Sunday Runday

...and here we are folks. It's Sunday, October 4th, 2015 and I have not blogged or written anything in a solid 5 months. It's not that I haven't had anything to say, because as usual I have TONS to say. But I have not had the time or energy to sit down and put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) the last couple of months.

The past 12 months have been filled with some very personal challenges as well as triumphs. Learning and letting go. Embracing a new life and ready to write the next chapter. I am now in a very different place and if you follow along, I will breakdown some of the adventures and changes that have occurred over the last year.

But for now, lets start with today.

SUNDAY RUNDAY

 Today was the first planned "long run day" in quite a while. With all of my personal life changes this year, training this season took a back seat. I admit, mentally and physically the break has done wonders for me...and I got try some new things.  Like mountain biking (love at first roll...)

Last week I registered for the Sugarloaf Marathon on a whim. As per my usual method of doing things, it was a "SIGN" from the universe to do this race. I have spent lots of time in the beautiful area that is "Sugarloaf" this past year and I have fallen madly, deeply in love with the energy and tranquility that this little place offers. It was only natural that I continue to embrace all of what I love in a place I love and add a "stand alone" marathon to my schedule.

from the 2015 race

So...since I see the mile markers on the road all the time and I love to be there, why not make it official and register!! Now, I am back. In more ways than one. And I am excited. Happy. Renewed. Passionate.

Today's Run:
8.2 rolling miles
believe it or not, this is my longest run on the books in a while. I am back to using my Training Peaks account (which has been blank for a year!) If you're not using Training Peaks, you should be SIGN UP HERE. It was slow moving for me today but I am not really concerned at this point. Just rebuilding my base and getting my body used to the miles again. It'll come back!

I put my playlist on "SHUFFLE" today and that resulted in quite the interesting mix of music. Nine Inch Nails to Talking Heads to Duran Duran...tune of the day was Ramble On, Led Zepplin

 What I was thinking today:

1) people in my community really have issues with littering. I was appalled at how horrible it is, so much blatant disregard for our town, our earth. Empty cans of beer and soda, a ridiculous amount of tiny liquor bottles and tons of fast food trash, along with empty cigarette containers.

what I have concluded from the trash on the side of the road-

fireball empties in a pile on the side of the road

i am guessing the camo made you think we'd miss this one

the people in town are driving around drunk, smoking butts and eating fast food...and THROWING IT ALL OUT THE WINDOW. Makes me afraid to be on the roads at all...Really, why all those empty booze bottles all over the roads. Keep your drunk behind at home please, not out driving.

2) and speaking of litter. You know those little "puppy poop" bags they have for picking up your dog doo? yeah, that's a great thing...IF YOU THROW THE BAG AWAY! I would much rather see your pets pile of biodegradable poop on the side of the road than see it sitting in a plastic bag on the side of the road...

WHATTT????!!! I don't get it

3) I love fall running. I started COLD with 3 layers on and by the time I was 30 mins into my run, I was stripping the layers off.

punk rock for the win

Shout out to one of my longtime favorite swim/bike/run/rock gear companies PUNK ROCK RACING.
Check out this amazing trio of tee's from his collection. EPICLY AWESOME.
Had to wear the RUN version today!

sweaty

HOW WAS YOUR WEEKEND?

Fitness & Fat Loss, Essential Tips

Wow...so the last several months of life have been trying, chaotic, and stressful. I wasn't focused on the things that make my body healthy and strong-like training and nutrition. I LOVE these things and feel best when I fuel my body well and push myself or try new things.

I am happy to say that I have been back on track the last couple weeks and I FEEL AMAZING> it's funny how much it all impacts my daily being and how I feel.

Since my "return" to a training plan and eating clean, I have dropped 9.4 lbs of body fat. All from working hard each session, a balance of cardio and weight training AND keeping the eats clean. I am also tracking what I am putting into my body. 
YES...and the abs are returning. Hello my little friends...

I have started training for the 2015 Challenge Triathlon season AND as well as the Maine Coast Marathon 39.3 Mile Challenge (half marathon on Saturday, marathon on Sunday). If you want to join us for the Maine Coast Marathon (half, full, relay, challenge...use DISCOUNT CODE JenSmall and save some $$ off your race registration).

The biggest factors in my nutrition is:
A) meal prep and planning 
B) clean supplements.

