3rd Half, Done! – Indianapolis Monumental Marathon Recap

My apologies that it took me a while to update you guys about my recent half marathon race. I wanted to wait for the official photos from the race to come out so I can add it here and share them to you guys. I am a little “O.C.” like that. 😛

Days have gone by after the race and I still have the “runner’s high”. It was such an amazing experience. Not bad for my first “out-of-state” race. It was also my first time to do a race with family. My aunt and uncle did the full marathon.

They’ve been running for years already. My husband and I got the idea of running from them. Every time we visit them in Indiana, they would always invite us to go for a run early in the morning. At first I thought that was crazy but now we’re hooked! Ever since I started running, I have felt good about myself physically and mentally. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t know that feeling. So, thank you! 🙂

Going back to Saturday’s Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon, due to the unexpected cancellation of the NYC Marathon, the runners who were supposed to run that race signed up for the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon the last minute.

Source: wishtv.com

Source: wrtv6.com

The weather for that morning called for cool temperatures (low 30s – brrr) and few scattered showers. Although they say that’s a good weather for running, it seemed a little cold for me.

The race started at 8:00am. We got to the place a little early. It was still dark outside and  freezing cold. We waited inside this building where it was nice and warm.

We started heading out to the starting line about 15 minutes before the start.

I hugged my uncle and aunt as I wished them luck and bid them goodbye. I know I wouldn’t be able to keep up with their pace during the first few miles. They’re fast! 😛

At the start of the race, many runners were bundled up with layers of clothes that they could throw away when they felt hot. As I ran through the starting line, clothes were being shed and thrown in the air left and right to the side. My only hope for that moment was not to get hit in the face with a stranger’s pants. LOL!

Honestly, I didn’t prepare for this race as much as I did for my first half (Flying Pig). I didn’t follow any training schedule of some sort and just did my regular usual runs. So, during the race, I thought of it as one of those long runs I do on weekends. I just wanted to enjoy this experience and not worry too much about setting a goal time; although, I’d love to beat my first half marathon time which was 2:39. Under 2:30 would be great! I have to say – Mission Accomplished! I finished in 2:29. 🙂

Downtown Indy was so gorgeous as the sun rose up. I barely realized the miles that have gone by because I was too occupied with the beautiful surroundings.

The spectators did a good job with their signs and posters. They were hilarious! These were the signs I saw:

“Go get those Kenyans!”

“Worst parade ever!”

“You guys are crazy, I’m lazy”

“I thought you said 2.62 miles”

Thank you spectators for giving us a good laugh during the course.

I found this one way to entertain myself during races:  I wave at TV cameras. LOL! I actually saw myself in one of the news channel (RTV6 Indy) on TV that night. Unfortunately, I can’t find a clip of that on their website. It sucks, that I have no proof to show you guys of my few seconds of fame. LOL!

I took See Sean Run’s advice to run it in 3-mile chunks. I thought that was a good strategy  since I know I can run a 5k in 30 minutes (with a little effort). Also, that way, it would be like just running a bunch of 5ks rather than thinking of it as 13.1 miles which would seem long. Thank you Sean for the advice. It worked for me for the first two 3 miles. I ran 6 miles in 1 hour 8 minutes.

For my next 3 miles, I thought of slowing down a bit or else I would collapse at the finish line. I wanted to finish strong with still a smile on my face. As I crossed the 10k mark, I started to run at my comfortable “slow” pace. 🙂

At mile 7, the course split and we bid our goodbyes to the full marathoners. I got so inspired by them. I told myself, in time, I will run in that other side of the course too. 🙂

I finished miles 7,8 through 9 a little over 35 minutes. And through mile 10, 11 and 12, I started to increase my pace a bit. I could already tell I was going to finish it under 2:30 and most importantly with a happy face.

There were more spectators as we went through our last few miles. Their cheers were very motivating that I started passing runners who had passed me earlier. Then it started to sleet. Good thing I had a cap on to protect my face or else it would be painful to run in the sleet. I heard people behind me screaming “ouch!”

