Virtual cheers for the Marine Corps Marathon

It’s almost that time! Thirty thousand runners will line up to run the streets of Washington, DC for the 38^th Marine Corps Marathon. And where are you? Are you along the streets cheering your favorite runners to victory, encouraging them to block the pain? Or are you snuggled in your bed nice and toasty warm?

If you can’t be at the race you can still cheer on the runners and the Marines, you can do a virtual cheer. Send a tweet or post something on Facebook. Send up a virtual cheer!

Here are some typical cheer signs we will see along the way. Make one of your own and send it to the social media sites and give a shout out to all the Marine Corps Marathon runners, the Marines, and the volunteers that are making this event happen.

Here’s a few ideas:

Toenails are for sissies
Pain is temporary, glory is forever
Keep going, dig deeper
Beer awaits you
If it was easy, I’d be doing it
Stop reading, keep running
There’s only sweat between you and the finish line
Hot, sexy Marines ahead
I’m proud of you
Get your mind off the pain, rock this like a hurricane
Chafe now, wine later
No one made you do this
Smile if you’re not wearing underwear
Runners have balls, other sports just play with them
Take a deep breath and enjoy the moment
You’ve endured the training, now celebrate the pain

Twenty-four hours to the 38th Marine Corps Marathon!

Twenty-four hours to the race of a lifetime! Or should I say an accomplishment of a lifetime. Twenty-four hours to the 38th Marine Corps Marathon!

Who would have thought a year ago I would run a marathon, let alone the Marine Corps Marathon also known as the people’s marathon. A race built around 38 years of tradition and support for runners and our military. I alongside 30,000 other runners will be running the streets of Washington, DC, passing monuments while United States Marines hand us water and Gatorade and cheer us on.

The race hasn’t even started and I’m already in awe of the coordination and overwhelming enthusiasm that the race volunteers and Marines have displayed. Everywhere I turn there is someone in a Marine Corps Marathon shirt or jacket offering to help.

Yesterday at the packet pickup, two Marines gave me my bib, pins, Marine Corps Marathon patch, and the program for the event.

When I walked into the Health and Fitness Expo a Marine saw me standing in the middle of the aisle gazing around (I was struck by so much) and offered to help get me started. She handed me my race bag and walked me over to get my race shirt. Then she told me to enjoy the expo and the race and sent me on my way. I walked around the event for two and a half hours.

Last night was the first timers Pep Rally, and event for folks running their first marathon or their first Marine Corps Marathon. Remember your high school pep rallies? Picture that on a much grander scale. Cheerleaders and mascot greeted you as you entered, cheered at various times, and posed for pictures.

A slide show displayed on two large screens, the Marine Corps Marathon race arch sat on stage along with a bunch of race sponsors and an amazing speaker named Robbie who pumped enthusiasm into you with his words. With this man behind you, you could not possibly lose.

We ate appetizers and drank and listened to various speakers tell us how to prepare for Sunday’s race. Great advice like bring a garbage bag to wear to keep warm while waiting for the race to begin, bring tissue in case you have to go to the bathroom without the benefit of a port-a-potty, run your race and your pace, and probably more importantly to smile and enjoy the run. We mingled with other runners where I met a Navy submariner and an older Army gentleman.

Tonight is the carbo-dinner where I have no doubt the meal will be packed with carbohydrates, more words of wisdom will be shared, excitement and enthusiasm will ripple through the hall, and new friends will be met.

At 5 AM Sunday morning all of us will be up and finding our way to Runner’s Village near the Pentagon and the race start. Start time is 7:55 AM, October 27, 2013.

Journey to the Marine Corps Marathon

It’s almost here! I am one week away from reaching my BIG running goal for the season! My stomach is flip-flopping, my nerves are jangling, and my heart trips over itself every time I think about it, but I’m ecstatic that the main event is only seven days away.

How did I get here?

It all started six months ago when a friend of mine suggested my next running goal not be just a marathon, but the Marine Corps Marathon. So when registration opened up for the Marine Corps Marathon, I was one of the thousands of people who sat at her desk and entered her information and waited then did it again, and again, and again until it finally went through. Yes, the registration site couldn’t handle all us crazy people coming at it all at once.

Once I received the email saying I was registered, that’s when the fun began!

