Rock N Roll San Antonio

Yet another chance for me to give thanks to God for giving me the strength and energy to enjoy the sport of running.  Last weekend I completed the Rock N Roll San Antonio Marathon and had the privilege of being accompanied by much of my family for the event.  Zach ran the full marathon and Pops and Mat completed the half.  It was a success for all runners, even if some of our times were not what we were hoping.  The weather, while beautiful, was not ideal for running.  65 degrees with nearly 100% humidity at the start burning off to sunny and 85 for a high made conditions ripe for cramping.  I was on a roll, averaging around 8:35 until my quads locked up just past mile 11.  Had I known the cramping would last for the rest of the run, I might have turned back the half mile to the half marathon turn off.  I was able to rub out the knots and then run for 3 to 4 minutes before locking up again.  This lasted for the rest of the run and landed me a 4:25 finish.  My slowest ever.  Oh well, what can ya do?

I was grateful to be out on such a beautiful day with so many people aiming for the same goal.  I do not regret pushing on (hate that I have a 4:25 on the books) and have more experience to lean on in the future.

Zach had a similar experience, cramping up at mile 20.  His overall finish was 3:47.  He, as well, was grateful to finish and happy to be there despite the unforseen complications.

Pops and Mat had a great race!!  Pops finished with an amazing 2:15:59 and Mat with a 2:12.  Way to go guys!

These times are priceless to me.  What a blessed life I live.

 compression sock club :)

Post race grub at The Grist Mill, Gruene, TX



The Big Three Five

It's been pretty slow since the end of my triathlon season in August.  I have been doing a little of this and a little of that to try to stay in some sort of shape (round is a shape, right?!) as I try to motivate myself to train for marathon season.  This week is the first time we have had a break in the weather and I think that is going to help a lot.  A week ago I went out after church, hoping to run 16 miles.  I suffered through 11, and I mean SUFFERED, and then I just quit.  I never broke into it.  I felt slow and heavy and out of breath the entire time.  I did find out when I finished that it was 102 degrees out, so that was probably bad planning on my part!  This Sunday was my 35th birthday.  Last year I told myself that for my 35th birthday I was going to run 35 miles, because that would just be cool.  Well when the day got here I knew that was out of the question.  I was pretty bummed but then realized I could cheat a little and do 35 Kilometers instead and not have totally failed my goal!  I needed to be at church by 8:30 so that meant I needed to be finished running by 7:30.  Yikes.  But I had to try, right?  So at 4:20 I hit the streets.  It was nice and cool (65 degrees) but I still felt sluggish starting out (could be because I shopped in Canton all day the day before, could be that it was freaking early in the morning!!).  So I started praying.  My run has been off for weeks and I prayed that God would give me my run back.  Psalms says that if we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our heart.  I told Him that this was the desire of my heart.  Within a mile I could feel my legs lighten and my energy rise.  I immediately thanked God for not only hearing me and not only answering my prayer (because I believe that He ALWAYS hears and ALWAYS answers) but that He answered immediately.  I praised God for the next 3 hours and 10 minutes as I ENJOYED running 22 miles (35 Kilometers)!  It was wonderful.  Thank you, God, for giving me that wonderful gift on my birthday!  I finished my run and was at church on time.  Woot!

Coming up is the San Antonio marathon in November, Whiterock marathon in December, Austin half marathon girls' trip with Nancy and Kellie in February and either the full or ultra at Cowtown the next weekend.

Happy Running!

Hotter 'n Hell Hundred

Hotter n Hell Hundred.  I live in Texas and I am a cyclist, so I just have to.  The previous two years we found ourselves actually chilly before the start of the ride at 7am.  I cannot even imagine.  This summer is just so stinkin hot.  So this year the ride lived up to it's name.  Because of the extreme conditions (high of 108) and the fact that they close Hell's Gate which is at mile 59 if you do not make it through before a certain time, the ride officials let us start 30 minutes early.  That was pretty cool.  Thousands of riders took advantage of the opportunity, illuminating the streets of Wichita Falls with the blinking lights of crazy people who showed up to ride 100 miles in Texas in August.  The ride is always great and this year was no exception.  The last two hours were brutally hot, so I stopped at each aid station starting at mile 70 to get ice water and pickle juice.  I drank 7 bottles of sport pickle juice and used an entire tube of electrolyte tablets.  My question is, can you take in too many electrolytes?  My guess is Yes.  I felt great for the ride and even for a little while after, but around 3 hours post ride my legs felt tingly and tight like they do when you are retaining water at the end of a pregnancy, I weighed 4 pounds more than I did before the ride and my eyes were swollen.  But what is strange is that my body didn't look like I was retaining water?  Usually my midsection would be swollen and my legs and ankles would really show it.  Pretty weird.  It felt terrible.  I was in bed early and woke up not a lot different and not a pound lighter (I usually weigh 3 to 5 pounds lighter in the morning than before bed).  It took until mid-day today for that feeling to pass.

Other than that, it was a great day!  Another HHH for me!



Thank you, blogger, for once again putting my pictures out of order.

My great friend, Nancy, who will always come to a suffer fest with me!

 This was something new.  This giant trough was filled with ice and people were sticking their heads in it to try to cool off.  This was at mile 75

 Pre-dawn gathering of the early starters.

Some Race Pics from Boulder 70.3

What a fun day!  Danna, Pops and Mat did the race as a relay team.  This was Pop's first official bike race (he has done lots of bike tours) and Mat's first half marathon!  Their times were 1.2 mile swim 37:42 (Danna) 56 mile bike 3:25 (Pops) and 13.1 mile run 2:27 (Mat).  Nice Job guys!

I did all three legs and had my 3rd slowest half ironman.  I knew it would not be stellar (no training since IM Texas) so I went out easy and tried to enjoy myself.  I really did have fun.  After about mile 5 on the run I had to walk a lot more than run, but to be out there with all of those great people in such an amazing place made it all ok.  So glad I got out there and did it.  My times were 37:16 swim 3:00 bike and 2:16 run.

Enjoy the pics...

Sara on the bike

 Pops on the bike

 Sara finishing bike

 Pops finishing bike

 Pops and May relay timing chip handoff

 Mat starting his half marathon

 Sara finishing

 Mat finishing

 "The Parkers" relay team

 Danna exiting swim

Spending some time in Boulder before the 70.3

Danna and I took Pops out for a ride on the course.  It's going to be such a fun race!

Danna and the kids swimming in Boulder Reservoir before we headed over to the Mesa Trailhead

Driving through Boulder to the trail

Picnic on the Mesa Trail

Tomorrow I will do the Ironman Boulder 70.3.  Danna, Pops and Mat will do it as a relay team.  It's going to be a great day!