Sunday, June 20, 2010

Grandma's Half Marathon Race Report!

I have officially experienced my first Grandma's Half Marathon race!! Warning to Jamoosh and Rock Star....this is most likely my longest race report to date:) Sorry! First, I want to say that I had a complete blast:) This past weekend was so much fun that I have decided to for sure try to do this race again. If I do not get into the half marathon I just might consider doing the full. Mr. Julie drove us to Duluth and took a back road to get there so we made it without any annoying grid lock:) The first thing on my agenda was to go to the race expo to see Kara Goucher! She was one of the guest speakers and we made it just in time:) Kara spoke to us all about her personal running story and experiences. She was amazing and it was really interesting to listen to her talk about her running history. She shared with us her feelings on her success and also her running challenges/demons. It was so refreshing to hear that even a super star runner like Kara has off days and running funks.
After Kara was done talking she sat at this table and welcomed any fans to come get autographs and pictures. You must know that I got in that line as fast as my legs would take me. I think I had to wait about ten minutes to meet her:) I forgot my running magazines with her picture on the covers so I had her sign my race program. She wrote.....Julie, Always Believe! Kara Goucher:) I forgot to take a picture of this but will maybe add to my next post.
Well, here we are! Yes, that is me standing next to an adorable pregnant Kara Goucher:) She is so down to earth and sweet. Meeting her was one of my highlights of this entire Grandma's experience.
After meeting Kara I was on my way to pick up my racing packet and bib when I ran into these cool runner dudes:) Arvid and Gary are in my St. Cloud River Runners running group. Arvid was there to cheer people on and to take pictures. Gary's son was running in the full marathon and he was there to show his support:) I was very surprised to see these guys...another highlight!
After leaving the expo Mr. Julie and I were very hungry so we decided to go to Old Chicago for dinner. The beer in the picture was a sampler that my hubby ordered. He made me try the first one on the left:) I fell in love!
This stuff was sooooo good! I was shocked that it was a beer...it tasted smooth and sweeter than a normal beer.
My new love is called Ace Pear Cider! Mr. Julie had a good laugh at this one because in his mind it really wasn't a beer. I went up to the bar and asked the bartender if it was a beer and he said yes:) I told my hubby that the bartender said it was a beer and he just shook his head:) What do you think Jamoosh and MCM Mama? I knew that I would be back post race for a few of these babies!
When we were still eating dinner my friend Pam and her hubby came up to our table to chat with us for a bit. Pam is my friend from high school who talked me into running my first 5K:)

As we were leaving Old Chicago I ran into Average A....I was shocked to see her! Average A just ran in the Minneapolis Marathon two weeks ago! She told me she was running the full marathon! WTH!! Can we say crazy running queen:) I was so happy to see her and hoped that I would be able to see her finish and talk to her after the race. After dinner we walked back to the hotel and I went to bed. I did not sleep well at all. I really have issues sleeping in hotel beds and never sleep soundly:( The transportation buses started to leave at 4:45 AM to take runners up to the start line. I made sure that I was up at 3:30 AM and ready to go.
Here I am with my race bib....number F 357! Woo hoo, there is a seven in the number and the F stands for fast:)
Here I am with Mr. Julie as I waited for the next bus to pull up.

Do I look nervous? I was starting to get nervous and I wasn't anywhere near the start line! On the bus ride I sat next to a young man who was running his first half marathon. We chatted for a little bit on the ride. The farther the bus drove the calmer the runners seemed to be. You could hear a pin drop that it was so quiet! That darn bus ride seemed to take forever! Finally I looked at my bus partner and said, "What the hell? We have been driving forever, there is no way that we have not been driving for thirteen miles!" He told me that he was thinking the same thing. Finally the bus turned on some little road and we pulled up to the starting point.
I got off of the bus and this was my view at 5:10 AM! This is Lake Superior before the sun decided to make an appearance.
This is the first portion of the road to the start. I walked up this road and took it all in. There were already hundreds of runners there. Several were stretching and others were checking their bags. It was calm and quiet....too quiet for me! I was starting to get nervous again.

