First Long Run

4 Feb

It’s been a while since I’ve been on a run that was longer than 5 miles. In fact, I think my last looong run was the Orlando Half Marathon in December. Saturday would be my first long run in 2013.

On Saturday morning I woke up at 4:45 AM and headed out to our meeting spot for 10 9 miles. I was a bit rusty on the prepping for a long run, and was running around my house frantically trying to charge my borrowed Garmin for 5 minutes, find my gloves, fill my water bottle, etc. I almost forgot to eat something, but thankfully grabbed a banana on my way out the door.

As soon as I walked out my front door I knew I needed another layer. But cutting it close on time, I decided to not turn around and convinced myself that I would warm up with the run. Plus, I had found my gloves, which are key to keeping warm.

I got to our meet-up spot feeling proud of myself for actually being a couple minutes early. I jumped out of my car and immediately started to hear jokes from the ladies on my timeliness. I laughed knowing I fully deserved all the jokes, while I struggled to find my zipper in the back of my running tights for my key.

Finally I turned around and asked the ladies if they could see my zipper and they both said, “No.” It suddenly occurred to me that my tights could be on backwards, so I checked my abdomen to see if the zipper was on the front side. Nope. Finally I stuck my hands down the back of my pants and there was my zipper. I had put my tights on inside out. Doh!

As the ladies stood there laughing at my inability to dress myself before a cup of coffee, I ran back into my car (which thankfully is roomy and has dark tinted windows) and redressed myself correctly.

Lesson Learned: Being on time for morning runs is not worth it if you have to redress yourself in the car when you get there. This can be timely, especially when wearing tights.

We set off for 10 miles, with some interesting twists to our usual routes. Because one of us was running the Lady Track Shack 5k that morning, we were running about 6 miles together before running Em to the start of the race.

The miles surprisingly came easily, but I think that’s because I was so cold. Running was the only thing keeping me warm, so for once I was looking forward to the beep at the end of our walk breaks.

Before I knew it, we were dropping off Em near the start line. Sue, who is the adventurous type, suggested we continue running towards the back of the start line (where the finish line was) and walk the trail through Mead Garden that would lead us back to the road we needed to be on. This route will now be deemed as “Sue’s Nature Hike.”

Our short hike was beautiful. We passed a little brook and even crossed a tiny bridge:

On Sue's Nature Hike

On Sue’s Nature Hike route through Mead Garden

I could’ve hiked through there forever if not for the fact that walking was causing my body to cool and being cold only made me want coffee. Alas, we made it to the gate where we could leave this oasis and finish our run so that I could drink said coffee, when we encountered a problem: the gate was locked.

Panic went through my head. The last time I climbed a fence this tall I was nearly arrested (we were in high school and we climbed over an airport fence… oh how naive we were pre-9/11). There was no way I could hoist myself up now. I made a note to start doing push-ups in case I ever need to climb a fence again, whilst running away from zombies or something (I watch too much Walking Dead).

Beth, who originates from the Garden State, suggested that we walk down length of the fence to see if there was any other way to escape get out. As we neared a clearing, Beth noted that the gate had enough space underneath for us to crawl under. I was freezing at this point and considering the option when she tested the gate to see if it too was locked and the gate swung wide open. Hoorah!

There was a police officer on the other side of the gate watching the entirety of this unfold with amusement. He was manning the 5k, which was yet to start, so he had some time to watch us. Can you imagine if we had all crawled under that gate just to find out that it was unlocked?? Ha ha ha ha …

We set off to warm up complete our run. A few minutes later I took a short walk break to observe this beautiful site:

This warrants a short walk break for observation.

This warrants a short walk break for observation.

Watching the sun rise is always one of my favorite parts of running in the morning!

Three of us opted to cut our run short so that we could get coffee in our systems STAT. Hence, our 10-miler became a 9-miler. A glorious and adventurous 9-miler at that. 🙂

Do you ever find yourself with your clothes on backwards before that cup of morning coffee?

We Do!

31 Jan

jason_mize_photography_wedding

Photo by Jason Mize Photography

On Saturday, January 26, 2013, Donnie and I were married before our friends and family in a beautiful, intimate ceremony. Everything about this day was perfect and I can’t wait to share some of the details with you. After all, aren’t marriages (and wedding planning) much like running a marathon?