The first thing I had to do was come up with a training plan. Yeah, well, just do a search on the Internet and you will find any number of them. I looked at them and basically took my race schedule for the year and incorporated several with that. I’m not an all-out runner, I do the intervals of run then walk so I trained according to that. The hardest part for me was working in the longer runs. Ugh! Running more than 10 miles by yourself or without a carrot dangled in front of you is challenging to say the least and sometimes very boring.

The boring is where I learned about getting the right music playlist. It gave me something else to focus on beyond the strides, the staying upright, and the timing of when to drink and when to toss a Gatorade Chew in my mouth. Once I got enough Eminem on my playlist I was set! Not kidding. Those of you who know me know I am a country music girl. Yeah, not when it comes to running. When Eminem hits my ears it’s just the right motivation to keep you moving even if you have blisters on the bottom of your feet or you can barely lift a leg for the next stride.

My training plan definitely included many races, way more than I am sure some professionals or elite athletes would recommend. But, for me I needed the added motivation of the people and the exuberance of crossing a finish line. More for me was the goal of getting faster. The races allowed me to challenge and push myself to improvement. Add to that I kept a spreadsheet of every race and the finish times so I could track progress or not. Oh, yeah, I got better, stronger, and faster!

Running alone is not enough to train for the Marine Corps Marathon or any long distance race. You need to work your core, strengthen your upper and lower body and learn to eat right to achieve a fitness level that will allow you to endure.

Thank goodness I already had the best trainer. Jon Tobey of The Fitness Factory is a fantastic group and one-on-one trainer. He listens and designs plans to help achieve your goal. And the training is never static, which is a personal pet peeve of mine. Every Friday was different! I never knew what to expect. Some days we’d kill my core, others we would do supersets of arms and core or legs and core. My favorites were the days he added in some boxing. Who doesn’t love to punch something! If that wasn’t enough, I did a double workout on Tuesdays where I incorporated Jon’s thirty minute metabolic meltdown class and his forty-five minute bootcamp. On Thursdays, I did just the metabolic meltdown. Great fitness classes that will challenge every part of your body.

So I had the running plan. I had an amazing trainer. Now all I had to do was figure out how to achieve the weight loss and eat for the fitness level I was trying to achieve. This was harder for me. Until I found my naturopath, Dr. Kristen O’Dell of Bedford Natural Medicine. This woman saved me! Almost two years ago I was diagnosed with kidney issues without knowing the cause. Kristen not only identified the issue, she treated it naturally! On top of that, she identified a root cause as to my health problems that I wasn’t even aware of. I have something called leaky gut syndrome. We identified the foods my body wasn’t absorbing, which just so happened to be almost all the foods I ate on a daily basis. Then we changed my diet and added a nice amino acid called glutamine to my daily routine. All I can tell you is that her supplements and the change in my diet have gotten me to be much more physically fit from the inside.

People ask me every day how I can eat like I am. For those of you who do not know, I am not eating gluten, egg, or dairy and many fruits and vegetables. I eat nothing processed when I can help it. The only vice I have not given up is my Mountain Dew. I have it every morning with my glutamine and magnesium powder poured into it. Yeah, both Jon Tobey and Kristen O'Dell cringe when I say that, but you know, a girl has to have one vice. [GRIN] When you want something bad enough you will do whatever you have to do!

In every pursuit of a physical goal there are bound to be injuries. Luckily my big one came early on in the training. I woke up one morning with excruciating back pain. I tried to blow it off, but that didn’t work. I ended up at a doctor office. Much like my kidneys, I was not satisfied with not being able to identify the issue and fix it. I’m a smart cookie though, and I found a magnificent chiropractor. The issue is my SI joint. Apparently, it doesn’t always like to stay where it belongs. Dr. Mark Stagnone of Stagnone Chiropractic has kept it in line and kept me running. I am grateful because I believe seeing him once a week has truly helped improve my running. Plus, he recommended I take glucosamine for my joints. Bonus! I no longer have to run with a knee brace.

Thanks to these three people I have a fitness level that I am ecstatic about and that I know will allow me to reach that finish line.

Speaking of people, I have to mention several people who have supported, harassed, harangued, and goaded me during this training. There are more than a few, but there are three that have done so on a regular basis and it is much appreciated. First, my friend Tony, a fellow runner who talked me into this life-changing goal. Thanks to Tony pushing me, I will be running the Marine Corps Marathon and more than likely, I will be running even further next year. My friend, Brendan, who whenever I started to doubt myself and my ability, would post words of encouragement or plain old tell me to get over myself. Can you ask for a better friend that one who tells you the truth?! Then we get to Heather. Heather is a runner I met this past year and we would meet up at several races. When I wasn’t scheduled for a race on a weekend, Heather would send me links to races and egg me on to join her. Who needed rest! Heather has always been faster than me so she became my carrot in those races.