Here is another picture of Lake Superior.
This was so early in the morning that there were no lines for the Biffys:) Believe me that changed in a hurry!
I was standing on the road when Pam came up to me:) I was so happy to see her and being able to talk to her calmed me down a little. I asked her if she knew how many people were running in the half and she told me 6,000. This is the biggest race that I have competed in to date!
I walked up to where I thought I should be standing for pacing. I placed myself between the 1:50 and 2:00 pace slots. There were no pacers to been seen at that time. This is a view of the people in front of me. Check out where the actual start is....way up there!
This is what I saw when I turned around! There were even people standing behind the balloons in the back.
There was a 1:50 pacer and his name was Andy. I really wanted there to be a 1:55 pacer but not today:( I decided to go with Andy and just try to keep up with him. We could see that the runners in front of us were moving forward and it was time to boogie! Things were crazy for the first few miles and it was so hard to stay with Andy! There were so many people moving slower and I struggled with staying with him from the get go! At about mile two I was running right behind him and I wanted to check our distance out on my Garmin. Holy crap! I flipping forgot to start my Garmin!! Grrr! Usually I forget to stop the darn thing after the race so this was a first for me. I was not happy with myself:( We were moving along pretty good and I tried to stay relaxed.
This picture was taken at about mile three. I was already warm and sticky and hoped for a nice breeze to cool me off. I stayed with Andy until mile five because I once again started to have GI issues. I also felt sick to my stomach! So here I am at mile five and feeling like total crap yet again! WTH is going on with me? I struggled until I spotted a Biffy....I had to wait in line:( It was right at this time where I started to doubt if I could ever run in a full marathon. I thought about not being able to run in a half without making Biffy stops and dealing with my stomach issues. I asked my radiologist what she thought about my stomach problems and she thinks that I am putting so much stress of my body that my organs are not getting enough oxygen. Because of the lack of oxygen my body wants to get rid of all of my toxins. This has been happening for sometime now and I think it is time for me to go and see a specialist. I want to train and race without dealing with the stress of having to make bathroom stops during all of my longer races. After my Biffy turn I continued on and my pacer Andy was no where to be seen:( I continued on solo. At the 10K point I was feeling sick again. I stopped and walked through every single water stop after this point. I felt like I was moving so slow. In my mind I told myself to keep moving at a steady pace and try to stay positive. This was very difficult to do. Here I was running in Grandma's Half Marathon...one of the most beautiful courses to date and I wasn't even enjoying the scenery. I was concentrating on just making it through another race. Mile eight, nine, and ten were unremarkable. I do not remember anything other than attempting to survive. There were spectators cheering and it was hard for me to smile. Lemon Drop Hill was not as bad as I thought that it would be but there was some nasty wind. There was one group of UMD college guys cheering runners on and they made me laugh:) I needed them...thanks guys! They were singing songs and cheering for the runners! Go runners! Beer here! Girl in pink Fila shirt, do you want a beer? No she can't have a beer...she is running! Go girl in pink Fila shirt! When I hit Fitger's I knew that there was about two miles left and I was feeling a little tired. I saw my hubby and he yelled, "Go Jules, you are hanging on to a 1:57 finish...keep up your pace and you will come in under two hours!" I looked at him and he was smiling as I was suffering through the last portion of my race. I told myself...you can do this...keep up this pace! Keep your feet moving and you will get through this tough time! Those last two miles were so hard for me! Just keep moving! Keep your feet moving! When I passed the Radisson hotel I saw that the finish line was near. I thought that it was close....I was warned about taking these crazy turns before the finish. Oh my God was that annoying! One more turn and I was on the home stretch:) Okay Julie, you need to pick up the pace! I started to run faster and I could hear the people cheering. I kept my eye on the balloons and the finish line until finally I crossed it! I didn't see the clocks so I had no idea what my finish time was. There was a guy in front of me who said he finished in 1:57 something. I was hoping that I was able to finish close to his time. I continued to walk forward and was presented with my medal:) I was so freaking hot and actually walked through this cool shower:) I have to tell you... it felt wonderful!
I then picked up my finishers t-shirt and walked into the after race food area. Absolutely nothing looked good. My stomach would not allow me to eat a thing directly after the race. I drank a bottle of water and then had a small cup of orange juice.
I slowly walked over to where the family members could meet up with the runners. It is there that I found my hubby waiting for me:)
I know that I look terrible but I was still not feeling the greatest.

Here I am sporting my new bling:)
We walked around for about thirty minutes and then waited for the marathon runners to come in.