~ Be back soon, Hemarie

2012 in My Rearview

14 Jan

At the end of this month I’m marrying my best friend so to say that I’ve been looking forward to 2013 for quite some time is an understatement.

But before I dive into a new year, it would be gaffe of me to not look back at 2012 and all of the amazing experiences that took place:

I ran my first marathon, the Walt Disney World Marathon.

IMG_3968

I ran my second marathon, the Flying Pig Marathon.

flying_pig_end_of_race

I tried yoga for the first time.

I completed a 30-day yoga challenge.

yoga_challenge_reverse_warrior

I started to volunteer.

My boo and I bought our first home.

sold

My boo asked me to marry him.

i_do

I accepted a new position at work.

We planned a wedding in four months.

I ran the Orlando Half Marathon.

orlando_half_2012_finish

And in between all of that, I celebrated the accomplishments of my family and friends. I laughed. I read. I ate good food. I made a lot of To-Do lists. I lived life good.

This is not to say that I didn’t deal with frustrations… stress… injury… But I can say that the good by far outweighed the bad.

The year of 2012 was an amazing, busy, crazy, fun, life-changing year. Here’s to 2013… that I may keep my head on straight, stay focused, enjoy every last detail of marrying my best friend and finally get a chance to live without a to-do list.

I’ll review my goals from last year and set some new goals in February. For right now, I’m just trying to make it to my wedding day at the end of this month in one month. 🙂

A belated happy new year to you all!

Christmas Light Run

24 Dec

The best way to see Christmas lights is by foot.

This gives you a chance to stop and “ooh” and “ah” in front of your favorite homes. It allows you to bask in the warm glow of the twinkle lights. It makes you feel like a kid again. And it makes the miles fly by.

Running at night during the holidays is one of my favorite parts of Christmas. However, this year has been crazy with parties and family in town and wedding things like planning and bridal showers, leaving little time for running at night or any exercise at all. This is a good problem to have and I’m not complaining.

And lucky for me, my running group planned a Christmas light run in advance so I was able to block it off in my calendar.

We chose Baldwin Park for our light run. Well, my group chose… I was pulling for College Park, where I feel people hang their own lights and they’re all a little flawed. That’s okay though… I like perfect lights too.

We set off on our run with no planned mileage. Our only agenda was see as many lights as possible and avoid getting lost (which I manage to do every time I’m in Baldwin Park).

Will run for twinkle lights.

Will run for twinkle lights.

There was a chill in the air and our group was in good cheer. And the lights did not disappoint.

Fave

Fave

old school <3

old school ❤

happy lights

happy lights

Afterwards we met up with friends that couldn’t make the run at La Bella Luna and spread our good cheer. It was my first time eating there and I was pleasantly surprised. I introduced my friend to the joy that is lasagna pizza (mozzarella, ricotta, sausage and marinara) and their pizza did not disappoint. It was amazing!

Pizza Sausage Lasagna... So. Good.

Pizza Sausage Lasagna… So. Good.

It was a perfect night full of laughter, twinkly lights and lots of carbs.

Race Recap: Orlando Half Marathon 2012

7 Dec

After running last year’s Orlando Half Marathon with a good friend and seeing what a great race it would be to get a PR, I was determined to try and do so this year. But then life happened and I ended up having to train for a half marathon in one month. My goal quickly morphed from ‘get a PR’ to ‘just finish and around 2:30 would be nice.’ Last Saturday morning, I set out to do just that.

My morning started off with a mad dash to the red pagoda by Lake Eola. What did I tell you? I’m either a hot mess on race mornings, or calm and zen. On this morning I started off calm and became a hot mess when I realized I was leaving my house late. I had zero cash on me, so I knew I was going to have to find a free parking spot on the street.

Luckily, I found a spot where me and D used to park for Magic games. As I pulled up to one of the last available spots on the street a fellow runner directed me to park as close to his car as possible, leaving space for one more car behind me. Ah… runners… always helping each other out.

When I stepped out of my car, he asked me if I was ready. This man was a complete stranger and I’ve never talked to him in my life before. But I knew exactly what this fellow runner was asking: Was I ready to do a warm-up run to the start line? I nodded and took off behind him. I had a red pagoda to reach soon or feared losing my ladies that were patiently waiting for me.

