Let's get physical...

I haven't been doing much running this year as I've been focusing on my time in the CrossFit gym. I haven't completely given up on it and never will. Running is me alone with my thoughts. Or me with 10 of my favorite girlfriends telling stories for miles and miles. Although I'm not running another marathon in the near future, I'm still entering half marathons and log a few miles here and there each week.

Several weeks ago Jaime and I ran a marathon relay while two of our faves ran a full marathon. In increments of 1 mile loops. Jaime and I would trade off each mile... telling stories to the marathoners to pass the time on our mile loop, then cozied up in a sleeping bag cheering on the runners. Was such a fun morning.

 My most favorite moment was at the finish line when Meghan told us all that she and Jake got engaged (and had been for weeks, keeping the biggest secret to herself). We cheered, hugged, laughed, cried. Was a special moment that I won't soon forget.

Two weeks ago the Perfect Strangers ran in the Carmel full and half marathon and dedicated our miles to Boston. One of our very own happened to be at the finish line of Boston's marathon as her husband ran in the race. Meggie so elquently recapped her experience and I urge you to read about it here.

 Last year at this race I ran the half while Jaime ran the full. I followed her around the course on my bike after I crossed the finish line and then waited for her at the finish to see her crush her goal. Another memory I won't soon forget; screaming at the top of my lungs with tears in my eyes that she DID IT! This year Jaime finished the half ahead of me and was dancing at the finish with my medal waiting to cheer me on. Was so special and meant a lot to see her face waiting for me.

 Last weekend was my first ever CrossFit competition as an individual. No team to fall back on when things got tough. It was me against the barbell. Alone. A few friends from my gym also competed and we'd been training for this for 6 weeks with twice a week two-a-day practices with our coach. 

 Mikey brought the girls (which, btw, hearing your 5 year old yell GO MOMMY while struggling on box jumps makes you smile and go faster).

 Perfect Strangers came to support us

Kristi, Barb and Cari...team CFFINL 

 Jaime also competed for her gym and crushed it. Strong mama right there and I'm so proud of all she accomplished.

The first wod (workout of the day) was 3 rounds for time of 500m row, 12 deadlifts, 21 box jump overs. Twelve minute time cap. I had to modify the weight on the DL which put me into the modified division but I was so proud of myself that I made it through the entire wod in the 12 minutes. I had practiced this workout twice and never made it through. Goal accomplished on wod #1.

 Wod #2 & #3 were a bench press ladder (I made it up to #95 which is my new 1 rep max) followed by a 2.5 mile run on the Monon. Finished my run in 21:00 and was wiped afterwards.

Wod #4 was a 6 min AMRAP of 6 ground to overhead at #95 and 6 bar jump over burpees. Although I didn't beat my practice results I was still happy with  my performance.

Every athlete was guaranteed 4 wods then the top 10 in the modified division and prescribed division moved on to a 5th and final round.

I believe there were 44 modified athletes and after the 4th wod I was in 6th place. Which meant I was moving on to the finals. Yikes. Not only was I physically exhausted but I was also mentally exhausted. The entire day was an exercise in how well you've trained your body and how well you can manage fueling your body to perform. I drank pre-workout energy drinks and post-workout protein drinks. I ate protein-packed food all day. But no matter what I put into my body, the bottom line was I was drained. A fifth wod? Exciting that I made it but daunting that I had to do One. More. Wod.

 Had this workout been the only workout of my day, I could have crushed it. But it being my fifth...I definitely struggled. Thankfully my team and coach were there cheering me on and so was Jaime and her family. I had voices screaming that I could do it (while the voices inside my head told me I couldn't). And that's what got me through. My final 400m run Jaime joined me while I started choking up. I couldn't do it. Doubts crept into my mind. My legs hurt. My stomach hurt. I wanted to give up. But Jaime wouldn't let me. She reminded me that we had run 4 hours together in a marathon...that I could get through 400meters. Hearing her scream GO GO GO while I entered the final stretch gave me an extra boost to kick it into high gear. I didn't place last in the finals, that was all I wanted. And I did it.

I am more than thrilled with my results from that day. I met my goals and have already created new goals.. Was a LONG day but a fun one. Proving myself to myself.

 And finally, yesterday was the Mini Marathon. The country's largest half marathon (with a field of more than 35,000 runners). This was my 12th year participating (walking two of those years whilst pregnant). It's not the most beautiful of race courses. But it's truly Indianapolis tradition. And the best spectators a runner could ask for.

The Perfect Strangers agreed we were running for fun and not for time. Not one of us wore a watch. And we would all finish together. And take lots of breaks. And lots of pictures. That's my kind of running!

 We've all ran this race a billion times. We know the course like the back of our hands. But one thing none of us had ever done was kiss the bricks at the Indy 500 track (where miles 6-8 are run). We all dropped like a burpee onto the bricks and kissed those suckers. Sweet.

We had some heart-to-heart conversations on the track, planned our upcoming girls' trip miles 10-12 and crossed the finish line together. I got choked up at the finish (per usual) as I simply love that we friends finished together. We share this special bond we call running and have fun along the way.

 Not only do Kristi and I CF together, we also run together. Never get tired of being by her side.

Mike's cousin Steve and Amanda came in town to run this race again. But this time they trained :) And this time they both did amazing. We celebrated at the finish with some local brew. Proud of both of them!