Meal Prep and Meal Planning 

If you are looking to lose weight OR your are a time crunched athlete looking to optimize your performance, knowing what you are eating is KEY! When you "wing it" meal to meal with out a plan or an idea of what you are going to put into your body, that is when the pitfalls of unhealthy choices becomes a hazard.

Go into your week with a plan of what you will eat and invest some time into yourself to do a little preparation. Today (Sunday) is that day for me.

I baked a whole hormone-free chicken and then separated all the meat, cooking down the bones for stock. Hard boiled eggs are cooked & peeled, ready to grab & go from the fridge. Veggies are ready for salads, snacks and meals. I just LOVE Olivia's Organics baby lettuces and baby spinach. Easy peasy...

From the stock, I will make THIS soup via Cooking Classy :

Chicken Avocado Lime Soup

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Yield: About 6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts*
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup chopped green onions (including whites, mince the whites)
• 2 jalapeños, seeded and minced (leave seeds if you want soup spicy, omit if you don't like heat)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 (14.5 oz) cans low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup chopped cilantro
• 3 Tbsp fresh lime juice
• 3 medium avocados, peeled, cored and diced
• Tortilla chips, monterrey jack cheese, sour cream for serving (optional)

Add Swanson® Flavor Boost® For More Flavor

Directions

• In a large pot heat 1 Tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Once hot, add green onions and jalapenos and saute until tender, about 2 minutes, adding garlic during last 30 seconds of sauteing. Add chicken broth, tomatoes, cumin, season with salt and pepper to taste and add chicken breasts. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Then reduce heat to medium, cover with lid and allow to cook, stirring occasionally, until chicken has cooked through 10 - 15 minutes (cook time will vary based on thickness of chicken breasts). Reduce burner to warm heat, remove chicken from pan and let rest on a cutting board 5 minutes, then shred chicken and return to soup. Stir in cilantro and lime juice. Add avocados to soup just before serving (if you don't plan on serving the soup right away, I would recommend adding the avocados to each bowl individually, about 1/2 an avocado per serving). Serve with tortilla chips, cheese and sour cream if desired.
• *For thicker chicken breasts, cut breasts in half through the length (thickness) of the breasts, they will cook faster and more evenly.

Clean Supplements

Let's face it. Im busy. You're busy. When I am burning 2-3k cals a day on a long training session, refueling is definitely important. How much is just as important as when when it comes to food. I keep it as clean as I can (veggies, fruits, lean proteins, complex carbs) but when you are eating 5-6 meals per day, that can be a challenge. 

For the last year I have been using the cleanest supplements I can find and my body definitely knows the difference. My energy is always SO high when I am fueling well and recovering properly. 

My favorite post workout shake not only delivers 36 grams of organic undenatured whey, but I am also getting balanced macros and replenishing my body so I can go and smash it again the next day. 

So what does a typical day look like for me?? Here is Sunday's food.

Woke up at 3:30am, first thing is stumble to the kitchen and get my liquids in me! I had my ionix, (first thing! on an empty tummy) and a cup of Morning Thunder tea> I will also drink 16 oz of water. 

Pre-workout: 1 scoop IsaLean PRO(vanilla), 1 Scoop IsaGreens and 1 scoop Replenish (orange) mixed with water. I also had 20 oz of water. I took my daily vits and my Powerbar Beta Alanine.

Off to the gym to run. It was snowing again so I opted for the treadmill. Today's run was 12 miles and then I did a quick/easy 30 mins
My fuel while running was 20 oz of water, 20 oz of Powerbar Perform in Lemon/Lime, 1 Powerbar fruit blend (which I did not consume, did not need it felt really good) and 1/2 an e+shot. 

Post-workout (meal #1): 1 IsaLean PRO shake (vanilla) with 1 TB coconut oil, 1 TB chia seeds, 1 frozen banana, 1/2 cup frozen strawberries. 

Meal #2: 6 oz chicken breast with chili/lime hot sauce, celery and a giant scoop of 12 spice hummus. 

Meal #3: 4 Triscuits (Garden Herb), cucumber slices with 1/3 cup of salsa. So not totally clean here but I wanted a couple crackers with my salsa.

Meal #4: a bowl homemade soup (see above) with MORE salsa on top!

Meal #5: a big salad with mixed greens, chicken, green chilis and salsa, avocado

I was totally craving salsa all day!! I got this super awesome spicy cilantro salsa which was fantastic...I even added a bunch to my soup. 

