Race review - Marquette YMCA 10 miler

Last weekend one of my sistas and I ran the Marquette 10 mile YMCA race.   The proceeds went to benefit the Strong Kids foundation.  This is a great program (I was an instructor at the Y in WI and can personally attest to these programs!).

From the website:

The course runs along beautiful Lake Superior, starting and finishing at the YMCA of Marquette County and promises to be a fun fitness event for the whole family. 

It was a gorgeous day..started out a bit chilly, 29 as predicted but no wind and no rain (or snow!).  We started at the YMCA and headed down to Presque Isle. A gorgeous run around the back way of the island (or so it's called to us Marquette natives).

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Then we headed down Hawley street which brought us to a stretch of 3.8 miles of trail running.  Somehow I missed that this run involved trail running. It.was.tough. Super tough, my sister said her goal was not to stop, so that was my motivation.  My ankles cursed me the next day.

We crossed the finish line at 1:31.  My sister totally rocked it, she was a superstar!!  I unfortunately only had my 1999 old school disposable camera and the dinosaur had to be sent away to be processed, but I'll hopefully have some updated pics soon.

Our other sister and mom brought my niece to the finish line. As I mentioned in my last race review, it's soo nice to have friendly faces during a race.

Our dad also ran the 10 miles and did awesome as well.  Indeed it was a "family event" as the Y claimed.

My overall review: good race, well planned route.  The water stops were lacking (2 - both early in the race) and there were no fuel stops (GU, Oranges, etc).  For 10 miles, typically you should have some sort of fuel.  The finish was kind of lackluster in the Y Parking lot.  I was hoping for more.  But overall a good race for a community event.  The Marquette Y staff was great.

Would I do this again: sure.  I loved the route. Marquette is really the best place in the world to run.  Clearwater is a close second.

Cheers!

No news is good news

I know this is an IF blog, but I have literally no infertility news to tell you..

Still on round 2 of BC (just about 3 weeks left, yippee)

Still feel cruddy & bloated and nauseous at times, tho it's getting a little better thank God. I don't even want to weight myself, my jeans are super tight, no matter how much I run or do HOT yoga (isn't the weight suppose to "melt" off of you??).

What's next... well... hard to say.  I always said that if we stopped "trying" I'd go back on BC (I would not like a 'surprise' at 40..too many risks for me to handle). So now that I'm back on (supposedly temporarily), do we stop trying.. no more IUI's, no more RE's?

I had an epiphany when we were on vaca, I would be ok sans kids.  I talked to the hubby about this and he agreed (he's always been so supportive all through this,  as it's "our" journey).  We're soon-to-be mid-thirties and we're sort of set in our ways. We have a routine.  I'm so sick of feeling sad for myself.  Honestly.  It's pathetic really.

SO we have 3 weeks to decide if we stop or move forward.  One big thing is we pre-paid for 3 IUI's. We have had 2 complete IUI cycles so we have one left.  They don't "expire" so we could always do it later, but I have a feeling, knowing me, if I'm back on BC 100% I won't go on/off it again, it's just too tough.

Sooo stay tuned I guess.

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In other (happy) news, I'm running a race with one of my sistas this weekend!   Weather report is looking coooolddd

9 am

33°F Feels Like 26°F

At least it will be sunny..lets hope the wind holds out.

Cheers to the weekend!! 

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Any fun plans?

Race Recap - IronGirl Clearwater Fla

On Sunday I ran the IronGirl Half Marathon in Clearwater Florida and it was a great run.

Weather was absolutely perfect, couldn't have asked for a better day (tho probably not for a Fla native. There were ladies with pants, long sleeve shirts and gloves on while I wore a tank top and capris).

My race day morning consists of coffee!! get dressed (glide!), pin on my bib, get my gear on (timing chip, Garmin, iPod) and we're off! (yes that's 2 oreos next to my coffee....bfast of champions ;D )

All of this happens at 5 am. eeek early, but I had to be at the start at 6:30. It was still dark. I was lucky enough that my hubby dropped me off at the start. SO wish I would have had my camera as the sun came up.

As I mentioned, the weather, perfect.. slightly overcast (rained about 8 miles in) and cool.  My iPod: #fail. Died before the race even started. Anyone who knows me knows I do not run without music! When I noticed it was dead I was tempted to quit the race and run home. But I didn't.  So this was a challenge for me.  Luckily the hubby joined in at mile 8.5.  Race officials are usually pretty cool about letting people jump in/out, and of course they were fine,  YAY!  Then my family stepped out (in the rain!!) to watch us at mile 11.50 which was a great surprise!

The medal is awesome (from the site)

My photos (btw in the first pic, the bridge in the background was the 2nd bridge in the race (at mile 11ish. Tough.):

The finish line at Pier 60 on Clearwater Beach (add 1800 women piling through)

Overall, this was a great race. I would do it again in a heartbeat.  The course was well planned out, lots of water stops/gu's, people were awesome, setup/ease of race day was a breeze.  I was bummed that we flew in late and missed the Expo (taken as we drove by the Pier)

This billboard was at the Finish. Great message to finish off a great day!

A HUGE thanks to my family: the hubby who drove me at the crack of dawn on our vacation and who met me and saved me from quitting the race.  My aunt and cousin who stood out in the rain to watch me <3

xoxo
Cheers!