I watched the winner come across and continued to cheer for runners until the 3:10 time mark. I was not feeling well and needed to take a shower. After my shower we went back and watched the finishers from the 3:55 to the 4:45 finish time. I was able to see a few of my fellow SCRRs come across the finish as well as Average A:)
When I was walking around I ran into someone that I went to high school with. He yelled, "Hey Julie!" This is my friend Dean who I met in seventh grade. We were in the same home economics class and made pancakes and muffins together:) My hubby took two pictures...Dean is not smiling in this picture.
Dean is smiling in this picture but my hair is hanging down in my face:) No such thing as perfect:)

When I was talking to Dean I saw Kalli and I had to take a photo opportunity:) Kalli is another SCRR who ran in the full marathon. Kalli was so excited because she PRd!! She ran this marathon with an amazing time of 3:14!! Woo hoo! Go Kalli:)

As I promised, we went back to Old Chicago for lunch and I enjoyed few of my new favorite beers:) No, there is not Bud Light in that cup...it is Ace Pear Cider:) I also really like the Killian's Irish Red:)
We then walked back to the results area to check out my time. WTH, 1:58 something! I was so bummed:( At that time I did not know that the times posted were gun times.
We walked around the canal and took in the sights.




It was about seven o'clock when we headed back to Old Chicago for more beer:) I spotted Renee sitting with her Rochester running group. I introduced Renee to Mr. Julie and he took our picture.

I then went over and got to meet her crazy running group! The scary thing was that they called me blogger girl! A few of them read my blog:) I know that they were being truthful because they knew that I adopted Denny as my new running dad! These guys are absolutely nuts...but in a good way:) I think that my hubby found them very entertaining and wanted to drink with them for the rest of the night.
The shirts say...Run, Eat, Drink. 2 Out of 3 Aint Bad! I love it!

The city of Duluth was one big party for the entire night! It was crazy! We purchased tickets for entry into the big tent where we could drink and listen to a few bands. Mr. Julie and I walked around and did listen to one of the bands. They were great and played really good rock music! I love my ACDC! It was getting pretty crowded so we left and went to Little Angie's for a late dinner. After we had dinner I was spent and needed to go to bed ASAP. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit my pillow:) This morning we ate breakfast outside of our hotel with gorgeous views of Lake Superior. We drove home after breakfast and made it back in two and a half hours.
When I got home I checked Grandma's web page for my official race stats......
Final time 1:56:48!
I placed 1706 out of 5828 runners.
I placed 618 out of 3308 female runners.
I placed 58 out of 295 women in my age group.
I did not get my 1:50 goal but for all of my stomach issues as of late, I am okay with my time.
Happy running, biking, swimming and lifting! Cheers to you all!
I know that I am behind on blogging and I am so sorry. I will try to get caught up on everyone's blogs:) Also, welcome to all new followers...leave me a comment and I will make a trip to your blogs as soon as I can!
MCM Mama is hosting a Ryder sunglasses giveaway!

81 comments:

  1. Stomach issues are no fun. Sorry you had to deal with that, but looks like you managed to have a great time! Congrats!

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  2. Yipee, Julie. What a fun race report. I can't believe you saw so many people; Kara, bloggers, etc. So COOL! Kara looks so cute with her little belly. I also thought it was neat that you saw Renee. Did she give you any baked goods? Their running group always seems like such a fun bunch.
    Thanks for the great post, so happy you had a fun race!!!

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  3. WTG JULIE!!!!!! You did great! Loved your race report. It looks like you had a blast in Duluth. I am so jealous you got to meet Kara Goucher.

    I missed you again. When I reported to my shift for the finish line, the half marathon was over. : ( next time!!

    My brother, my hubby, and my little guy's crocs are in one of your photos and our friend is holding the "ladies" sign.

    We also hit up Old Chicago afterwards. Great minds! ha!

    Hope you will be back next year as I am planning on being a runner as well.

    Great work!

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  4. Congrats! That is awesome - bummer about the stomach issues, but it seems like you pushed through with a great race! I love the shots of you with the beer pre-race. Also super cool you got to meet Kara.