It’s always those last few miles I find the hardest. You know you’re almost there but the anticipation just kills me.

The moment we turned left at this last street and saw the big finish line, I felt relieved! As I got closer, I saw my husband with his distinctive spiky hair right there in the middle waiting for me.

I gave my husband a big hug right after crossing the finish line. I thanked him for patiently waiting for me in the cold and sleet. I appreciate all his endless support in everything I do. I was all smiles as I received my medal. I was telling my husband how great I felt as I snatched my goodies and food from the volunteers.

Then my proud husband posted this on his facebook. He’s so sweet!

A preview of the half marathon finisher’s medal

Source: http://monumentalmarathon.com/

My aunt finished her marathon in 4:17! SHE IS FAST!

And soon after a few minutes my uncle finished.

We met our goals and went home very happy and satisfied!

…And so was my crazy husband! LOL!

Thank you to the race organizers for a doing a good job. Despite the bad weather it was still a very successful and wonderful event.

*** P.S. To those who participated in this race, my husband took incredible pictures that day. If you see yourself, feel free to tag yourself. Head over to this link for the photos.

Race Day Again Tomorrow.

It’s only been 2 weeks since MudStash 5k and here I go again for another race  …TOMORROW! 🙂

I’m doing a local race called “Hudepohl 14k” together with my husband. 🙂

After all, I usually do my long runs on weekends, I thought, why not just join this race and get a medal out of it. 🙂 LOL!

But seriously, who wouldn’t get attracted to this kind of ad?! 🙂

source: http://www.hudepohl14kbreweryrun.com/

Looks fun right?! 🙂 Race & Party, that got me right away! So, I signed up for this race since for me, it’s easier to do a workout when you’re having fun.

A while ago was packet pick-up, so my husband and I went to the pick-up place and I was so excited to see that their women’s technical shirt is in pink! Yay!

Here are some of our race goodies and we’re still getting more freebies tomorrow! 🙂

I also saw a picture of the medal that we’re getting, it’s actually pretty cool! I will definitely update you after we rock this race tomorrow.

Good night everyone!

Mud Run Experience – Long overdue update!

Hi readers! It’s been a week since I updated my blog. My husband and I were out-of-town for a week after the Mud-Stash. And now, I’m back! I was only updating my Facebook and Instagram the past week. Please follow me on Instagram (username: ja_ml) if you haven’t already.

So, last Saturday, Sept 8 was my first Mud Run ever!!! I had so much fun! I did it with my husband and uncle. Our time slot was at 9:30 am. We got to the place around 8:30 am to check in at the registration area, get ready, take pictures and walk around the place before the race. 🙂

According to the Obstacle Course Ranking, Mud-stash is one of those races you have to check out. They ranked it as their Top 7 best obstacle course. Although, they described it as not as difficult compared to other obstacles races like Tough Mudder and Warrior Dash – where you crawl under live electric wires (I’m glad, we don’t have that! Thank you!), still, the race was difficult for me. Or maybe, that’s just me since I was a newbie. I hope it gets easier the next time I sign up. Yes, I’m definitely doing it again!

Honestly, I had a hard time in some of the obstacles but I made sure to complete and do everything! I’m not really a fan of heights and I have to admit that some of the obstacles freaked me out a bit, but I learned to calm myself down during the process. I didn’t let myself think too much about the height factor. I just concentrated on where my feet were going. I did the obstacles slowly (and carefully), but surely 🙂 I wanted to survive the race with a smile on my face and injury free.

It rained the past few days and that morning before the race. The rain made the course really muddy and slippery! It made it tougher to climb up and down the hills and hold on to the ropes. The venue is a ski resort during winter, so I already expected slippery hillssssss during the course. Hills were endless!!!

Some of the pictures below are clips from our video. These pictures are just some of the highlights during the race. My husband recorded our mudrun with his Contour GPS video camera. He strapped the video camera on to his head and recorded the whole thing while doing the race. You can watch our video here.

