Cellcom Green Bay Half (Hot in Here)

Sunday morning was supposed to be a fun half that I decided to do on a whim after a friend had a half bib to sell for the cost of the transfer fee.  With a week to go before my Madison full, I thought why not?  I did well there last year, loved the course and spectators...and it is PACKER COUNTRY!

We went up later Saturday afternoon, checked in at the hotel and went to Lambeau Field the expo for packet pickup and the pasta dinner.  The GOOD thing about the warm weather...

 We didn't freeze when we ate our pasta dinner like we have in other years.  The pasta was good, the cookies were delicious.  The 26.2 beer was a nice American Wheat brewed by Titletown Brewery.  I gave my extra ticket so I could go back to the expo and do a little shopping, picking up a few new Bondi Bands.  Always need more colors!!!


We went back to our hotel to watch the girls swim and relax.  I continued to drink tons of water before calling it an early night to bed.


Sunday morning I woke up before the alarm went off at 5:15, dressed, ate, drank some coffee (still needed some even though I knew it was going to be hot).  I popped some nuun into my 16 oz plastic cup and went to catch the shuttle.  I met a great runner named Colleen from Minnesota.  We ended up hanging out together until the start, which was nice to not be all alone.  


I made my way up to where I wanted to be and bam, we were off.  The first few miles went ok, I was feeling pretty good, making decent time.  Soon thereafter, I started to feel the heat.  I knew that my mile 5 time text that was sent to my husband was going to look like all was well.  I knew that if I wanted to finish upright, I would have to slow it down.  Thankfully, I knew  a friend was going to be at mile 7.  When I got to mile 7, I asked him to call my husband to let him know I was slowing down.  I also handed him my hand held water bottle of Gatorade, and planned on walking through the water stops from there on out.


This helped me a lot physically and mentally.  Shortly after that around mile 8 I saw a spectator who was an amputee.  This reminded me of my brother, and one of the reasons why I do what I do.  Time for me to Suck it up Sally, and get this race done.  


Right before the finish with about a half mile to go, I saw the three most important people in my life.  I stopped to high five...

and then had Z wanting to tag a long with me for a few strides...

There was one more water stop after that, and YES, I stopped even though I had less than a quarter mile to go.  I was all about taking in liquids every chance I could get.
After picking up my gear bag, and leaving Lambeau, we saw the Brown County War Memorial.  I had to stop and take my pic with the Marine symbol after my brother had already played on my mind during the race. 

Chip time: 1:51:34

Before we got to our car, we saw the first place marathoner coming in. It is always amazing to watch elite runners, they look so effortless and graceful. 


Back in the car, I received the text that the Marathon was closing due to heat.  Of course being emotional at this point, I cried.  I felt bad for the people who could not finish after all the weeks of training they had put into it.  However, having had to receive treatment for being dehydrated in high school at the finish of a race, I know how sick and dangerous it can be.  It takes time for a body to acclimate to this kind of heat.  It takes a runner who has run through this kind of heat to know what and where their limits may be.  Everyone is different, and when in charge of thousands of people, the race director did the right thing.
Do you agree or disagree?!?


Favorite sign along the way: Your training lasted longer than Kim Kardashian's marriage! 


Fingers crossed for Sunday's forecast!

Slacker

So I noticed it's been a long minute since I've posted anything.  Let me tell you though, it's not because I haven't been workin' it.  I have  completed my second half marathon for the year,   Trailbreaker Half Marathon. Finishing like this: 93rd overall 3/471 in my  age group, 11/297 in my age group, with a time of 1:41:42.   Not  too bad considering we had to stop for a train  on the return.  I’ve logged two 20 miles training runs.   One 15 mile  run during  down pouring rain/sleet.   I’m running Cellcom Green Bay Half Marathon this weekend.    Next week is the Madison Marathon.  I’m hoping to weather the weather this weekend; it is supposed to be  warm.    I will let you know how it goes, yep, promising a race recap!   But until then, here is a quick interview from the Green Bay Press Gazette.

LOVE

An ode to to love is fitting after this week. Last week Friday was my husband’s birthday. The girls and I enjoyed spending time with him, making him feel old (and loved) in that order. We ate delicious blizzard cake from Dairy Queen after a Friday favorite meal at Tres Locos.

Saturday night we dropped the kids off for the night at Grandpa and Grandma’s. We had a WONDERFUL meal at Café LuLu in Bay View. I love to cook, and wish I had the time to make everything on the plate taste soooo flavorful! They also had a great beer list, which was pretty sweet considering it wasn’t a bar type atmosphere. If you live or are in the Milwaukee area, definitely check it out!

We met up with a coworker who was having his annual pub crawl in Bay View. We were at our first bar, when we found out Whitney Houston died. (I know you wanted to know where I was when found out). Not to digress completely, but this is my favorite song:

This song was on the Darlington High School Cross Country Highlight TAPE a long time ago (yep, no DVD then). Reading the lyrics again remind me how true all these words are…

…I believe the children are our future, treat them well and let them lead the way…

…Learning to love yourself, It is the greatest love of all…

Ok, back to Saturday night. Unlike other pub crawls I’ve been on, you had to drive to destinations. So after meeting up with a few other co-workers we went a few stops ahead to alleviate so much driving and so we were not rushed. We ended up with a quite a few of our peeps from work so it was nice. We bailed early so that we would be rested and still enjoy our Sunday.

Tuesday was the hyped up holiday of Valentine’s Day. From the different tweets, blogs, and Facebook status’ I read people either are big fans of the holiday or BIG opponents. I like it, but for a simple fact that it is a day to remind the people that you love-that you do! We don’t do anything super exciting. I usually try to make dinner somehow incorporate Valentine’s Day. This year it was heart shaped turkey burgers.

The girls each got cute stuffed animals and I scored some delicious chocolates!!

The week was a stress filled week though, because of a different love in our life. Our cat Lillypearl, a beautiful almost 13 year old tabby had been sick. For the last two months we treated her for a bladder infection, supplements for a stone (after x-rays and ultrasound showed a small one). But by Monday night, she had quit eating for about two days, and we were pretty concerned. The vet had us bring her in right away. We ended up leaving her there for some in-house treatment, because we found out she had kidney disease. All cats respond differently, our vet thought IF she took well to procedures she could live a few more years. You never know how the cats will do until you try. We picked her up Thursday night with a host of medicines, IV bag and a not too happy cat. When I got home from work on Friday, she seemed ok. By Friday night, she was breathing erratically and seemed uncomfortable. We made the call and decided to have her put down the next morning. I was afraid she was not going to make it through the night. It was an emotional night. Saturday morning we took her in and watched her pass on. This was by far tougher than I ever could have imagined. Lilly has been with us for 12 years. Before children, before becoming house owners…she typically slept on my pillow at night, jumped on my lap whenever I sat down, she was an affectionate, loving cat that I am going to miss a lot. I know that she knows she was loved and know that she was a happy cat, and that gives me comfort. I picture her chasing those birdies in the sky that she always watched out the window. Love you Lilly!