Marathon, Race, Uncategorized and tagged with , , ,

It happened. It went down in Phoenix.

3:29:33

I’m honestly still registering emotions and coming out of shock so I’m starting with recapping the Expo as I try and collect myself, lol!

I’M GOING TO BOSTON!!!!

Whew, okay… expo.

My friends Scott and Marsha were here to get married (on the course) so we all did expo together. I had convinced my buddy Carlos (you know him as Carlos The Runner on IG) to come down to Phoenix for the race and he joined us on our expo-dition.

Photo courtesy of Carlos 😀

I’m biased, this race is my favorite, and a big part is because I get to meet SOOO many people (partially because I convince many to come, LOL). I met Heather from Heather Runs Fast and her BRF Jolene from Zebra Girl Runs. These speedy ladies rocked the half marathon (Heather) and full marathon (Jolene).

They gave me speedy vibes ❤

I got to see Emily (RunEMZ on IG) and it was Carlos’ turn to fangirl (I did when I first met her in 2014, ha!).

Another Carlos original

After expo, we went back to my place for Scarsha’s rehearsal dinner….and I FINALLY got to meet Elle from A Fast Paced Life!!!!! You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this day!!! Elle has seriously been with me on this crazy running/blogging journey since the beginning and knows how far I’ve come–all the ups and downs and craziness.

I didn’t get a pic of us before the race, but here’s one of us drinking bloody marys after 🙂

YAY!

We called it an early night as we had a SUPER early wake up call (2:30 a.m.!!) the next morning. My flat me was ready and I was ready for bed! I wasn’t nervous…I felt good, I felt relaxed–probably the calmest I’d ever been the night before a race. I was excited! ❤

 

 

 

 

IT’S RACE WEEK!!! #itsgoingdownatphx

Posted by hellyontherun in Marathon Training and tagged with

I can’t believe it’s here!! Aaaaand I can’t believe that I’m going to try and Boston Qualify, LOL!!

I’m so excited and crazily enough, not scared. I’ve trained and made it to race week and alls that’s left is for me to go out there and see what happens.

I’m not afraid of “failure” –of not BQing. It took me soooo long to get my sub 4 hour marathon and when I finally did, I was over the moon. To be honest, I still find myself riding that high two sub 3:45 marathons later. NYC Marathon will forever be a special moment for me.

And I have a feeling that regardless of what happens on Saturday, this Phoenix Marathon will be special too. St. George Marathon was supposed to be my first attempt at qualifying for Boston, but that training cycle was marred by life circumstances which forced me to throw in the white flag halfway through. I didn’t talk much about that time in my life on here, and I don’t want to re-live it by writing it out, but I will share that it was a really rough patch (one which included me going back to work only to leave a few weeks later).

Coming out of that darkness, was Phoenix Marathon training and it was what gave me life. I threw myself into my workouts and released my frustrations from the previous months with each run. I’m so thankful to have had this cathartic cycle to help me out of what had been some tough times.

Because of that, I feel so strong going into race day–strong training wise and strong mentally. I finally feel like I’m “over” everything and back in control of my life. This confidence is what has me NOT scared. My coach has also been absolutely amazing at helping to build my confidence with my running and it’s seeped into confidence within myself.

I’m just so excited for Saturday ❤

 

–Thank you all for your support. I know I haven’t been as active on here, but it’s meant a lot to have this small corner of the internet world to come to when I need it. I’ll be sharing “instant” results on Instagram, BQ or no BQ. Can’t wait!

Weeks 12-15: #itsgoingdownatphx

Posted by hellyontherun in Bloggers, Marathon, Marathon Training, Running and tagged with , , , , , , ,

Welp, looks like I’ve gotten a little behind on these recaps, lol!! To catch you up, training has been going really well. Which of course, makes me nervous.

I’ve had some pretty amazing workouts at paces I never thought I could do. So far, I’ve completed an 18 miler, a 20 miler, and an 18 miler, with my last 20 coming up this weekend. The last two long runs were super tough leaving me wondering if I can really do this thing, but let me tell you something, besides running these past few weeks, I’ve been working on my mental game LIKE WHOA.

I’ll do a full recap on the reading I’ve done (and podcasts I’ve listened to <—finally catching up with the times!) after the race, but I do want to say that immersing myself with positivity has been such a help for me this training cycle.

I wouldn’t be able to have hit these paces without believing I could.

Of course I get nervous, will I have had a great training cycle but an abysmal race? But as soon as those thoughts start creeping in, I shut them out.

And if for whatever reason, things go to shit and I don’t BQ, I’m guaranteed a fun time because… my friends are getting married at mile 26!!!!

follow the fun at @rundrunklove

Love them!

the bride-to-be and meeee!

Yessss!!! How awesome is that? So I “met” Scott through his (now defunct) blog and then met him in real life when we both ran Chicago Marathon 2015. That’s when I met Marsha, the girl he’ll be marrying. We hit it off and now we’re the best of friends ❤ They came out last year for Phoenix Marathon when Marsha was trying to BQ (she did) and then came out again to baptize my son.

I ❤ this pic.

Hoping to ring that bad boy again this year!

Regardless of the outcome of the race, I’m so glad these two will be there. I know that they’ll be my tequila drinking buddies if I need to drown my sorrows or celebrate the good times 😀

CAN’T WAIT!!!

–Have you seen a mid-marathon wedding?