October in Review

October was a HUGE running month for me. 

First big event was the Chicago Marathon, my first full marathon.  My cousin Nicole ran it for the 8th time and was a huge help with everything from training to race day logoistics to complete faith in my running.  I was super excited and for some reason I wasn’t too nervous.  It was definitely the main focus of my life for awhile.  I spent 4 months training in Texas; have to say how proud I am that I stuck to the training plan as well as I did.  It was definitely hot during most of the training, but that help me out greatly marathon day.  The marathon went absolutely fantastic especially with the support of all the family and friends. 

4:10:21 and couldn’t be happier, and it was on my mama’s birthday.

Below is us with some of the best supporters you could ask for.

Next up was the RNR – St Louis half marathon, again with my cousin Nicole.  Half marathons in St. Louis are always some of my favorites.  I pretty much consider it a family reunion for my dad’s side.  With me living in Texas, the Chapman’s in St Louis and the rest of the Fritz’s up in Illinois, rarely do we get a chance to all get together.  Only two cousins are missing from these weekends.  It is always great to relax and just hang out and I generally have pretty good races.  I had absolutely zero expectations for this race.  I hadn’t really run much since the marathon and didn’t really have a race strategy or time in mind.  Figured it would be great if I could beat my previous St Louis times, but wasn’t too worried about it.  I was just out to run and it was perfect weather.  It was a tough course with lots of rolling hills.  I always complain about the hills in St. Louis, I am definitely a flat surface runner.  Somehow I managed to pull off a 1:56:38 (a 10 minute improvement over my other St Louis halfs).

Once my sister pops that baby out (March) she will be back running these races with us.  Now she is an awesome cheerleader!

 

Last big event of October was the Original Mud Run, and let me tell you, that was no joke.  I have done several other mud/obstacle runs (Warrior Dash twice and Go Dirty Girl), and this was by far the hardest.  It was a 10K making it twice as long as the other races and the obstacles were much harder.  We had to swim across the Trinity River twice (40+ yds) and it was freezing, we were constantly in and out of water pits, climbing mud mountains, climbing cargo nets, over and under things, etc.  The course definitely kicked my butt and I have the bruises to prove it.  Both arms and both legs are pretty tore up.

October pretty much completes my distance running for 2011.  I have a couple of small races planned for the remainder of the year, but nothing over 5 miles.  Time to give my legs and body a rest.  They have definitely earned it J.