hi i'm jenna and i run half marathons.

hello, my name is jenna. i run half marathons.

i've been planning to write this post for DAYS now and i'm writing it with more good GREAT news then i had before i even starting thinking about writing it. shooooot, i don't even know where to start!

let's start with FRIDAY. i went down to the convention center to pick up my bib and all my cool free stuff and iced my lovely ankle on the way down as to prep it for the big run sunday.

i had good company and we stopped at roadrunner sports on the way home to look at stuff. i love that store. i appreciate it so much more now that i'm older and actually into running. i remember my dad always taking us there when we were little. :)

i also went to dick's and sports chalet to find the right attire for my race sunday. you know how important it is to feel comfortable and look good while running. i seriously run to shop sometimes. hahaha :) but shhhhhh, don't tell anyone i just said that. (oh and it ALWAYS has to be nike gear).

i woke up saturday AM ready to run my 3 mile "warm up" in prep for sunday yet SUPER nervous about my ankle/foot. i suited up and went out. the pain wasn't really there. it was like a slight nagging but when i ran it actually went away. i felt READY for sunday. SO ready. so i went on to jeremy's first birthday party and had a good time visiting with family and friends.

saturday night i came home and make my delicious pasta/chicken/vegetable/alfredo sauce dinner. i set out my clothes, got my iPod ready, packed a bag, prepped my AM food and went to sleep. i had to be up at 3am to leave by 3:45 to get to my moms by 4-ish to get to SD by 5-ish to start the race at 6:15... or so i thought.

did i tell you how i had a nightmare a few weeks ago about how i completely missed the start of the race? well that ALMOST freakin' came true on sunday morning. i got to my mom's around 4, we probably left escondido around 4:20am. we headed down the 15 to the 52 to the 5 south with intention of getting off on kettner and heading up laurel and she was going to drop me off at the starting line. well, jenna, the smart girl she is, forgot to think about the fact that there were 35,000 people running this lovely race. THIRTY FIVE THOUSAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! helllloooooo jenna, if there are 35k people running, there are going to be a LOT of cars on the freeway which means a shit-ton of traffic (pardon my french). well dios-freakin-mio was there a lot of traffic. we got to san diego at 5am, two exits from where i had to be. TWO exits... that's it! guess how long it took us to drive 0.5 miles? 30 minutes!!!!! i was about to pee my pants. i kept saying "mom, what do i do? what do i do? what am i supposed to do?!!?!" she's like uhh i dont know .. haha which i don't blame her but i was FREAKING out. i didn't know how far i was from the starting line and people were getting out of their cars and walking. so i pulled out my google maps on my phone and realized i was only about a mile from the starting line. so i got out and ran, up laurel street, a crazy steep hill, one mile, to the starting line.

to my dismay, they were releasing corral 18 (MY CORRAL) as i walked up. i had to pee really bad too, so i said eff it and waited in some lovely porta-potty lines with HUNDREDS of other people that seemed to have absolutely NO sense of urgency whatsoever...

and that picture does it NO justice whatsoever. so i attempted to stretch in line, but my one-mile warm up really helped. i also took off and threw away my "2:10" pace group bib because i was so embarrassed that i missed my corral. after peeing, i walked over and just jumped into corral 29. i texted my family that i was about to start and tucked my phone away. i was so stoked. i knew that i could do this. my goal was to pace myself to hit 2hrs and 10minutes. it was like a new challenge and i knew i could do it.

i moved forward and away i went. i remember all the people running SO fast around me in the beginning, i kept slowing myself down and telling myself i needed to pace myself because all these super-runners would be walking at the end and i'd be blowing past them. indeed this was a wonderful idea. :) my goal was just to keep my pace on my sportband around 9:45.. which i did a pretty decent job of most of the run. we ran through hillcrest then through balboa park and i was feeling awesome. then came my absolute favorite part... running down the 163. ahhh it was AMAZING. i remember just smiling to myself thinking, this is seriously, SERIOUSLY the coolest experience of my life. i texted my brother that my 10k time was about 1hr exactly so i was right on track and that it was the "best time of my life!".. i also figured since i was flying downhill i could afford to take a few pictures with my cell phone as i was running....

i have to say i felt great. i definitely took advantage of the water stations and the cytomax electrolyte drinks they were giving out. i even grabbed a GU at mile 9. i knew that staying hydrated would push me to meeting my time goal. so i ran, and checked my pace, and ran, and smiled, and checked out some fine looking men running alongside me with no shirts on, and ran, and enjoyed the music on my iPod, and ran, and kept checking my pace, and ran some more, and thought of my family and all my supportive friends that have been with me on this amazing journey, and just felt absolutely, positively, at home. comfortable, happy, relaxed, and about to accomplish something huge.