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  5. Yay Julie! Great job on the half mary. From the pics you took, that looks like a really fun race to do. The sights were beautiful along the way. I think that faux beer you had sounds like my kind of beer! I hate beer but might be able to stomach that. By the way, love the pink fila top!

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  6. You did great. Just wait until you don't have stomach issues. You will kill it. I hope you can get this resolved as it must be extremely frustrating.

    I love the pictures. It looks beautiful. And I love the picture of you with Kara Goucher. She does look just so cute pg!

    And I had seen The Blind Side but my husband had not. He loved it and is telling everyone what a great movie it is!

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  7. Sorry about the tummy issues but you still got the job done. I'm sure a few more beers would help - well they wouldn't hurt, would they?

    Overall I'm sure you'll look back at this as a successful race.

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  8. Congrats Julie! Looks like you and Mr Julie had a wonderful time, despite the GI issues! So you signing up for the full next year?

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  9. I had never heard of this race until you posted about it a while back (the lottery), but now I'm hearing about it EVERYWHERE! This may be one that I have to look into doing some day! It looks beautiful!

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  10. You did so well!!!! Fab photos of Kara Goucher, as well as the beer....I'm a fan of Killian's myself.....

    I ran a 13 miler yesterday as part of my training, and the last two miles were HARD. You did fabulous my friend, I'm proud of you!

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  11. Looks like a super fun weekend despite the GI issues. I'm worried now that Grandma's may be too hot for me. Congrats!

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  12. Awesome job on the race, especially with all the tummy issues. Congrats!

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  13. How exciting that you met Kara Goucher and Average A! Bummer about GI issues (I'm no stranger to that myself), but you still made a fantastic time. I love a detailed, photo-filled race report - thanks!

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  14. JULIE! I cannot believe you got a 1:56 with your GI issues!!! That is awesome! (Not the GI issues -- how fast you were!). I really hope you see your specialist and this gets taken care of soon. :( You deserve nothing but happiness & stress-free feelings when you run. You will REALLY be unstoppable!!

    I'm really sorry I'm not looking at Mr. Julie's camera in your picture! Will you ever get a picture of us both looking at the same camera?! I have one of us Gramps took -- I'll post it on my recap when I'm done with it. :)

    I also am sad I didn't see you at the finish! I was looking for you! I did not have a good run, but I'm glad you saw me and said I was looking okay. :P It was really hard!! I can't wait to see the picture you took! My friend did not see me at the finish line, so I have no finishing pictures (other than the crappy things I'll get from Marathon Foto).

    Great job on this race, and GREAT REPORT!!! Love all the details, all your friends you met up with, and all the photos!! I agree that it was super fun and I would willingly do this course again! You should totally do the full next year - the course really could not be more friendly. :) Although, I would NOT suggest doing it after you do a marathon two weeks before it. :P OUCH!

    xoxo!!
    A

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  15. Julie! How on earth can you be sick and have that time? Holy cow! Kalli is the stuff of legends around here... she will be in Little Falls next Saturday to do the River Rat. Thank God she just turned 40, so I don't have to compete against her! I am joining the SCRR's, btw : ) Let me know the next time you will be there!

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  16. Sounds like you had a great time! Pear cider is one of my favorites.

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  17. What a great race report! Congrats on your race! I'm so sorry you had GI issues again, but I think you did awesome considering it! I hope you're able to figure out what's going on b/c I know how frustrating those issue can be.

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  18. nice job chica;-) and cute pic of you and Kara.

    love the beer shots- both pre and post. you'll have to do the same when you race the napa half here in july!;-) but with vino!

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  19. Julie, you are truly an amazing woman. I am not saying that just to have an excuse to make a comment. I mean, for you to push through when not feeling well says a lot about you. I am in awe. Super job!

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  20. I'm so sorry to hear about the continued GI issues, but I'm so impressed by your time! Congrats on an amazing race under difficult circumstances!

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  21. Awesome work!!! Could Kara be any cuter. I am so glad you had a good time - even with the tummy trouble. Have a good rest week - you deserve it.

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  22. You did a really thorough job of describing the Grandma's race experience! This sounds like a REALLY fun race. I Loveee big races that feel like one big party!

    I had Old Chicago for the first time in MINNESOTA actually. We don't have them in the DC area or in VA, so if I ever go to a city that has one I HAVE to eat there. Such a good chain restaurant! I agree with you that cider beer is delicious! Have you had Woodchuck before? You're making me want one. I haven't had a cider beer in months.