I arrived at the pagoda to find my friends smirking.

Oh! Look who’s here!

I never imagined you would be late.

Hemarie? No, she’s never late.

Clearly, their sarcasm reinstated my reputation for running on Puerto Rican time. 🙂

As we walked to the start of the race, my friends asked me if I was cold because  I was wearing my favorite Lululemon No Limits Tank. It was around 60 degrees. I laughed and pointed out that I was hot already… I had just run. I heat up pretty easily and rarely ever wear long sleeves to a race. The closest I came was at the Disney Marathon when I had to wear arm warmers at the start (and later removed).

Here was the view as we made our way to the start:

Walking to the start.

Walking to the start.

We had a few minutes before the race started so I snapped this photo of the ladies:

The ladies: Beth, Emily, me and Kim

The ladies: Beth, Emily, me and Kim

Emily (second from left in photo) just ran the Space Coast Marathon Thanksgiving weekend. To her, this was just a shakeout run. 🙂

Beth and I both knew we weren’t going to PR, but wanted to push our pace with this race. When I heard Em mention our fast past in the first mile, I figured the inevitable would happen… we were going to split up. Shortly after, I was thrilled to see Beth keep her pace with me when the others dropped back.

It was a gorgeous morning to take a 13.1 mile run:

orlando_half_2012_running

We started running at an 11:27/mile pace, and slowly settled into an 11:00/mile pace. We ran 5 and 1’s (run 5 minutes, walk one minute, repeat) and felt great. We settled into our conversations about life and the miles seemed to pass us by.

The Orlando Half Marathon course tends to change almost every year, and I noticed that this year’s course was very different from last year’s. I couldn’t help but think that some of these roads weren’t exactly the nicest roads to showcase Orlando for any out-of-town runners.

When we hit mile 8 of our run, I saw that we were running in pace to come close to my PR of 2:27. We did a mini celebration, knowing we were only 5 miles short of finishing.

orlando_half_marathon_mile_8

Along the way we saw familiar faces both on the course and off. I made sure to smack our former running group member, Sammie, in the tush every time we snuck up on her. I made sure to duck afterwards in case she turned around swinging. 🙂

Somewhere in the middle of mile 10 I started to feel drained of energy and stopped talking. Beth must’ve felt similar because she stopped talking as well and suddenly we were running in silence. Our pace started to creep up between 11:30 and 11:47 in our intervals and I forced myself to eat my vanilla stinger waffle. It almost made me gag. It’s funny how being tired can turn the tastiest of treats to a turd.

Speaking of which, these port-o-potties made me laugh:

orlando_half_potties

Think D and I can get some of these for our wedding? 😉

Around mile 12, I started to feel a pull in my left IT band. Since I didn’t run longer than 9 miles in my one month training program, I forgot that this happens. Damn you IT band! I started to focus on picking up my feet.

As we hit the final mile, we started to pick up our pace again and dropped back down to an average of 11:00/mile. I broke our silence:

Me: Only one more mile to go. We can do this, right?

Beth: Yes! We can do this.

Yes, there was doubt in there. And while Beth replied optimistically, she later admitted that she too was dying inside.

The end of the course had us rounding the corner of Lake Eola and finishing with a straight shot. I told Beth I wanted to take a quick 30-second unsanctioned walk break to the corner so we could run out the rest of the race. I got no objection from her.

As we rounded the corner and picked up to a run again, we saw the finish line in sight. I waited patiently for that point where I knew I could sprint out the rest of the race without dying and tried to focus on my breathing. It is often at this point of the race that I start to pray that I don’t pass out right there in front of the finish line. Because that would be really embarrassing. I certainly don’t want a YouTube video of me going viral.

I also must’ve been super delirious, because this picture at the end captures me smiling:

orlando_half_2012_finish

I was happy to catch a glimpse of my love just before I crossed the finish line. It helped me get those last couple of steps in.

And just like that (or two hours and thirty-six minutes later) I finished my fifth half marathon. It wasn’t my best time, but it wasn’t my worst either. I’ll take it!

