The Expo

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Colleen Lerro

At the race expo with mascots Miles and Molly after I won a supersize goodie bag!

I’m a big time running nerd so I get really excited about race expos. The Marine Corps Marathon (MCM) expo was held at the D.C. Armory, and opened the Thursday before the race. I put in a few extra hours at the beginning of the week and got a sub for my Thursday boot camp so I could be there right at 3:30 for the opening ceremonies. This was partly because I’d seen on their Facebook page that they’d be giving away 36 supersize goodie bags, and you had a good chance of winning if you showed up early on day one. I was determined to win one!

Unfortunately there were already a hundred or so people in line when I arrived so I was not among the first 20 who got to play a game for the first two goodie bags. I was a bit bummed, but still really excited to be at the expo. The marines are nothing if not organized so picking up my bib and my shirt was a pretty easy process. I spent awhile in the Brooks booth browsing the official gear and settled on a white, long sleeve, half-zip running shirt and a pint glass (clearly hoping to do a little post-race celebrating).

I weaved my way through the rest of the expo stopping at just about every booth (like I said, I’m a nerd). Pacers showed me some really cool Mizuno gloves that actually warm up with liquid contact, i.e. rain, snow, sweat, etc. I might be buying a pair of those before the winter ends. I tried on a pair of Yurbuds, which fit my ears really well as opposed to most of my ear buds that just pop out every few minutes as I run. They also let in outside noise so you can stay aware of your surroundings. I picked up flyers for other races and chatted with the Team in Training group too. I did my first marathon with them while raising $4,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and had an absolute blast. I hope to do another race with them sometime soon.

I finally decided it was time to go, but gave one last check of the MCM Facebook and twitter feeds, and saw they’d just tweeted that the first two people to find their mascot, Miles, and whisper Oorah would win the supersize goodie bags. Well, I was off and running and eventually spotted Miles to become the first winner. I was so pumped and the goodies were awesome! The bag itself was made out of recycled race banners from previous MCM’s, and was filled with a certificate for new Brooks running sneaks, sunglasses, numerous gift cards and more! It was a very cool way to integrate social media into their race, which they did a very impressive job of leading up to and even during their race. Stay tuned for a race day recap!

Some of the cool schwag I got as part of my supersize goodie bag!

Listening to An Olympian

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Colleen Lerro

I saw Magda Boulet, an Olympic marathoner, speak at Pacers in Alexandria last night and loved it! My only brush with Olympic glory came when I won a raffle in the sixth grade to carry the Olympic Torch as it passed through our elementary school grounds on its way to Atlanta, so getting to meet a real Olympian was pretty cool. Her story is really inspiring. She actually became a U.S. citizen on September 11, 2001. Magda shared details about her experiences starting with a disastrous race at the Twin Cities Marathon that left her thinking about giving up on professional running altogether to the race of her life in Boston where she qualified for the Olympics. She talked about the devastation of dropping out of the race in Beijing due to a fluke injury and her hopes for London 2012.

Magda provides training tips and stories from her own experiences.

Robert Gillanders, a local physical therapist (PT) and marathon runner, also spoke at the event. To say that I’m not really one to go to a doctor for injuries is a bit of an understatement, but I actually really liked what he had to stay. He talked about how common running injuries are, but noted that physically being in pain doesn’t have to be a necessary part of running. He views himself like a mechanic that can assess where you are weak and how you can get stronger in those areas so you can be more efficient, take on higher training loads and see performance gains. Magda talked about using a PT for “pre-hab” rather than rehab. She said she needed someone to look at all the pieces and see what was missing so she could get better.

Going to events like this always gets me all motivated to get out and run, but they also get me excited about new gear. Despite my background in communications and marketing, I’m a total sucker for these kinds of things. My favorite from last night – the 008 hydration vest from Nathan designed with input from Magda. Like me, she hates running with anything around her waist, in her hands or in her pockets, so this backpack is perfect. It’s super light and has pockets in front for easy access. We’ll see how long I can hold off before making this my next purchase!

Check out video of the event at MoveForwardPT.com.

Setting A PR

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Colleen Lerro

For runners, setting a new PR is a big deal. We spend countless hours designing plans with extra speedwork and just the right amount of mileage in hopes of hitting a new personal best.

I ran my seventh marathon in the Twin Cities this past weekend and finally cracked the 4-hour mark by a good chunk of time! This race was actually part of my training along the way to the Marine Corps Marathon at the end of October and served as the second of my three 20+ milers I have planned. I have a habit of signing up for these races and for one reason (read: excuse) or the other, not actually following through with the necessary training. Also, I did a few destination races that were more about the trip than the race, so I’d never been able to beat the 4-hour mark I’d hoped to surpass.

This race was different. Aside from an eight-day running hiatus around Labor Day weekend (yikes!), I’d done a pretty good job of sticking to my training plan. I felt great at the start and pushed a little harder than I planned finishing in 3:48:03. The course was beautiful. They’re not lying when they call their race the most beautiful urban marathon in the country. The weather was perfect – sunny with temps ranging from the mid-40s at the start to about 60 at the finish. The best part about it though might have been the start line. Staged at the Metrodome, we could wait inside in the warmth and use indoor bathrooms before making our way to the starting line! this probably made me way happier than it should have as I’m a bit of a cold weather wimp.

My boyfriend, who lives in Minneapolis, informed me that there were no hills there so I figured that would make things easier. This was not true however, I found out in the second half of the race as the course rolled up and down for about 10 miles – nothing too tough though or any uphills that left you exhausted. Any anger over this misinformation quickly went away when I spotted him and some of his family at mile 22 to cheer me on. I had slowed up a bit between miles 18 and 22, and that was just the boost I needed to get me moving to the finish line!

I don’t know why, but I started laughing for the last 50 yards to the finish line. I guess I did voluntarily sign up to run 26.2 miles, so clearly you know I am a little crazy, but it was also the overwhelming excitement of realizing I was crushing my pervious personal best by 25 minutes. The problem with PRs in running though is that once you get one, you just want another…and, well I’m only 13 minutes away from qualifying for Boston, so I guess it’s time to draw up another training plan.