Case Racing & News

As anticipated, I DNF’d. It’s best this way. I’m actually impressed with myself for finishing the 11.5 miles I did. Two days later and my legs are still screaming, but it’ll pass.

Tri-Shark is coming up pretty quickly (June 5th). Tonight was my first night in the pool in a LONG LONG time. I had that initial nausea that I get when starting to swim again. Training gets rid of that usually. I’ve got a few weeks to get my bearings before I need to be ready for open water….YIKES!

Still working on trying to drop weight. Ryan thinks I’m not working out enough, which could be the case. I’m only working out about 2 days a week right now with work. I’m hoping to increase that to at least 4 days a week to see what happens. I tried using the Complete Nutrition Reveal Weight Loss system, but that didn’t work. I’m taking it back for a refund later this week. Even if I wasn’t working out as much as I’d like, I expected to see some improvements….

Someday I’ll be at ideal race weight….

Have you ever been so discouraged about the current state of your life that you can’t find the time of day, or energy to be happy?

The Illini Marathon is on Saturday, my Mom is coming to watch, Ryan will actually be watching (since he’s still recovering from Boston), and it’s going to be the most embarrassing attempt at a run…ever.

I’m thinking about not starting it at all…just so I can be that girl that quit early to save myself the embarrassment of finishing in a WORSE time than last year (which would be quite the accomplishment), or DNFing…

I’m being a debby downer today…

“The sun’ll come out….tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow…there’ll be sun…” – Thanks Annie.

I FOUND GLUTEN FREE BEER IN BOSTON!!!!

The Boston Marathon is coming up on Monday (4/19), and I’m VERY EXCITED!!

Ryan has bib numbe 1710, so he’ll be starting up front with all the big dogs. He’s shooting for a PR, which will be challenging at Boston, but he has been training VERY well. He’s looking really strong right now, so as long as he takes care of himself over the next couple days he will be in good shape for meeting or exceeding his goals!

I am always looking forward to experiencing new things. We’ve been to Boston before (for the marathon in 2007), but we didn’t have any extra time to sightsee that trip. This time around, as long as Ryan is feeling well after the Marathon we’ll have a couple days so we can check out the Freedom Trail, maybe a meusum, and LOTS of great seafood.

We are staying in Chelsea, MA – which is just north of downtown Boston. We should be close enough to take advantage of all the public transportation to get around the area, so that will be nice. I don’t know if I could handle driving through Boston during marathon weekend/patriots day!

On a side note: I found out yesterday that the 1/2 marathon for Champaign is closed, so I won’t be able to transfer my registration now. Really upset about that, and not sure what I’m going to do. It’s not smart for me to try and run the marathon unprepared, but I don’t want to just bail either. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

See you all when we are back from MA!

SPOILER ALERT – This is not related to racing, running, triathlon or training in any way.

So, I finally came to terms with the fact that my Range Rover is wrong for me. There are many reasons for this, so I won’t get into that. About a month ago, I started brainstorming what I would replace it with.

My decision – a BMW 335i (coupe or sedan, it didn’t matter to me). The caviat – it had to be a manual. It has been way to long since I’ve driven one daily and I miss how much fun it is to drive!

And I found my dream car!!! – The only problem was that it was in Staten Island, NY. Oh crap….now what.

Ryan is the king of traveling to purchase the best deal on a car, so I followed in his footsteps. I got a good price negotiated and it was exactly what I was looking for, so I bought a ticket to New York City and coordinated the pick-up.

Things I wasn’t thinking about at the time:

1. If you pick up a car in NYC, that means you have to drive it OUT of NYC….with a manual transmission (that you HAD to have).
2. Melisa, you are not a ‘good’ flyer, maybe it’s not a good idea to fly and then expect drive for the next 14 consecutive hours.
3. You have severe diet restrictions, so you should take some food with you so you don’t have to eat Potato Chips and ‘bun-less’ hot dogs from convenience stores during your trip.
4. You have never met the man selling you your car, don’t you think it’s weird that he’s picking you up from the airport?

None-the-less – I flew out on April 2nd (Friday) to purchase MY CAR!

To cut to the chase – everything went swimmingly. There were a few little adventure items thrown into the mix though! One adventure was getting lost in NYC. I’m not sure how I made it out alive, but I did…feeling a little more confident about my driving abilities too! hehe

I'm guessing the house behind is worth more than all of my assets combined....because it's in NYC

I forget sometimes how beautiful other areas of the country are to drive through! (PS – yes I took these while driving….)

Pennsylvania is so beautiful to drive through!!

First snag of the trip….the oil light came one. One of a small list of disappointments about the car…but they are all very small issues!

BMW has free service for the first four years...how could an owner ever let this happen??? IT"S FREE FOR CRYING-OUT-LOUD!