    And I'm sorry to hear about your stomach issues :( I think the heat really does make things worse. Solid finish despite not feeling well! You're fast!

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  23. Woohooo, JulieA! :)
    I sent you an email but had to comment here also. I'm so sorry about the GI problems, I get that from time to time and it's just the worst! Start detailing your diet carefully as there's probably something that's causing it that you ate. I know sugar is a big problem for me, i.e. GU! But I'm so glad you enjoyed the whole experience and want to go back. I hear it's a gorgeous race - maybe one day I can go with you and do it :). You're so awesome, Julie, I can't even express in words how inspirational you are with all your races and your killer spirit! Way to go, girl!!
    xo

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  24. Way to go, Julie! Grandma's is fun, isn't it? Hope you get the GI problem figured out. That has to take much of the enjoyment out of your running :(

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  25. You ran a great race despite the stomach issues. Have you tried peppermint capsules before you run? I'm not sure if they would help but I read on someone elses blog who had stomach problems everytime they ran which were cleared up with peppermint capsules so it might be worth a try!

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  26. great report and great race even with your stomach issues...those are no fun! great job!

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  27. Way to go! You are still super speedy in my book! Great pictures. Sorry to hear about the stomach issues!

    I don't like beer all that much either and prefer ciders as well.

    Hope you have a great week!

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  28. Excellent report with nice photos. The time taken is good. I've seen that the weather was cloudy while you were running. I think That it was a good weather! Maybe it wasn't warm.
    I don't mind a glass of that beer in the picture :)

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  29. I loved your race report! It was fun to read! I can't believe how fast you ran with stomach issues....amazing!

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  30. Sorry to hear about the GI issues, but it just didn't prevent you from having an amazing time! You are going to be such a speedster when that gets all figured out.
    Great photos and how lucky are you...so many awesome encounters :)

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  31. I think you are ready to be a professional journalist: great report, beautiful pictures, appropriate quotes! Sorry for the stomach issues but you made a very good job,

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  32. Fantastic Julie! Great race, great report, great pictures. Well done! Isn’t it awesome to know and meet so many people at the races? Glad to see you had so much fun and didn’t let the stomach issues spoil anything.

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  33. If you can hit 1:56 with all of that adversity, you've got 1:50 locked up. It's just a matter of when.
    Great job.

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  34. Great Job Julie!!! and great report, love the pics...nice photo with Kara!

    It was WAY cooler this year than the last two we lucked out as far as I'm concerned!! Feel your pain on the porta pottie stops...maybe for you it's just a phase and will get better? Good thing you are going to specialist and / or working on it to see if you can work it out.

    Next up TC Marathon! woo hoo
    hopefully we can connect at that expo or run!
    -D

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  35. You met Kara?!?!?! I am onejealoustrigirl!!!

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  36. k. so, let me get this straight. You have stomach issues, stop in the loo, AND still go sub-2? Rock in :-) There is a large percentage of runners (including myself) that have GI issues, and most of it has to do with what you put into your mouth in the days and hours leading up to a race. I can tell you that beer and coffee are two bad influences on the GI system.

    and I agree with HUBBY! Cider (!=) does not equal beer! :-)

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  37. 1:56 and change - most excellent!

    Ace Pear Cider is not beer. It's fermented cider. But glad you found something you enjoy!

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  38. Yea! for meeting Kara!

    Boo! For GI isues...

    Yea! for having a great time and meeting up with so many bloggers.

    I believe the bartender mislead you, the Ace Pear Cider is not a beer. It is a cider. but delicious none the less and that is really what is important.

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  39. Awesome race report! Congrats on another great race.

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  40. Great race report as always! Sounds like a great atmosphere for running and post-run fun!!

    Too bad about your tummy troubles, but I'm happy that you're happy with that time! Amazing!

    However, cider is cider, beer is beer!

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  41. great report julie!
    i always feel i've never done well enough in races, but i always believe next time will be the one - always!! ha ha
    plus you met Kara Goucher! I met Laurent Jalabert last year at the Paris Tri - down to earth, humble - the best athletes are, have to be!! not like the football (sorry, soccer) players here in Europe at the moment!!

    keep on running, and believing!