Thank you all, and thank you to all my other friends and family who supported me. I will keep all of you in my heart when I run the Marine Corps Marathon next Sunday, October 27.

For those of you thinking about chasing a major goal in your life, here's a quick word of advice.

GO FOR IT!

No one else can do it for you. There are no shortcuts. Will it be difficult and challenging? Yes! Will you wonder if you can do it? Yes!

All it takes is discipline, determination, and heart. If your heart wants it, your mind and body will follow.

Running is like Writing

You ever want something so bad that you become a Nervous Nellie about it? Or you become a Doubting Thomas, or in my case a Doubting Denise?

That’s me right now!

Does your stomach flip and flop? Do your palms sweat like a girl going out on her first date? Are you constantly asking yourself if you really want it or want to do it? Or maybe you question the sanity of it?

Yes to all of the above.

I had this same experience when I finished my first novel and was trying to find a publisher. You question and doubt yourself. And every time you send off a query you wring your hands as if they were part of the washing machine. But in the end it all worked out. Why? Because I refused to give up. Because I wanted it that bad.

Today and for the next four months, I worry about the Marine Corps Marathon. Not kidding! I want it that bad.

The farthest I have run to date is a half marathon. That’s 13.1 miles. And here I am thinking or wanting to run 26.2 miles. I must be nuts!

As a matter of fact, I think most distance runners have to be a little whacked. I mean seriously, who does that?

This year my one and only goal, well, okay, I have more than one. I have two important goals: Run the Marine Corps Marathon and finish, and finish writing my current novel-in-progress. Both are extremely important to me. I dread that without completing one I won’t complete the other.

Both goals have wormed their way into my heart and mean something very important and special to me. The book because it took a turn almost at the beginning and went in a direction I never expected and I don’t believe it’s coming back. Not that that is a bad thing. It’s just different and exciting and nerve-racking. But, I am determined to sit back and enjoy the ride as my characters drive me to the end.

The Marine Corps marathon is almost more plaguing. Not because I don’t think I can run or even walk 26.2 miles, but because there is a time limit on hitting two points in the race. I have to be at mile 17.5 within four hours and 20 mile marker in 5 hours. On a good day I can run a half marathon in three hours, a bad day in three hours and fifteen minutes. That leaves only 45 minutes to go another 4.5 miles to hit mile 17.5. Ugh!

See! Tell me that did not just scare the bejeezes out of you.

Oh, I have my good days. Those are the days where I finish a race in under an expected time and am ecstatic and I think, “Hey! I’m improving.” The other days the time is not as good as I hoped. It’s still consistent, but not what I want.

I guess it’s the same way in writing. Some days I can sit down and the story just flows and I end up with several thousand words or a couple of chapters. Other days I’m lucky if I can even correct a sentence or remember what color eyes my heroine has. (That’s actually true. I swear they change with my mood.)

Last weekend I ran a 5-mile race in one hour. That’s a minute per mile improvement from last year. Woohoo! Yea me!

Then I question why I can’t keep up that pace. Yeah, I know, practice and train. Practice and train.

I am!

But do you know how unexciting it is to go out and run on the streets for ten miles? Just me, my MP3 player, and hydration belt. It’s kind of like when you read or write a book but have no clue who your characters are so you write about stick figures.

Somehow though, the writer in me is able to picture those characters and bring them to life, make them real with personalities that make you want to learn more about them.

How do I make my running come to life?

So far, the only way I have found is the races. Ahh! All that energy, the music, the announcer, the runners and spectators. It’s like instant rush! How do I bring that to my training runs so it doesn’t feel like such a chore? Oh, to go run three miles is no biggie. I actually enjoy that. It’s short and sweet and kind of like a nice stretch at the end of the day.

Somehow I need to put character into my long runs and fall in love with them just like I do my heroes and heroines. Somehow I need to breathe life into a ten or seventeen mile run.

Writing and running really do have much in common. They both take hard work, dedication, and heart. They both require me to fall in love with something that is challenging, that may be out of my comfort zone and to not fret about the small setbacks or the character deciding to go left when you meant to go right.