My macros for the day:
Carbs 97g
Protein 194
Fat 29g
Sugars 28g

Maine Coast Marathon

In 2013, my friend-endurance veteran extraordinaire-Charles, brought back to life the Maine Coast Marathon, 26.2 miles of beautiful coastline that is my backyard and training grounds, after a 26 year hiatus. This race was founded in 1980 as the Nike Maine Coast Marathon and a course that qualified three individuals for the US Olympic Marathon Trials in 1983. 

The Re-Inaugural (is that a word? it is now...) MECM in 2013 was also the first marathon for one of my athletes, Marc. It was a cool day with rain and drizzle to start and then the day warmed and we finished with nice weather. I paced him for the last 15 miles or so last year and was up to run again this year. A perk of being friends with the RD. 

I had many friends and a few athletes running on Sunday and just like last year, I would help out early in the morning on the course and then I would run with my athlete(s) and cheer on others. The day was cool at the start but it would not stay that way. 

we had the first intersection with Officer Carney, same as last year! 

my friend and local running legend, Brian. He's amazing and a beautiful person

puppy kisses 

my friend and Dailymile buddy, Jim

After getting all the runners safely by Rt1, it was off to the next stop, mile 6 and a road crossing.
Lots of cheering and high fives here...the sun was starting to get warm.

Lots of friends out there and I had to laugh at some of the photo poses...

As soon as all the runners were through Mile 6, it was time for  ME to change and head out. Hubbs dropped me off at Mile 18 down the road from our home and I ran out to mile 15 where I would run with several friends and one of my athletes for a bit, back and forth. I got in several miles this way and then finally met up with Marc. 

 I ran with my friend, Mary for a few miles and she was holding up really well and armed with a very positive attitude!


The heat index was increasing and I could see that the warm temps were taking their toll on some of the runners.

The number 19 is my favorite number and it was my favorite mile of the run.

That's where friends, Tim and Jessica's kids were out with the best cheers of the day!
Loved the sign too!

 Then it was Mile 20...

 Then we hit some pretty amazing views by my favorite beach...with only about 5k to go to the finish line.
This is when the wheels started to come off for Marc. He was only 6 weeks out from shoulder surgery and was way undertrained for this marathon...but he is stubborn and he insisted on running.

 a quick mile 21 selfie....

 Once Marc hit the 24 mile point, his running was done. He was walking and just focusing on moving forward. I got the chance to meet Issac and run into the awesome SARA aka Middle Aged Runner

With about a quarter mile left, I ran to the finish line to watch Marc finish. I captured a pic of my favorite race photog, Rusty!! He always gets a good race shot of me :)

I was able to log about 17 miles on Sunday which was great considering my longest run has only been about 10*12 miles in MONTHS!!

Marc was able to run it in thru the chute and while his time was slower than we even predicted with the lack of training AND the surgery, he still finished.

While out on the course, I met an amazing woman, TERRI. This was marathon 126 for her.

She went on to run another the next day (on Monday) and another on Tuesday.
Amazing.

She is also racing Kona this year! 

I also got to meet an incredibly lovely family, the Rios' clan. The son, Billy was running and Dad, Raphael, just ran Boston last month. Raphael qualified for Boston on the Maine Coast course the year before. They were such a special group of folks and I just loved their energy. Billy is another weight loss success story so make sure to look for his feature story soon on Transformation Tuesday!

The Lovely Rios Family in front of President Bush's estate on the Maine Coast Marathon course

_____________________________________

So now with this season being such a strange one for me trying to balance work, family, training and more work...I was bitten by the marathon bug again...bad, and will definitely be doing lots of running this year. Trying to figure out which FALL marathon I will add to my schedule but today I did go and register for the JOST RUNNING VIRTURAL MARATHON to get me going! 

Are you familiar with JOST RUNNING? If not, check it out. 
I will be sharing lots more about JOST RUNNING and
what they offer in terms of running to help great causes.
I love their mission and message!

I am registered for the BEAT THE HEAT MARATHON to benefit GOTR. 

BEAT THE HEAT MARATHON

JULY 27 - AUGUST 02

Before we were runners, the thought of waking up before the sun to get in a run seemed crazy. Now little motivates us to get out of bed more that those early summer morning hours where the sun is only preheating our day, not fully baking it. This month we want you to stay safe, hydrated, and get out there and "Beat The Heat" by showing that sun who's boss. So hurry up and get in those miles before the soles on your shoes start to melt. July's races benefit : Girls On The Run

Are you planning a marathon or half marathon this year?

What's your favorite kind of run workout?