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  42. Awesome job Julie!!! Love the pictures!

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  43. Great job on the race. Cool pictures.

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  44. Great race report Julie! Really sounds like you had a great time and meeting Kara, woo hoo that was special! Cheers!

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  45. Congrats on the race! It is a beautiful area to have a race. I hope your stomach stops giving you troubles.

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  46. Go Julie! Amazing race report! Sorry you were not feeling tip top, but look at you with your rad time, and your finishers medal! You ran right threw the yuckiness and still totally rocked it.. a natural I tell ya' a natural..

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  47. Blah - sorry the race wasn't what you hoped it would be. But, it seems that a lot of people had a lot of issues.

    On the other hand, I LOVED all of the pictures! you're right, Kara is def preggers! :)

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  48. Woo-hoo on a great day (aside from the GI issues-ugh. Been there, done that - I feel for you!). You are the racing machine! I LOVE Old Chicago. Aside from sampling the beer, what did you EAT??? They have GREAT pizza - YUM!
    Well done!
    K

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  49. Great report! I'm so impressed with how well you did, despite the GI issues! Amazing.

    Yeah, cider isn't really beer, but hey, if you like it, drink it. And if you like Killian's, well heck, that's a gateway beer and we'll get you drinking the really good stuff soon. ;o)

    BTW, I know you can't meet up that one weekend, what kind of flexibility do you have during the week?

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  50. great job on the race despite some crappy digestive issues. those suck. :(

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  51. Woo - hoo! Another half marathon! Congrats on ANOTHER sub-2 time :)

    That beer sampler looked delicious. I have never heard of pear beer, but I will keep my eye out for it!

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  52. You got to meet Kara Goucher! I am so jealous. I ran a 10K last weekend and to get some autographs...Joan Samuelson, Uta Pippig and some others, but Kara Goucher would be amazing!!

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  53. Woo hoo! Awesome job, again! How many half marathons is that now this year?

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  54. I'm sure the "beer" you had the night before helped. :) Congrats on the run!

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  55. I was sick too this weekend and raced, I know how you felt, congrats, nice work

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  56. OMG, You got to meet KARA! I am so jealous!!

    Whew..lost control of myself there. Congrats Julie on your awesome race and your time! That's so great even though you had to deal with those nasty tummy issues!

    I enjoyed your race report...but now I am drooling and wanting beer.

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  57. you met kara?!!! awesome.

    way to go on a great race! I have looked at this one many times and just never gotten around to it... I have a sister in law in minneapolis so I need to pick a race up there

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  58. How awesome to meet Kara!!

    I loved reading about your race. Congrats!! So awesome!

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  59. I just love your race reports! I feel like I'm there with you. The pix are great. I really like the one with you and Kara and the one with you and Mr Julie. I think you did great despite the stomach issues. You may want to try Heed or Hammer gels. They have really helped me with my stomach issues. Have a great recovery week!!

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  60. I'm sooooo sorry to hear that you had the stomach issues again. Does it only happen at races or also during long runs on the weekend? Maybe you should talk to a doctor. I hope you figure it out soon and then I'm sure the next PR is in reach :) Good luck Julie :)

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  61. Well Done Julie, brilliant time.We avoid the runner's gels, I think they taste like a mouth full of snot anyway!! We use an electrolyte replacement drink called Hydralite which encourages reabsorption in the Gut. We use it in our hospitals for anyone with GI problems and it works well. You can buy it over the counter at the chemist. It may be sold under a different name in America.YOU WILL DO A MARATHON.Remember the reward is in the achievement not your time!

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  62. great race report,and great job on the half...so cool that you got to meet kara goucher....and how cool as well to run into all those old friends at the race....

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  63. Hi Julie, the beer on my blog is called Honey Dew, it's brewed by Fullers, it's Mike's favourite beer, personally I'm not keen but I don't like any beer so that's why! I think it is fairly sweet, out of the honey beers he's tried it's the one with the most prominent honey flavour! Let me know if you try it :-)

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  64. Great job on the race despite the GI issues. So jealous that you got to meet Kara!!! cute pics!

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  65. What a great race report! I love the picture of you and Kara!

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  66. Congrats on a great time (despite GI issues)! You're a rockstar! Hope you get that GI stuff figured out...no fun.