We called our team “The Three Mud-Skeeters” 🙂

The atmosphere was so much fun! Music was blaring from huge speakers. They set up the place where the spectators watch from the deck of the Main Lodge. This gave them a nice view of the participants crawling through the mudpit. 🙂 From the deck, you pretty much can see some of the obstacles. I thought that was a cool idea. They also had a stage set up for the band and host beside the mudpit.

Next picture was one of the obstacles – it’s called Ice Pit. We saw it being filled up with buckets of ice before the race. That’s going to be cold!

These are some of the obstacles that you can see from the deck.

Crawl through Pipes.

Slip n’ slide.

Cargo Net Climb.

Barrel Bash.

I wasn’t able to count how many obstacles we had in total. There were a lot of mud pits and streams that we had to cross. I tried doing all of the obstacles but I fell on the monkey bars after one swing. I had to pass on that. LOL.

That’s me waving at the camera, still happy, so clueless :), and all smiles before the race.

There were duct tapes available at the starting line. They encouraged the participants to duct tape their shoes but I skipped it. Anyway, I made sure I tied my shoe laces really really tight.

At gun time, we let other people go ahead of us first. We waited for about 5 minutes before crossing the start line so we don’t have to wait in line for the obstacles.

And the hills begin…

Some random container that we had to pass through.

Deep mud ahead!

My husband and I got STUCK! LOL! 🙂 Not bad for our first obstacle. 🙂 The mud was very sticky. I thought my shoe would come off. I was freaking out in my head. People from the deck were watching & cheering for us. I had no choice but to survive. LOL!

We made it through, eventually.

…crawled through pipes

… ran through mud pits

…muddy creeks

…more hills

…more creeks

…and more hills

…climbed on cargo nets

…ran through heavy barrels

…endless hills

Water Mist. This was my favorite part. 🙂

We were washed clean and cooled off at the same time.

This was the part where my legs started to cramp up. We had to make big steps going up this steep hill and through logs.

Some of the participants rested for a bit. I feel their pain. This part was hard!

…going down through ropes to the stream

…and climbing back up again

You’ll see beautiful views once you made it to the top. 🙂

They called this “Jacob’s Ladder”

Off to the Cable Bridge where an official photographer was waiting. 🙂

Our first crawl through a mudpit. 🙂

…more mud pits

This was a long walk through a stream that goes deep up to your chest at the end.

…balanced through those beams

Here comes the part I have been waiting for, the dreadful monkey bars. LOL!

We had to swing on 16 bars. But, after my first swing, I fell to the muddy ground. LOL! 🙂

They called this the “Lilly Bads”. I love this obstacle. I had fun doing this. It was quite hard to balance on those but I was able to cross without falling in the water. 🙂

Almost at the final leg of the race. Few more obstacles to go.

One last uphill to the Slip N’ Slide.

It was so much fun! I felt like a kid again. 🙂

In the Ice Pit. Brrr.

One last MUD PIT!!! This one was tough. It was like your stuck in a quick sand. It was really a challenge because I was already tired from all the running through the hills. To top it all, the spectators were just right there above watching, so I really had no choice but to drag myself out. LOL! I loved it though. 🙂

…off to the last obstacle

One more obstacle to go! 🙂

I MADE IT! 🙂 One Mud Run under my belt!

They provided a pre-rinse station at the finish area.

They also provided Mobile Shower Trailers with hot water which I thought was awesome! This event was so organized!

I’m glad I signed up for this. This is something beyond my comfort zone, probably beyond my physical means but I loved every minute of it! Never thought I would do something crazy like this. It unleashed the sporty side of me. Definitely worth the experience! 🙂

Our medals look so cool, by the way.

…and so are our souvenir shirts which I will have to show on my next post. I plan on wearing the shirt on my next kickboxing class. 🙂 I’ll post a picture soon. 🙂

I had a blast and I am so thankful my husband was there to run it with me! He is awesome!

He did a great job too 🙂

I am hoping for more races like this for me in the future! 🙂 I tell you, I’M ALL IN!