What's your favorite RUN TUNE this week? 

Get Over It

OK, You're a Runner. Get Over It.

Running a marathon is hard enough without also patting yourself on the back every step of the way.

The above is a link to an article written by Chad Stafko. I cannot even recall who originally shared this with me but my first reaction was...WTF? Is this guy trying to be funny or just a d-bag? In this little article, Mr. Stafko talks about runners and the stickers, tee shirts, etc. and equates that it is all done for show and attention. 

Really? Really?? *shaking head*

I drive a Big Rev3 Blue station wagon adorned with stickers. Distances.

13.1     26.2      70.3    140.6 

proudly displayed on the back of my ride.

I have a TRIATHLETE sticker. A Rev3 sticker. A RAGNAR 2013 sticker. I have a  pink SWIM BIKE RUN sticker. A runnergirl sticker.

Are these stickers there for YOU? 

No. They are there for me.

My little visual checklist of accomplishments. 

I am very well aware that more than 50% of the population of the area where I live does not even KNOW what any of these stickers symbolize. Or what they mean to ME. Or the obstacles that I have overcome to earn those silly little stickers. 

Or how these numbers have taught me that I am strong, I am determined and I have the ability to challenge myself push myself to reach goal after goal. 

A paragraph from the article reads: 

Why would someone want to get up at 5 a.m. and run 10 miles adorned with fluorescent tape to avoid being struck by someone who has the good sense to use a car for a 10-mile journey?

I have a theory. There is no more visible form of strenuous exercise than running. When runners are dashing down a street in the middle of town or through a subdivision, they know that every driver, every pedestrian, every leaf-raker and every person idly staring out a window can see them.

Let me assure you Mr. Stafko, I do not run for drivers, pedestrians, leaf-rakers or anyone watching out their window. I can also assure you that any of MY friends who run are not doing it for these reasons either. 

I run for me. I run for the way it makes me feel. I run because it literally saved my life.

I run for my family. I run for my daughter. I run for my mother-in-law (who cannot). 

I run for freedom. I run for therapy. 

I run because I can. 

Running has brought so much INTO my life, that I cannot imagine a life without running or moving. 

Perhaps that writer was trying to be funny, sarcastic or controversial. Who knows what his intent is here...but should he be dissing on people who are UP and MOVING in a country were the obesity epidemic is out of control?  Mr. Stafko, I encourage you to celebrate your support of the sedentary with that 0.0 sticker and rock on.

I will continue to adorn my ride with additional distances I conquer. 50k, 50 miles, 100 miles...you name it. I love seeing the stickers on cars out there. I love the camaraderie that is there in the running and triathlon community. 

If you don't like it, that's ok too. Because I don't do it for you.

What are you thoughts?

Do you "stickerize"?

Brag away, I want to hear from you!

Day One

Today was Day One of training for what is NEXT

As you may recall, the late season triathlon plans had to take a back seat to family right now and I have spent the last couple of weeks trying to see what the Universe would have me do next.

I am a next person. I like need goals. That ever present carrot dangling before me...be it small or large, goals are what keep me motivated to keep on keeping on. It gives me drive and focus to have that NEXT item to check off.

When it comes to checking things off, I have this list of things that I want to accomplish, races and distances I want to tackle and such. These range from small goals and target race times to lifetime goals and "pie in the sky" races across the globe.

I don't believe anything is TOO big to tackle.

I was sitting there one day when the Universe once again whispered into my ear.
GO. go west. run.

It all happened quite fast actually (as most things in my life do). I got an email from Angela about Surf City Marathon in Huntington Beach, CA in February. This is one of those races that has been on my list since the early days...simply for the magnificent medals.

This is the actual medal for the 2014 race

So when it's cold in February here in Maine, I will be running here:

And since I'm running a marathon on the LEFT coast, let's call it a double header! I am also running the Maine Coast Marathon along the Maine beaches in May!



So my little post-Cedar Point "break"/off season is officially over. Today was DAY ONE of marathon training.

What more can a girl ask for? November in Maine and 60's weather!? Sunshine!! Tank Top!! Sunglasses!! Smiles!! Oh...and I found money.
a dime.
ten cents.

I actually stopped and picked it up. Not because it was ten cents but because I am considering it a little trinket to remind me of this next journey to California and a faster marathon.  I tucked it into my jewelry box along with a couple other small mementos I have kept, including a small rock from Lake Erie and the first toenail I lost (yes, really. Gross, I know. Whatev's...lol)

day one

10 cents to California

I am excited to focus on my run for a bit and work on getting faster and stronger.
Which is only going to help with goals for NEXT season!!