I stopped to top it off…that made things all better… (I’ll be scheduling my FREE full service for this week…haha)

One quart did the trick....now off to the dealership for review!

With all the mountains in PA, there were some fun tunnels to drive through. I was hoping I could hear more reverb from my exhaust, but it was still fun!

One of many tunnels through the mountains during the drive

The lights were kinda freaky!

One of the biggest deciding factors for getting a new car was gas mileage. The mileage in the RR is TERRIBLE. My new little guy did GREAT, I’m very excited to be on the other end of the spectrum again!

Ironically, the car got better gas mileage through the mountains than it did on the tank going through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois

About 10 hours into the drive, I needed to stop for some sleep. I ended up staying at the Comfort Inn in Springfield, OH (just outside of Columbus).

Good Morning Sunshine!

I’m much more of a morning person, so I was looking forward to finishing my drive after a little rest. I didn’t actually sleep much, but it was more restful than attempting to drive more. The second half of the trip went much faster!

I think I counted that I visited 8-9 different states in the last 24 hours. Ohio was glad to see me leave…. hehe

Or maybe they just don't get visitors that often...

Next big landmark was Indy. It’s only a hop skip and a jump home from there!!

Sky line - not as pretty as Chicago...

Unfortunately, my navigation system took me THROUGH Indy, rather than around it. The good news. I’ve finally seen this ‘Brickyard’ thing Ryan and Kevin were always talking about!!

It was pretty cool to drive past and see how HUGE the track is!

I guess I didn't get any great pictures...but I swear I saw it!!

It started raining about 2.5 hours from home. Ryan warned me about it. It was a pretty heavy rain with some big wind gusts. Another perk to a car (rather than an SUV). Wind doesn’t affect it much with a low center of gravity!!

Nobody could rain on my parade!

FINALLY I'M IN MY STATE!!!

And the sun decided to come out! Now I can wash the cars when I get home!

I'm VERY tired and very not showered in this picture. Another thing I didn't plan for...

And finally I arrived home around 11:30 today (Saturday). Very happy to not be in a car right now! hehe

After the 900+ mile trip!

So all’s well that ends well. I’m very happy with my purchase and I made it home safely. The car is clean now, I’ll have to take some pictures and post when I have a chance!

Thanks for the phone calls during my drive, it helped keep me focused on something other than the lack-luster radio stations they have across the country! haha

I’m so excited that the weather is getting nice on a more consistent basis. I’ve finally been able to get some better training in, but it hasn’t been enough. I’ve attempted a 15+ mile run three weeks in a row now and haven’t been able to complete it. I’ve reduced my goal to only running the half in Champaign on May 1st. I’m insanely dissapointed that I didn’t put in the extra effort…Just kicking myself for it…hell, it was my goal, nobody else’s.

I’m signed up for the Chicago Marathon in October as well. At least that will give me the chance to redeem myself. I’m apparently needing quite a bit of redemption this year. Marathon, 1/2 Ironman, 5k…man I suck.

For the good news…Ryan is on the last legs of prepping for Boston. I’m very very excited! He’s been able to recover from an onslaught of injuries and is running stronger than ever coming into his taper. I’m so excited to see how well he will do at his second attempt on the course.

We also have a few days of rest and relaxation planned for after the race. I’m excited to take some time as a tourist this trip. Last time we were in Boston we flew out approximately 3 hours after the race ended. That was just enough time for us to take the subway (T) to the airport. This time will be much less stressful!

I’m also flying out to NYC tomorrow to buy my new ‘downsized’ car. It will be the first vehicle purchase that I’ve orchestrated all on my own, so I’m quite nervous. I fly in around 11:51 P.M. and then will meet up with the dealer that I’ve only talked to on the phone once, and attempt to drive my beauty home for the next 14 hours. I’m very pumped about getting this car though, it is EXACTLY what I’m looking for!

Someday I’ll have a gallery set-up on here, so anyone that may be reading my blog can see pictures of everything I talk about. Until then….

Man, i’m really terrible at this blogging bit. I’ll try and get better.

Ryan wants to update this site to be “Melisa’s Blog” not the case racing blog, but I’m ok with that. You’ll probably see this look a little different soon. Hopefully we’ll update the website homepage too and include a really nice gallery finally so you can see all our pictures!

Goals:
One of my biggest goals for the year was to re-run the Illinois Marathon with hopes for a huge PR. Last year I finished in 5:09 (terrible). My goal this year is 4:40. I started my year pretty pathetically though. I fought the cold, didn’t run outside and barely got 2 miles in a few times a week on the treadmill.