With both running and writing I will have Nervous Nellie moments and Doubting Denise skepticism, but it’s the writer in me, the person who knows not to give up that will make me hit that 17.5-mile marker in 4 hours, I say with great hope and a roller coaster in my belly.

Or to quote Buddha: "The mind is everything. What you think, you become."

If that's true then this year I become a marathoner and an author of seven books!

 

Why I run

The other day I was out when someone asked me, "Why do you run?"

You know, I had to think about it. I had to think about it because it's just something I enjoy. Something that puts a smile on my face. Of course it also makes me sweat and cringe but it's the smile at the end that make me go back for more.

I am by no means a fantastic runner. I don't have the svelt and sleek body of a runner. What I do have is heart.

Running is in my heart and it makes me happy. There's something about going outside and putting one foot in front of the other and challenging myself. When I return home I have a smile on my face because I accomplished something. It doesn't matter that it was a training run or a race, or even my worst race on the hottest day. I went out and did something and finished.

It's the time I get to spend with myself that allows me to clear my head. I listen to music and forget about the work day or the day's frustrations.

If I'm in a race, I'm not in a race against the other runners, I'm in the race against myself. Can I take the monster hill that I know is ahead of me? Can I beat my best time and set a personal record?

Running is time for me. Even if there are five thousand other runners around me, I'm still there by myself.

It's a sport that is physically challenging and even more so mentally challenging. When the legs and lungs give out, it's the heart that keeps me going. The heart to trudge through the pain and exhaustion and push myself to that next burst of energy. The heart to say, "I'm going to do this," and make it to the finish line.

I've only been running for about 2 years and each year I challenge myself more. Last year I wanted to run a half marathon. I had barely trained when I did my first one in February and I admit I was not ready as my body will atest since it took me six weeks to recuperate. But you know what? I did it. By the time I got to that last mile I was smiling and gritting my teeth, but it's the grin that won out. When I got to the last quarter mile with my butt hanging and my feet crying, another runner came up beside me and said, "Come on, you've got this. Let's run the rest of the way." Inside, I thought the woman was nuts and I cringed, but for some unknown reason my heart took over and got my feet moving. I did it! I finished and under the time I wanted. Good for me. Good for anyone who finished!

Oh, it wasn't a pretty run, but you know what I can say, "I did it." And when I did the next half marathon, after having trained a little more, I did better. With each race I improve. It may be by only a second or it may be by ten minutes, but either way it's great. Because I got on that road, that dirt trail, or that monster hill and I finished.

This year, I am still running and still improving. Last weekend was the first time I actually ran the entire 5K. That was a ginormous feat for me. Since I started this new adventure of running I have only been able to run/walk so to be able to run the entire time was not only a huge day for me, it was that fact that I did it on a trail run, which I have never done before. It was the fact that I did it for a race that benefitted the Wounded Warrior Project that made it sweet success.

It's my heart that makes me a runner. Not my legs. It's the determination that my heart gives me to find a challenge and go after it. And to finish it.

This year, my big challenge is to complete the Marine Corps Marathon. I can honsetly say that I am scared witless. Not because I don't think I can finish 26.2 miles (Yikes!), because all I have to do is tell myself I'm going to finish and I will. Nope, I'm scared because I have to be at mile 20 by a certain time or the Marines pick you up, put you in a van and move you ahead in the race and then drop you back off to finish. That is NOT what I want to happen. I want to hit mile 20 on my own and on time.

Mile 20 is my challenge. Twenty miles in four hours and thirty minutes. I've got to maintain about a 13 minute per mile pace. Right now in my half marathons, I am at about a 14 minute pace. I have to improve by a minute a mile. Can I do it?

I guess time will tell, but if heart and determination have any influence in it then I say the answer is YES.

Second thoughts about the Marine Corps Marathon?

This week’s tragedy at the Boston Marathon shocked and devastated the world. I personally spent days crying, not understanding the why. As someone who runs and loves it, I could not imagine anyone wanting to hurt an event as iconic as the Boston Marathon. I mean, we are just a bunch of runners, out there doing our thing, challenging our bodies to accomplish what most people wouldn’t even think of doing.

I wasn’t at the Boston Marathon this week, but I had a friend who was down at the finish line with his family waiting for his brother to cross. Mike and I had been texting and talking via cell all morning and early afternoon as I watched his brother’s stats and kept him up to date from where they stood at the finish line.