i remember around mile 10.5 i thought to myself, i think i'm beating my time. i think i'm doing better than i thought i was ever capable of doing. am i seriously running a half marathon? do i seriously only have a couple miles left?? am i seriously still running like it's no freakin' big deal?! and so i stepped it up. i started running a little faster. next thing i know i'm at the 12 mile marker, and i say to myself, here goes nothing jenna. so i pushed it. and i mean i started sprinting. mind you, sprinting after running 12 miles is definitely not as fast as i am capable of running, but it was an 8:40 min/mile compared to 9:40 like my other miles... i told myself i wanted to puke at the finish line. "leave nothing in the tank" as josh from p4l and my VBL days would always say. i tell myself that a lot. it's a good motto to go by, especially when running. so there i went, running with all i had. i knew my family was going to be near the finish so i was looking for them and i came around the corner to see the most amazing thing...

my cute, supportive, happy family waving and cheering for me.(please disregard the SHOW ME YOUR BOOBS sign my sister is holding, funny family joke) i was so excited! they were in the PERFECT spot to push me to that finish line. i waved and smiled and sprinted my booty to that finish line. stopped my watch, stopped running, looked... 2:06... 2hrs and 6mins... YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but once i stopped... my legs told me they were going to be SORE. so i got my medal, and walked over to get a water and stretch out my legs a bit.

i walked over to a fence to take a minute to myself and think about what i had just accomplished.. which is when the tears just began to flow. a year ago this time my life was completely different. a year ago i was engaged. a year ago i was about to have a brand new baby nephew. a year ago i weighed over 200lbs. a year ago i would not have fathomed running a mile let alone 13. a year ago i had a much different group of people in my life. a year ago i was hiding the real jenna inside a fake front to make people like me. now i can be who i truly am and live a more meaningful life with purpose and reason. and guess what? i did it.i've accomplished so much and i only have more to achieve. i am freakin' proud of myself. i can now say "hi i'm jenna and i'm an athlete" you know, no big deal. ;)

 holding back tears as i told my family how empowering and beautifully fun the experience was :)

thaaank you very much. :D

free post-race beer? yes please! allllllll 64 calories!

post-run yard of sam adams cherry wheat? well deserved.

 after enjoying linner at the yardhouse we decided to go watch anthony play soccer and we were EXHAUSTED... so tired that when we got home this is what happened....

 

so i took monday and tuesday off knowing i'd be so exhausted and also knowing it was jeremy's first birthday so i knew we'd be going to disneyland tuesday. needless to say, my ankle/food were SHOT after the run. okay, not SHOT but it's definitely a pulled muscle or tendon that runs from underneath my foot up the side of my ankle. i spent all day monday assuming this position... 

 each day it's feeling better but i'm not running again for at least a week! what else did i learn about running my first half marathon? well other than leave EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA early...

WEAR SUNSCREEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! or else you'll get a lovely sunburn tan lines from a medal, a tank top and an iPod :D.

moving on.. my next mission was to sign up for the LAS VEGAS ROCK n ROLL HALF MARATHON because I get to run down the Las Vegas Strip, at NIGHT.. it's december 4th. so monday afternoon i pulled out the credit card and signed up for that ish. sooo stoked.

i figured i'd take my MUCH NEEDED week off from running and working out then hit the gym and diet trying to lose a few more lbs before my big 2-5 birthday in july. i have the VBL 5k at the end of june that would be SO FUN to win but if my foot and ankle weren't feeling well, i didn't want to push it too hard. then i'd start seriously training to run again toward the end of summer with just fun runs for now... however that entire idea changed completely today.

so i'm driving home and i get an e-mail on my phone. it's from nike+. i get e-mails all the time from them... but i decided to read it... and here's what it said...

Because you are STRONG, you decided to take on 13.1 or 26.2 miles.

Because you are SEXY, you wouldn't settle for just any old marathon.

And because you are FIERCE, you accepted our challenge and logged mile after mile just for the chance to run at the 2011 Nike Women's Marathon.

Well, we hope you're ready to stand STRONG, SEXY and FIERCE on the starting line, 'cause you're in, baby!

Yep, you heard right.  Your name has been selected in the Nike+ Challenge Random Drawing, and we'd like to reward you for running your heart out with an entry into the SOLD OUT 2011 Nike Women's Marathon.

OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!!!!!! i'm SO EXCITED. my favorite place (norcal), my favorite thing (running), my favorite brand (nike)... AMEN! someone's lookin' out for jenna, and she liiiikes it. best thing about it? the tiffany & co finishers necklace. an entire nike weekend dedicated to women athletes. who could ask for more? by invitation only might i add. and only 200 women were selected! all i did was sign up for a free "challenge" with my nike sportband. i honestly didn't even know they were selecting the winners today... woohoo!!!!!!!! so i'm all signed up for this sucker too... but that means two half marathons in two months.

once again, who would have EVER thought i'd be running THREE half marathons this year.. THREE!!!!! i'm so blessed, honored and more. ahhhh i wanna jump up and down screaming. this is the life and i am freakin' living it. :D

until next time.. deuces!

if only i made it on time to experience this... FLASH MOB!