Race stats:

  • Distance: 13.1 miles
  • Time: 2:36
  • Avg Pace: 11:47/mi

PROS:

  • Local half marathon
  • Get to sleep in my own bed the night before
  • Easy for your friends and family to come cheer you on
  • Easy, flat course
  • Nice, long-sleeved tech shirts
  • Track Shack always puts on a good race

CONS:

  • With all the road closures, your spectators have to get around by foot or bicycle
  • There are stretches of shared roads with vehicles
  • The middle of the course is not the most scenic of routes

After the race I headed to get my post-race refreshments:

Not pictures: chocolate milk

Not pictures: chocolate milk

And as always, it was nice having my number one supporter waiting for me at the end. I can’t wait for this man to become my husband:

The future Mr. and Mrs.

The future Mr. and Mrs.

I will definitely run this local half again in the future!

Did you run this year’s Orlando Half? How was it?

Ready to Run

30 Nov

Race mornings you’ll either find me tearing the house apart looking for some Shot Blocks or sitting calmly eating a bagel and waiting for my time to head out the door. I can never predict if I’ll be a frantic mess or a zen being ready to run, so I try to prepare myself as best I can ahead of time.

First, I like to start with a little list making:

Yes, I remind myself to check the weather.

Yes, I remind myself to check the weather.

There have been a couple of times that I’ve ran out of the house dressed for the wrong race. If my house is hot, I’ve assumed it’s hot out. If there’s a sprinkler on, I think it’s raining. So now I check the weather the night before and set out appropriate attire. By the way, tomorrow is going to be perrrrrfect at 7 AM.

orlando_half_weather

I picked up my bib earlier today at Track Shack. I managed to sign up early enough to get my name of my bib. And check out that nice low, even number. This must mean good things lie ahead, right?

orlando_half_bib

I picked up my favorite local pre-race dinner on my way home from work: the baked chicken entree from Black Bean Deli. It comes with yellow rice, black beans and a small salad. It’s a giant serving so I’ll only eat 1/2 of it. When I posted my dinner choice on Facebook and friend joked that they certainly wouldn’t want to run behind me. Silly boy, doesn’t he know I’m Puerto Rican? Beans are like water to me. Seriously though, if anything were to happen to me while running this half, I want to know that I left this great world with rice and beans in me. 🙂

Afterwards I stopped and picked up one bagel from the Publix bakery for my breakfast in the AM. Yes, ONE bagel. We don’t buy bread for the house any more because we don’t eat it much, so if I bought an entire pack of bagels it would go to waste. I know this because I’ve wasted many a pack of bagels.

Next I came home and tossed my running clothes in the washer and started to plug in all of my electronic devices. My iPod Shuffle is charging and my Garmin is plugged in as I type. My running belt, sunnies, sunblock and earbuds are laying out so I don’t forget them.

And while I waited for D to get home so we could have dinner, I ate a fortune cookie from last night’s Chinese dinner.

Orlando_half_fortune

This is so perfect in so many ways.

Tomorrow morning I’m going to cross that start line and do just that: what I can, with what I have, where I am.

Good luck tomorrow to all my fellow runners of the Orlando Half Marathon!

Training for a Half Marathon in One Month

28 Nov

This past August I was feeling highly optimistic that all ailments had healed and I would be back to training in no time. So I signed up for the Orlando Half Marathon. Then life happened: D asked me to marry him and we were sucked into the whirlwind that is celebrating and wedding planning. And when I did finally get around to start training in October, I soon developed a sharp pain in my left heel that once again halted my running.

So there I was at the end of October wondering if I could manage to train for a half marathon in a month. I referenced an old Hal Higdon training program that I used for my second half marathon and started to make modifications. Mainly, I know that my body can run three days per week when ramping up my mileage, so I modified the schedule to only three runs per week.

Also, while I planned to work in two yoga sessions per week, I didn’t schedule them. I just fit them in when my schedule allowed. I took special care in really listening to my body. With only one month to train I focused on keeping my muscles stretched and strong.

This is what my modified half marathon training looked like:

My “train-for-a-half-marathon-in-only-one-month” calendar. Modified from the Hal Higdon training plan.

I also bought myself a new pair of running shoes. I had been running in New Balance Minimus shoes (trail) and knew I couldn’t ramp up my mileage in shoes like that. So I bought a pair of Nike Frees:

My Nike Free running shoes… bright as the sun.