When I got word of the bombing, I was sitting at my desk at work. My cell phone started ringing off the hook, text messages poured in, and co-workers showed up at my desk to tell me the news. I actually hung up on my father without talking to him because I had to find Mike. I called and texted and generally freaked out when I got no response.

Of course, I called my father back, who, like so many other friends and family members wanted to make certain I was safe. (Thank you everyone who thought of me during that tragic event. You touched my heart.) Dad wanted me out of Boston…I obliged him. When a father asks you to do something, you do it. I left my office immediately, all the while trying desperately to get in touch with Mike.

Finally, about two hours after the explosion, I heard from Mike. They were safe. (Breath a huge sigh of relief.) Then I heard from Mike again when he and his family were well away from ground zero and then home. Throughout this week, Mike and I kept in touch via text. Whenever something new was aired, we touched base. Mike knew I was very solemn. How could one not be? I admitted to crying off and on all week. He admitted that I wasn’t alone. (Gotta love a man who makes those kind of admissions.)

Rita, a friend of mine who signed up to run the Marine Corps Marathon in October with me, texted me that night. She was in Florida with her family when she got word of the tragedy. She asked if I had second thoughts about running the Marine Corps Marathon.

I never even gave it a second thought before I responded, “Of course not. I am more determined than ever to run that race.”

As a member of the large running community, I will tell you this, we run for ourselves. We run for the love of challenging ourselves and seeing what we can do. While you might be on the streets with hundreds or even thousands of other runners in a race, you are only running against yourself.

While we run for ourselves, running is one of the few sports where if you see a man down you stop to help him up. If a runner is about to tip over, you will see two other runners grab her by the arms and help get her to the finish line. We cheer each other on and boost other runners to that finish line. That’s who we are.

You can wear the silliest clothes to the most simple, or technical. You can be a neighbor or friend, you can be a total stranger, and you may not even speak the same language. You can be fit as a fiddle, wide as a house, or somewhere in between. Maybe you ride in a wheelchair, push a stroller, or just walk. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you showed up and you make it to the finish. Those two things and you’ve earned the respect of every runner there.

If you’ve never been to a running race, you wouldn’t know that the spectators and the race volunteers are the other half of the equation. They are the people out there on their own time, handing out water or Powerade or operating a first aid station. The spectators hold up signs that make you laugh, encourage you to persevere even when the pain grabs your thigh or calf muscles and you think you can’t possibly go on. But you do! You do because the spectators and volunteers with their cowbells and banners in hands call out your name or number to let you know that they are behind you and want you to succeed.

That’s the running community! As a member of this amazing group of people, I can tell you that we will survive, we will heal, we will move forward from the tragic events at the Boston Marathon. We will be stronger, tighter-knit, and even better. It is in our nature and it is something we have to do or they (the bombers) win. That cannot happen!

I ran my first race since Monday's bombing yesterday and was happy to see so many people show up setting a record for the event. Nice to see that it did not scare people away. One volunteer there handed out blue and yellow ribbons for those of us who wanted to wear one to show our support for Boston. I was more than thrilled to pin it to my chest and will continue to do so.

I am dedicating every race this season to Boston, its courage and heart, and the people who came together in crisis. I will run every race this year with Boston on my mind and in my heart, and a blue and yellow ribbon attached to my shirt.

We are and I am BOSTON STRONG!

See you at the Marine Corp Marathon.

Marine Corps Marathon...here I come!

 

Starting at noon yesterday, I and thirty thousand other people spent ninety minutes plus in front of computers hitting refresh, screaming, pounding fists on desks or legs as we tried repeatedly to get to the registration page for the Marine Corps Marathon. Unbelievably I got to the registration page four times and finally on the fourth attempt it appeared to work.

 

I received the official confirmation email at 7:30 last night. I'm in! What an amazing feeling. I am now wicked excited and nauseasly nervous.

 

This will be my first marathon! I figure if I'm going to go fo it I might as well go for it in a big way and at the best race. The Marine Corps Marathon is the best and I am thrilled to be a part of the 38th Marine Corps Marathon.

 

Every year I make a list of new things to try and this year, a marathon was at the top of my list.  Looks like I am going to get a shot at making that goal.

 

Now the hard part begins. Training. Lots and lots of training!