About 2 weeks ago, I decided that I need to get my ass in gear and start training. I knew I wouldn’t be happy with not running, or only running the 1/2 Marathon, and that’s how I was trending with my awesome winter training. So Hal Higdon came to my rescue and I used his Ameteur training program starting at week 9. Two weeks in, and two long runs in of 10 and 11 miles consecutively….I’m doing ok. Feeling better about my chances of a PR, but know I still have a long ways to go.

Ryan has given up on coaching/training me. I don’t blame him. He’s an amazing athlete, but because he’s my husband, I don’t listen to a thing he has to say about exercise. Usually I make a poor assumption that he’s poking fun at my inability to run fast, or that I’ve put on a few pounds this winter. It’s not fair to him for me to string him along like that.

So I’m on my own. Sometimes I prefer it that way anyhow. It makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something.

I’ll let you all know how it goes. Hopefully on May 2nd you will all be able to see that I met my 30 minute PR goal.

The past few weeks have given me some time to reflect on training, goals, family, work, and life in general. I have had so many things to be thankful for this year. The opportunity to compete in my first marathon, a steady job during a rough economy, and the most supportive family and group of friends.

For the third year in a row I can easily say I’m most thankful for Ryan. He’s brought me so much stability, love and friendship in the past three years. I’ve seen a few friends struggle with their relationships this year and I can only sit back and be thankful for having found my best friend.

Enough with the mushy stuff…

During my reflection on 2009, i’m starting to think about what things I’d like to accomplish in 2010. These aren’t “Resolutions” per-say, but goals that I have for myself.
1. Lose 15 pounds (i stepped on the scale after Thanksgiving and was pretty upset with myself)
2. Rematch with the Illinois Marathon (it’ll be tough again to train over the bitter Illinois winter, but I can’t let last year’s time go down without a fight.)
3. Rematch with the 1/2 Iron distance – no puking this time.
4. Break 25 minutes in a 5k. – this will take a lot of work.
5. Break the 20 MPH barrier in TNTT. – It’ll just take some dedication.

Those 5 things will take up plenty of my time in 2010. I’m sure my list will grow as 2009 comes to a close, and 2010 gets started, but at least I’ve got some goals to help me ease into the year.

Merry Christmas everyone!

So I did it… finished my second 1/2 marathon ever!

My first attempt was pretty dismal. With minimal training leading up to it (last December) I was able to muster out a 2:12. I was pretty happy with it at the time, but to be fair, I was pretty happy with finishing at the time!

This time for the QC 1/2 things weren’t very different. Not much training, however I ran a lot more this summer than I did the previous for attempt #1. It must have paid off because I was able to finish the race this time in 2:04:26. I had secretley hoped for a 2:05 or better, but never thought it would actually be a possibility knowing that I hadn’t put in the time. I was pleasantly surprised when I look at my watch as I crossed the finish!

As for the race itself, it went along pretty quickly through mile 9. I started to get tired at that point, and it really hit me at mile 10. I expected this though, as the longest run I had done in training was the weekend prior at the Decatur Shoreline Classic 15k. Anything longer than that was going to be just finishing!

From what Ryan has told me, they made quite the challenging course change to accommodate some road construction in the first few miles of the race. The new course was much harder according to him, and that would have gained me a few minutes a least had we not run up those two monster hills in bettendorf.

I finally saw Ryan just before the 12 mile mark on Arsenal Island. It was good to see him, and I was really starting to hurt at that point. He ran me into the bridge and dropped off to wait for his dad.

I finished the race strong and picked off one more girl in my age group (not that it matters as far back as I am).

Ryan also finished in a PR of 1:18:23 (or something close to that), so he was happy about his performance that day as well.

We got to see both our families that weekend because the race was so close for both of them to come watch, and Ryan and I had great races. There’s nothing better to ask for on a beautiful Sunday morning!

So it’s official. Ryan is going to do Ironman Wisconsin next year!

I’m really happy for him. He seems to manage stress a lot better when he’s got something that’s truely interesting to him to look forward to. Ironman seems to give him that focus!

With Ryan’s registration, it made me start to think about the races I want to plan for next year. Here are a few I’ve been thinking about:

Chicago Marathon
Cancun 70.3 (not sure i’ll be able to pull this one off)
Tri-Shark
Evergreen
Quad Cities Tri
California 70.3 (looking for an early season race)
Illinois 1/2 Marathon

I really need to redeem myself on my Marathon time and my 1/2 Ironman DNF. Those will be my two priorities for next season. I’m also thinking about throwing in a few bike road races (if i get a road bike by then). Until then, my focus will be on spending hours on my Computrainer, and running my tail off. Swimming can come secondarily, I guess. (if only i could make myself get up in the mornings….)

If anyone has ideas for other potential great races for me, let me know! I need something to look forward to next season as much as Ryan does!!

Coming Up:
QC 1/2 Mary – i hope I don’t suck.