_____________________________________

Do you take an "off season" or change gears this time of year?

What is one of your "bucket list" races and why?

Running Through History

I was a very good student in school and while I did the work required for each class through my years of schooling, history was never one of those classes I got excited about. But now that I am older and so much wiser (ha ha), I have a much deeper appreciation for history. It could be that a certain teacher in high school scarred me for life with an essay project on the subjects listed in the song We Didn't Start the Fire, but I digress...

My new-found interest in history all started many years ago with a simple television show called Band of Brothers, the story of Easy Company and their battles in World War II Europe. I was just fascinated with the stories and started reading about WWII and found myself watching old WWII movies like Patton, Bridge on the River Kwai along with modern day tales like Inglorious Basterds.

Then I moved into a Civil War phase and it only deepened my interest in my own personal family history with the Civil War. My great x howmany grandfather and his brother were prisoners of war at Andersonville Prison (Camp Sumter) in Georgia. Both are buried in the Andersonville Prison Cemetery. What makes this story even more interesting is that of all of the graves in Andersonville Prison, there is one grave that differs from the rest-nearly 13,00 graves-and that would be the head stone of my ancestor, Corporal Lewis S. Tuttle, who died as a POW on November 30, 1864 . There is a white marble dove atop his marker and no one has ever solved the mystery as to WHY there is a dove. 

This is a picture of the dove and head stone, photo from NPS.gov

A couple years ago my parents made the trip down South and to visit Andersonville along with other historic Civil War sites through out the South.

This summer the mini-series Hatfields & McCoys came out on History Channel. I don't watch much television but being the geek I am, I watch several shows from THC and Discovery. When I saw the previews for this, I knew it was going to be DVR'd! I was familiar with the basic story about the decades long battle between the two families-the Hatfield and McCoy clans- that almost sparked a civil war between Kentucky and West Virginia. 

The movie was excellent and the story did not disappoint. I've actually watched this series two or three times. These people were flippin' crazy with hate for one another and I found myself reading about these batshitcrazy folks when I discovered there was an actual

HATFIELD & MCCOY MARATHON

...are you kidding me? I had to take out the list immediately and add this race to the "The List". This year it was run on June 9th and there is no date listed yet for 2013. If the 2012 date is any indication to when it is run, it will most likely be around the same time which is just after Quassy. How much punishment am I willing to put myself through? Quassy and then a marathon. In Kentucky and West Virginia?

A SHOTGUN start in the middle of the Food Mart parking lot? yes, please!

(here's a little video of Jeremy doing his first half marathon at the H&MM, pretty funny)

oh, wait. You mean, it gets even better than that?

Yes, it does. My friend Connolly sent me this link the the World's 15 Toughest Marathons. 

Well that pretty much sealed the deal and you can bet that THIS Yankee will be bringin' her butt down south to run this in the near future!

Another gem on there is the Blue Ridge Marathon (also on said list). Check it out.

Is there a Marathon there that you want to do someday?

Have you done any of the Marathons listed?
Is there an interesting race on your "list" of must do's?

Let's hear it!

Box Checked: 26.2 Miles-The BayState Marathon

wow, what a great day. 
I actually did not expect running a marathon to be so "nice"
...if that word is even the word I am looking for. It's hard to describe in words how I feel about yesterday's marathon but let's just say there was not a single negative thought in my head the entire run. It really was a great day and I had plenty of happy in me the entire time.

My focus this season was the half-distance triathlon and when some late season plans changed, I decided to run a marathon since I am doing my first full next season so, why not, right? I was initially concerned that I would not have a lot of training time for this but I figured I had a pretty strong endurance base with triathlon training and I just needed to get some miles on my legs to get the distance. Coach was pretty reassuring that I could do this no problem. So she put together a run plan for me and things went pretty smooth. It was all easy (low heart rate) running and my body handled the miles quite well. I knew I would not be fast for this marathon but I was confident that I would have a good day.

Saturday we made the drive to Mass for packet pick up and Lola and I played parking garage ninjas.

Be Afraid 

The first few days before the race things were not going my way; Lola got sick with a head cold (que the Zicam, Emergen-C, and ChuckieTea) and I did not sleep much. I did get a chance to nap on Saturday and I assumed that Saturday night, my sleep would be restless. 
au contraire
I slept like the dead. 
I am always a restless sleeper before a race but I think because I felt so prepared to run and I did not have any big goals for this race other than to run 26.2 miles, I was so CALM.
I am NEVER calm...especially before a race! 