The Nike Free was my first step towards minimal shoes and I had zero problems running in these. I decided maybe it was time to go back. I got these on sale and they are horribly bright (and that’s coming from a girl that likes neon). At least I think cars can see me coming from a mile away! They’ve been great to me.

Somehow I managed to stick to my training schedule for an entire month and still feel good! On Saturday, I ran my last long run. It was scheduled to be a 9-miler, but it turned out being about 9.5 miles. I’m hoping that race day adrenaline will take me the extra four miles.

Saturday was a gorgeous morning to go for a run and I was encouraged by how good I felt. I won’t be breaking any records this half, but I will be running injury free!

My terribly bright neon shoes in action

Best part of running in the AM is getting to see the sun rise.

I made sure to take in the fall decorations one last time before they’re replaced with Christmas lights

Afterwards I came home and spent 30 minutes holding yoga stretches. My dogs seemed to have gotten confused and thought it was petting time. Here’s me trying to get down into a pigeon pose but being blocked by two pugs waiting for a back scratch:

Pugs were clearly confused

Now I’m officially in taper which means yesterday AM’s run was short and sweet. Only three days left until the half. Look out Orlando Half… Here I come!

Have you ever trained for a race in a short span of time? How did you do?

Race Recap: 2012 Seniors First Turkey Trot 5k

26 Nov

Running the Seniors First Turkey Trot 5k hosted by the Track Shack is easily one of my favorite Thanksgiving Day traditions, followed closely by eating pumpkin pie. This year was my sixth consecutive year running the 5k. (You can read about last year’s race here.)

After a couple of years of running solo or just with one other person, this year was back to having a full blown group of the people I love with me. D, my number one support system, was unable to run again so he and the pugs came to cheer us on, along with my sister’s boyfriend, who was fully equipped with a sign.

My loves up front: D and the pugs

My sister’s boyfriend, Adam, came equipped with signage

Before the race I had trouble finding my little sister, who had walked to the start with some of her friends. However, I saw the boys during the first mile of the race and asked if she had passed. They told me she was a few minutes ahead of me. I took off running after her.

You see, this was my little sister’s first 5k. I’ve been asking her to run one with me for the last couple of years and this year she finally agreed. I think it helped that some of her friends were going to run too. I had dreams of running this first 5k together, but when I couldn’t find her at our arranged meeting spot that morning I knew the only way I would run with her was if I found her on the course. I had no idea that my sister was going to kill the 5k and run it in 29 minutes. I never caught up to her. I was very excited to find her at the end of the race and hear she did so well. My newest running goal will be to be able to keep up with her during the 5k we plan to run the weekend before I get married. 🙂

My lil Sis Melissa (aka “Badass”)

As for my own race time, I was actually pretty impressed with myself. It’s been a rough summer and fall for running this year, so I was surprised to see that I ran the 5k (or 3.15 miles to be exact… I blame that on the weaving in and out of crowds) in 31:44 with an average pace of 10:03/mile. My personal best was about a minute less several years ago when I was chasing after my BFF Rox. That was before she realized how fast she really is and ran slow enough for me to kill myself to keep up.

Here are some pics from the race:

Gotta love the turkey hats!

Utensils (this one’s for Jill from JoggingJeans.com)

First mile

The pugs at the finish line

Fierce ladies

Besties: Rox (left) and my lil Sis (right)

After the race, we walked to a nearby corner store and got some bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches on a bagel and coffee. Mmm… they tasted almost like the sandwiches I used to buy at the bodegas in NYC.

When we walked up to the corner store, there was a girl sitting down with her bib on. D’s dad talked to her and it turns out she broke her foot trying to avoid a walker. Oof… how sad! Even though this is a very walker friendly race, I wish race directors would put a little bit more emphasis on walkers starting in the back and walking on the right side of the course to let runners pass. A lot of walkers probably have no idea, and I think the reminder could be helpful. I’ve also seen runners run right into walkers, so we all need to be mindful of each other.

PROS:

  • Walker friendly race – You can bring the whole family!
  • Great scenic course around downtown Orlando and Lake Eola
  • Great way to start your Thanksgiving Day holiday

CONS:

  • Walker friendly race – A lot of weaving around walkers
  • Crowded – not the sort of race you try to PR at
  • Untimed race

Did you start your Thanksgiving Day with a local race or exercise with friends and family?

