Race Recap: Santa Hustle - 5k

At the beginning of the month, I was lucky enough to go out into the freezing cold with a few thousand people dressed like Santa and run a 5k in Chicago. I woke up at 4:30am (I am not a morning person) and got all my things together, made my protein shake and packed the rest of breakfast in the car and trucked it over to my parent's house since I would be carpooling with my mom and sister who were going to support me.

Driving downtown was fun (not) but the traffic wasn't as bad as it usually is and we got there over an hour ahead of time. Ended up "napping" (a.k.a. my mom and sister slept) in the car until it was time to go start heading towards the corrals.

The decorations were festive. There was a giant blow up Frosty the Snowman for photo ops. Frosty decided to promptly blow over the second it was my turn to pose with him, of course. This also happened about 20 seconds before they were calling for line-ups so they could start the race.

Holy crap. I have never ever ever run with so many people IN MY LIFE. I passed approximately 2,000 people as I slinked my way dejectedly towards the 13min/mile marker. I was being realistic at least haha. I did not need a bunch of Santas trampling me as they continued to finish the course in half my time. It took about 10 minutes from the time we started moving out in waves until the time I actually passed the line to start.

(please excuse my finger)

The course itself was nice. It ran right along the lakefront and it was early enough and the weather was cooperative that there was no ice or snow, but boy oh boy was it cold. It was 9 degrees out when I left in the morning and probably 17 by the time we started. Luckily, I had fancy new pants and dressed in several shirts.. the only thing that was really cold was my bowl full of jelly. 

The thing I neglected to take into account was the air quality in the city. Man, my lungs HURT. Asthma is no cake walk, but by the first mile I had to start walking with my hands on top of my head since my chest hurt so much. During my walk I encountered the first cookie station. I happily took 2 cookies that were being handed to me. Boy was that a mistake. I took one bite and my mouth just went dry. Like dust storm in the Sahara Desert dry. I promptly stuck both cookies into my handy dandy fanny pack.

The next station was thankfully a water and "Gatorade slushy" station. I say Gatorade slushy because it was SO COLD that everything froze. It was still refreshing and kept me going. The final station was a candy one. I just ran and ran past that because after that cookie experience, just nope.

I then encountered this gentleman:

(it was a lie)

I managed to finish the race in 46 min and 46 sec, which surprisingly matched the time for the 5k that I did in May down to the second. I finished 3188th/3989 place overall and 558th/663 in my age group. Not too shabby for my second 5k I'd say. Especially since I managed to run more of it than the course in May.

I will hopefully be doing this again next year! Hoping everyone has happy and safe Holidays!

Getting Back on the Horse and Goals

Wow, I am a slacker.

Not only do I fail at posting regularly, but I have run a total of TWO times since my last post. And I may or may not have a Santa-themed 5k tomorrow morning. Woops.

On a good note, while picking up my race package at Fleet Feet in the city, I got myself an awesome pair of cold weather running pants. Probably the MOST EXPENSIVE pair of pants that I now own, but now I have 0 excuses to not run outside. Except for ya know, my extremities getting cold.

Hopefully I can remedy that come bonus time at work.

Brooks Utopia Thermal Pant

What is a little scary is despite my laziness, I pretty much have a race schedule mapped out for next year and goals set up until 2016.

Here's what next year looks like:

Feb: Cupid's Undie Run

April: Arbor Day 10k run

May: Run Like a Mother 5k

June: Esprit de She Olympic distance Triathlon (already registered), Dirty Girl Mud Run

September: Run for your Lives

November: Turkey Trot of some sort

December: Santa Hustle

In 2015, I want to conquer the Disney Princess HM and in 2016 I want to do a full marathon.

Just looking at this makes me want to go back to bed haha. I really REALLY need to start getting my butt out of bed so that I can get a run in before work and not have to get 'er done after work, in the dark and cold. I want to run AT LEAST 30 miles by the end of the year.. that is my goal for now. I just need to remind myself that I am a human being and that while I'm not perfect, I should make the effort. 

Honestly, this whole "running" thing MUST be something that I love to do if I spend every (okay, maybe every other) waking moment thinking about what I want to accomplish next. I just have to remind myself of that the next battle of the mind I have against myself.

How do you get yourself out of bed and motivated in the mornings?

About This Nerd: An Introduction to My Insanity

Hi there!

I figured I'd start off with a little about me and my journey thus far into my new and healthier lifestyle:

My name is Megan. I'm a 26 year old female IT professional. This time last year, I was working full time, playing World of Warcraft 50+ hours a week and generally not caring about my health or how I looked. Don't get me wrong, I love gaming and always will, but I was in an unhealthy state. I was at my heaviest weight ever and absolutely miserable.

I have always LOATHED running. I mean.. I would do anything to avoid it. I played soccer growing up. What position you asked? Goalie. That's right.. I played the one position where you literally stood there and watched everyone else run straight at me. Playing goalie also got me a super duper knee injury which makes running SUPER fun/painful.

"Then why did you start running?" you may ask.

The answer isn't exactly a simple or happy one. A little under a year ago, the man I was going to marry moved out one day while I was at work. Saying that I was devastated would be an understatement. I ended up signing up for My Fitness Pal (MFP) to make sure that I was eating enough. I also created a list of 13 things that I wanted to do this year (I STILL haven't completed a vast majority of time.. oops!) which included running a 5k. This is something that I never imagined myself doing,  but I knew that I needed something to do in order to keep me busy.

So, in cold and blustery Chicago January, I got off my butt and started a couch to 5k program.

It was definitely not easy. I was always doubting that I'd be able to finish the work outs due to my asthma and having a voice in my head telling me that I wouldn't be able to do it. With encouragement from my friends and my family I was able to persevere though and completed my first 5k in May (Run Like a Mother).

I was hooked. I started looking for my next race to conquer, and came across a sprint triathlon which was conveniently being hosted in my hometown in August. Now, some thought I was crazy for wanting to train for and complete a triathlon in 3 months (even though I jumped out of a plane not once, but TWICE this year), but boo on them. It was easily the hardest thing I have ever done, especially since I hadn't biked in at least 10 years, but I finished. I finished fourth from last overall, but I did not die and there was a tasty, tasty beer at the end.

10 months later and 50 pounds lighter, I'm looking forward to next year and trying to think of what goals I want to accomplish. I am writing this blog for some what of accountability, since WINTER IS COMING and I want to make sure that I keep on track for an Olympic distance triathlon in June. I don't know why I keep torturing myself, but I love every minute of it. There is such a feeling of accomplishment crossing that finish line and hearing your own mom say, "Wow! I never ever thought I'd see you do that. I'm so proud of you." 

I know that this year was only the beginning of my fitness adventure, and I can't wait to share what comes next with all of you.