I ate my usual chicken, rice & veggie dinner that I have been eating before every long run and then laid my stuff out for the morning. 
I have been training in my :gosonja: kit (aka Coach) from Kompetitive Edge and it's been so comfy! I wanted to show my Rev3 love so the obvious choice was my Cedar Point visor-CP will be my full race next year! Pockets full of Powebar gels and a funky dubstep playlist to rock out too on the course.


It was also time to get tat'ed with some Punk Rock Racing love.

Lola loves Punk Rock Racing! She's giving me the "give it some Grrrr" peptalk!

Let's do this!
I was so chill race morning, calm, happy, smiling...and just ready to run. 
I was going down to the race with my athlete/training partner, Marc who was running the half. We got there with plenty of time to spare. Got dressed and went to warm up. 

pumped and ready to go!

I warmed up for some easy miles with a few surges thrown in, peed a couple times and lined up to run between the 9 and 10 minute mile corrals. All of my long runs were around the 10 min mile pace and this is pretty much what I expected to average for the race. A couple days prior, I had a conversation with Coach about pacing, MAF, etc. that crept into my head and stayed there for several days before the race....

My plan for the race was all easy the first half, pick up the pace after the first loop and then GO time the last 6 miles. All my training for this race has been easy and I did not want to take any gambles on race day by pushing too hard and blowing up. I wanted to have a GOOD day...and as I stated, there were no goals of BQ'ing today!

Nice and easy out of the gate and I was just trotting along, heart race nice and low, settled. No spazzing out, I did not let people passing me get into my head...it was just me, the road and the sunshine above (and a ton of other people running). I ran for quite a while without music, just taking the environment in and enjoying running and then it was a nice little mix of some dubstep and dance-a new music choice for me! It was nice to just kind of zone out and run. Before I knew it, I had reached the halfway point (2:04) and I was feeling good. This is also when I stopped to pee...ahhh, good stuff. I lost about a minute and a half at the squat stop but it was sooo worth it. 

Run, run, run...things were just smooth. I was happy, I was feeling good and it was turning out to be a good day. Around mile 18, I started to see the start of the marathon carnage...walkers, lots of stopping, people on the side of the road stretching their calves/hamstrings/quads/etc, one gal was in a medic van, one guy was done for the day with his shoes off and sitting on the side of the road. People who passed me earlier in the day were now coming back to me as I passed them. My paced had slowed a tad but I was going strong and there was not an ounce of quit or negativity in me. 

This is a two loop run course and there is one section that the road is sooo slanted, it was actually very uncomfortable to run like that. I got as far into the road and off the shoulder as safely as I could, but it was still very slanted. I noticed it way more the second loop when my right side was starting to "talk" to me.  

Mile 20 came and I was still feeling good and it was time to pick up the pace. My legs were really feeling it now but it was OK. I was ok, I was not in distress and I was still happy. I just could not hit the pace I wanted but I was able to let my HR get a little higher now. No more watching the Garmin, no more watching stats...JUST RUN. 
And run I did. 

Next thing I knew, I was rounding the corner to the final stretch. I passed about 5 people in the last half mile or so and saw 8's flashing on the Garmin. 

Based on my training, I figured I would finish around 4:15:00...and when I rounded the corner to the finishers chute, I saw 4:15 on the clock! Go Jen!! Then just before I crossed, it ticked over to 4:16. 
Oh well! 

I had a fantastic day, I did not walk one step of that marathon and I had positive, happy thoughts and energy all day. I am calling it a success!!

My right quad/hip was pretty tight those last 6 miles and I did not realize just how tight till I stopped. Oooooops. DON'T STOP! Stopping hurt more than running...

Once I recovered a bit and was moving again, I checked my official results and to my surprise-

Oh yeah...GUN time versus CHIP time...looks like it took me only about 30 seconds to cross the starting timing mat!

What did I learn?
I liked running 26.2 miles and I can't wait to do it after swimming 2.4 miles and biking 112.
I definitely want to do some run focused training and chase that BQ time, I KNOW I can do it!

Big props to Marc too! He PR'd by over 3 minutes and had a fantastic race. I am so proud of how far you have come in the last year and you make me one proud Coach!! Congrats Marc and thanks for always being my cheerleader!