Mile Repeats and Cemetery Restroom Stops

21 Nov

This past Tuesday morning I was still a little stiff from Saturday’s long run. Despite my stiffness, I surprisingly hopped out of bed for that morning’s run. I was excited to run because I knew my pal Em would be able to stay for coffee afterwards (she always has to skip to get to work on time). This was cause for celebration.

As I was headed out the door I noticed I had gotten the following text from her:

Driving up to 7-11 to use restroom.

I shook my head, wondered if she had potato soup again the night before (WARNING: never have potato soup the night before a run), shot back a quick “Okay” and jumped in my car.

I was surprised when I pulled up to our meet-up spot to find her waiting for me. Girl took care of bidness fast. Mmhmmm.

The day before I had sent an email to the group suggesting we did mile repeats (run a mile, walk 2 minutes, repeat) for Tuesday’s run, rather than our usual group 5 and 1’s (run 5 minutes, walk 1 minute, repeat). I did this because of what had happened earlier that day:

The work potluck Thanksgiving lunch. This was just the dessert table.

You can see why I was feeling about 5 pounds heavier and was in the need of burning some extra calories. Plus, I have the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day, which I plan to run through, walking only while I’m grabbing water.

Em was the only other runner to RSVP for our little mile repeat run, so we took off towards the golf course for a flatter route.

We ran the first two miles at a good pace and felt good. It was somewhere around mile 3 that Em got that look on her face and began walking.

The conversation that followed went something like this:

Em: I need to use the restroom.

Me: Did you not go at 7-Eleven?

Em: No, I did go at 7-Eleven. I need to go again.

Me: Did you have potato soup for dinner last night?

Em: Noooo. But I did make dessert. It was good.

Me: Hmm… I see. And no soup?

Em: Well, I did have some soup for lunch.

Me: You should never have any kind of soup the entire day before your run. Soup is not your friend.

Em: But I wanted soup!

Me: So you have soup… today. After your run.

Em: But I don’t want soup anymore.

Me: Because you had it yesterday.

Em: I can’t make it to 7-Eleven. We’re going to have to see if we can get into the cemetery bathroom.

Me: What if they changed the code?

Em: They didn’t change the code.

Me: Yeah, but what if they did. And you have to pop a squat on the golf course. Or the cemetery.

Em: We should run with toilet paper. This bush here is perfect to go behind.

Me: Sometimes I do during marathons. You could use a sock.

Em: Hopefully I can get into the bathroom.

Me: What will you do if something grabs your tush while you’re in there?

Em: Nothing is going to grab my tush.

Me: Yeah, but what if someone does?

Em: We’re almost there.

Me: Do you want to cut through the cemetery?

Em: NO.

Me: You would rather mess yourself then walk through the cemetery?

Em: We are not desecrating the cemetery.

Me: We don’t have to. There’s a path.

Em: NO.

Me: Fine.

Em: Are you going to blog about this?

Me: Nah, I wouldn’t do that to you… Unless you don’t mind.

Em: I don’t mind.

Me: It would be a better post if you actually popped a squat.

Em: The code worked!

Me: Is there a light in there?

Em: No, I have to go in the dark.

Me: Something’s going to grab you. But don’t worry. I’ll be right outside the door.

Shortly after that I saw a cat walk across the cemetery and decided to step closer to the road… you know, in case something was to chase me. I heard steps in the grass behind me and I turned around to ready to kick a zombie’s head off.

Me: Oh! It’s you.

Em: Yes. Who else would it be?

Me: That was fast.

Em: I’ve never had to go in complete darkness.

Me: Did anything grab you?

Em: No.

Me: Good, good. Though it would’ve made for a better blog post.

Not knowing if the prior day’s soup and dessert would come back up to haunt Em yet again, I suggested we cut the run short. But she was insistent on finishing what we had started. Thus we did… incident free!

Afterwards we had coffee. It was a lovely finish to a shitty run. 😉

Today’s Gonna Make You Tear Up Moment

13 Nov

Today’s gonna make you tear up moment is brought to us by U.S. Army Sgt. Jonathan Gillis, who surprised his wife at the end of the San Antonio Rock N Roll Marathon after being away on deployment for almost 10 months.

Photo Source

Grab a tissue and check out the rest of the photos here.