who is this girl!?

who is this girl...

...that has been getting up at 4:30am to get her run in before work?
...that is excited to run again and wants to add 5.6 extra miles into her schedule this week?
...that looks at a massive hill ahead and says "sweet, this will make me stronger"
...that has a craptastic run and gets back out the next day to try again instead of taking a rest day?
...that doesn't make excuses to not run (the rain, the early morning, too tired)?
...that is knocking off massive amounts of time to her average mile pace each time she goes out for a run?
...that is doing regular core work!?
...that is bummed that tomorrow is a rest day?

yeah... i have no clue because it's certainly not the girl that was running in march i can tell ya that much! whoever it is though, i like it!

since getting back to running things have been going so well. i have absolutely zero expectations for myself . right now it's all about building my mileage up safely so that i can be ready for the mdi marathon relay that i'll be running with ally in october. last week i started getting up before work and getting my runs out of the way. as much as i love my sleep, i am reallllly loving these pre dawn runs. it's cooler outside, no traffic and it feels amazing to be done with my run by 6:00am. so good in fact that when i get home in the afternoons i contemplate running again but i usually always opt for a nap instead!

sam has helped me with a schedule to build my mileage up safely but also in time to run 13.1 in mid october. today i asked him if i could run an extra 5.6 miles this week...he squashed that idea and said i could only add in an extra 2. fine, fine, fine...

when i was out with my injury i gained a lot of motivation to hit my training hard when i came back. i promise you all that i am taking it slow and in no way am i pushing myself. im just running what feels good and the faster pace has just been happening. i guess im just more motivated to get out there and put in some good miles and have solid runs. if im going to run the relay in october i want to be as prepared as i can be. i dont want to be running the hills of somesville and say "damn i wish i had put a little more effort into my runs".

so tomorrow is a rest day, thursday will be a 5 miler, friday a rest day and saturday will be my first big test of 7 miles. thinking about calling my neighbor to see if he will run it with me (hey mark! are you reading this from your vacation? wanna join me?... i did clean up cat poop in your house today ;) )

Beach 2 Beacon

gksarahj5 sarah

8 1/2 weeks ago I was having back surgery. Right now I'm lined up at the starting line of Beach 2 Beacon 10k ready to start a new chapter.

I had gone back and forth for a while about whether or not I was going to run this race or not...and by run I mean, line up with the walkers and see if I could cover the distance before they shut down the bag pick up at the finish and made you get it later in the week at the town office.

If this was any other race I would have skipped it all together and been a spectator, yet again. This was not just any other race though. The Beach to Beacon is Maine's largest road race. 11 countries and 41 states were represented. The race is head up by Joan Benoit Samuelson and brings in a lot of elites....like, ya know, Deena Kastor! (Although she made it to town and to the finish, she didn't run the race due to the flu. booo). This year the race sold out in 10 minutes.

Up until the race I had only run 2.5 miles at the most at one time since coming back from injury. I had logged 10 miles total since coming back from injury. Clearly running the Beach to Beacon was a smart choice. Right? I talked to my neighbor the night before and he asked what my plan was. I really had no idea. Run the first 2, walk 1, run 1, walk 1/2 and run the last 1/2??? I dunno...that sounded like a good idea. Just before we hung up he says "Just go out and have fun. Be glad you can move again. Enjoy it Sarah". Although I knew these things, and I had no expectations. I took his words to heart and really set out to have fun!

My super speedy friend Maddy who is coming back from injury offered to run along with me. I warned her that it was going to be a slogfest and will include walk breaks. She was totally cool with that and really helped me along the way.

Danielle, Maddy and I at the start

I met up with everyone at the start and we all chit chatted for a bit before all the super speedy runners set off to find their place in the mass of runners. We said our goodbyes and Maddy and I hung out at the back of the pack. Since we were planning on having fun we both brought our phones to take pictures, tweet and text while we were running!

Photo by Kevin Morris

The National Anthem was sung and we were off....well....kinda. It took us 5-6 minutes to actually cross the starting line. As we were walking up to it I was busy creating a new album on Facebook from my phone called "Beach 2 Beacon 2011". I joked with Maddy and said "as if I'm making a new album right now as we are about to cross the start!".

Mile 1

gksarahj5 sarah

Hey I'm passing people! #beachtobeacon10k

I guess this is what happens when you start at the back of the pack- you pass people. A concept I'm not quite used to :). I was feeling good, chattin it up with Maddy and taking pictures!

Mile 2.

gksarahj5 sarah

Born this way baby!!! @AndreaDuke15

I had one ear bud in so I could still listen to tunes and chat with Maddy. Lady Gaga's Born This Way came on and got me all pumped up! I thought of my Gaga loving friend Andrea and sent her a text to tell her how I was doing :)  


Fun Fact: you see a lot of interesting outfits/styles from the back of the back! It was somewhere around here that we saw a lady wearing sunglasses that took up half her face and cost more then my car! Another women was wearing a camelbak big enough to hold water for an all day hike. Not sure if she got the memo that there were water stops every 2ish miles. 

then we decided that this might be a fun place to stop since I was busy tweeting through the first water stop and didn't grab anything.

Mile 3

gksarahj5 sarah

Some lady just yells "hey she cell phoning" #whatwedo #beachtobeacon10k

Yes lady, I was also using my cell phone. Haha. Maddy and I got a kick out of that. Not much to say abut this mile. I was just surprised how good I felt despite just having back surgery 8 weeks prior. 

Mile 4

@gksarahj5 sarah
Feeling so ghgooooood!!!!b!!b! #beachtobeacon10k mile 4

Clearly I was crusing along and my typing went all to hell! :) This course is lined with spectators from the start all the way to the finish. Many of them playing music in their yards. I told Maddy it was Maine's version of a Rock n Roll race. Somewhere along mile 4 my current obsession OneRepublic's The Good Life was blasting and I decided it was a good idea to bust out some moves including a complete spin in the middle of the road. I really was living the Good Life at that moment (helps that mile 4 is downhill!:))

Mile 4 was fun.

I saw Danielle's mom...

 

ran along side a Lighthouse on wheels...

stopped to take a picture with the best sign ever...

 

also got to run under this awesome flag...

 

Mile 5.

Apparently I didn't tweet during mile 5...I was starting to struggle a bit here. Even though it sucked, we were still having fun. In fact, at no point during this race did I feel like death or wish that I hadn't run the race. I knew were close to entering the park which helped power me through. It was also along this mile that I thought of two friends that just had the same back surgery that I did and dug deep for them.

Maine Running Photos. Mile 5

Mile 6 

gksarahj5 sarah struggling through the last mile but im gonna do it! #beachtobeacon10k

This last mile sucks. alot. It has a series of 3 rolling hills that are not so much fun. I walked the hills and ran down them cause by this time I wasn't feeling so hot. As I got closer to the park I was excited to cross the finish line. While I was struggling a bit on the hills, my back felt great and I was so happy with that.

Mile 6.2

gksarahj5 sarah

I finished that bitch!!!! I feel great!!! #beachtobeacon10k #8weekspostbacksurgery

Maine Running Photos. Finish Line

Photo by Kevin Morris

Overall, I was so pleased with the race. I ran it super slow but I had so. much. fun. Not being stressed out about my time or pace was a good feeling. Like I mentioned, this course has so much crowd support it felt nice to be able to take it all in and enjoy it. I can't thank Maddy enough for slogging through it with me. I know I would have stopped to walk much earlier if it hadn't been for her. 

Maddy, Brendan, Danielle and I

Once at the finish we met up with tons of running friends, took pictures, talked about future races and watched the awards ceremony. 

Runner Army