    Love the photo of you and Kara! She looks so good preggo...wish I did! HAHA

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  67. Girl you have crazy-long recaps :) congrats on the sub-1:57! that 1:50 won't be able to hold you off much longer ;-)

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  68. Julie!! I don't know MN blogger Chris, so I'm not sure which trails he does... I know they exist, though! I usually do the tri-lakes and some of the Greenway. I would LOVE to get together to explore some trails or even run the lakes with you!!! You let me know where/when, and I'm so there! Weekdays or weekends make no difference to me. Chris is welcome to join, too. That would be so much fun!

    Yeah, I still don't know what I'm going to do about the half. I really would like to try to keep with the 1:50 group (what is that pace anyway? 8:30 min/miles?), but I think that's pretty out of my league right now. My PR for the half is 1:55, and I did have one training run where I maybe could have done 1:52... but lately my pace has been so slow just because of the marathons. I really don't think I'm capable of doing a 1:50 right now just because I have done NO speed work at all in months. So I think I might just shoot for around 1:55 and go for a new PR, but I also need to see how my knee is doing before then! :( Doing two marathons in 13 days and then doing a half 15 days after that is kind of a lot for me .. so I think I'm just going to run for fun and shoot for a new PR, but not necessarily 1:50. Decisions decisions!! Maybe my next "training" program will entail specifically shooting for 1:50!

    Are you and your group actually going to run TOGETHER for RW&B? My 5-person team just signed up so we could get the cool prizes and be a part of the contests. :) I think I'm actually the fastest one there, but I'm not really planning on burning out. We have no plans to run it together, and I don't even know two of the other four members! These marathons have made me realize that I love the half-marathon distance, so my first priority is to have fun.

    OH! I was going to tell you... the Marathon Maniacs also have a sister group called the Half Fanatics!!! And, by the way, you TOTALLY QUALIFY because of your crazy half-marathon streak!!! It's basically the same criteria for joining, except halfs instead of fulls. Just sayin'. :D

    http://www.halffanatics.com/ (I think I might try to join them next...)

    Almost Friday! Enjoy the rest of the week, Julie!
    xoxo,
    A

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  69. Could be one of the prettiest races I've seen! The lake looks AMAZING! I found your blog through Abbi's...and am following you:) Happy thursday!

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  70. Thanks for your encouragement about Fifa World cup, Julie! But Slovakia held on for a dramatic 3-2 victory over Italy that sent them into the second round :( Eliminate Italy :(
    U.S. soccer team was great!

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  71. Wow, wow, wow, what a great race, and awesome race report! So sorry you had to deal with stomach crappiness. But even with that, you did amazing. The after party sounds like a lot of fun too!

    So glad you got to meet Kara! She is super cute and is so friendly and down-to-earth.

    So cool, so cool! Hope you have a great weekend!

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  72. First of all...not sure how I missed this report earlier in the week! I am sorry! Secondly....you did a great job, especially with GI issues. Thirdly, I have had a long history of GI trouble and would be happy to chat with you if you want about some of the things that have helped me. Just shoot me an email.

    Great pics! Kara Goucher is such a cute preggo lady!

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  73. I loved your report and read it with so much pleasure!

    I think you had a great finish time especially since you've had so much troubles with your stomach. Looking at the pics I can understand why you want to run this one again.

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  74. Great job on the half! You did a great job.
    I'm jealous you got to meet Kara and have your pic taken. Very cool.

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  75. Hi Julie! Great pics, great racing report, and congrats on breaking 2 hours. 6,000 runners in the half...wow! It's nice to see that you got to meet Kara-I'm SO jealous. I'm finally back to blogging, so I'll catch up with you soon. :-)

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  76. Congrats on your half marathon! And what a cool picture of you with Kara. Her baby belly is still so tiny!

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  77. What a great blog, and I love how many pictures you do!

    I have heard such good things about Grandma's Marathon, maybe one year I will do that one also.

    Good luck with your training!

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  78. You looks so great. It seems that you run so well. I like the story of your run nice update!!!

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  79. WoW! Incredible race report!

    It was an awesome expo to meet Dick and Kara and Hal.

    We had a blast, my wife and I this weekend. Great race report.

    Gotta Run
    Mike
    www.facebook.com/WhyMarathon
    www.WhyMarathon.com

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