Football

I don't have any upcoming races so I thought I would change it up a bit and talk about football.

Through week 8 of the NFL, I am 77-39 with my picks. I won week 7 of my pool, with one wrong pick, but correctly guessing the score of the Monday night game. This has gone to my head a bit. I feel like I have some authority on football picks now, even though it's totally luck. Anyway, I'm going to start posting my weekly picks here for the remainder of the season, with some added commentary.

Without further ado, here are my week 9 picks (additional commentary provided by JoJo):

NTJ @ Buffalo - "..after last week with Miami destroying them I think they are looking for blood" - J. I agree 100% and will also add that Brett should not have won last week the way he was playing.

Detroit @ Chicago - I cannot stand the trash talk from the Lions QB last year. Still bitter.

Jacksonville @ Cincinnati - Every time Garrard throws a TD, Crohn's & Colitis gets $10,000.

Baltimore @ Cleveland - Are they finally starting to play like they did last year?

Tampa Bay @ KC - "Jon Gruden instills the fear of god into his team" - J

Houston @ Min - Minnesota is favored by 4.5 and at home, I think this may be my upset pick of the week, if you can even call it that.

Arizona @ St. Louis - This game could go either way if you ask me, so I default to the home team.

Green Bay @ Tennessee - I am a huge huge huge, GB fan, but to make it more interesting this week, I'm going against them in my picks. Then it's win/win for me.

Miami @ Denver - Mascot pick: Broncos beat Dolphins.

Dallas @ NYG - "Dallas had high hopes but they have fallen apart i would def. take Giants" -J

Atl @ Oakland - Atlanta is a great city. I really got nothing here.

Philly @ Seattle - "Seahawks put on a nice show but Westbrook is back so eagles might pick it up a notch." -J

New England @ Indy - I think Indy is looking for redemption over their loss last week to the Titans...

Monday: Pittsburgh @ Washington - I have a DC drivers license and a redskins loving boyfriend, so why not!
Total Points: 42 - no rhyme or reason

College football update:
Buckeyes and Terps are off this weekend... so the Tide gets my undivided attention on Saturday. Wait, when did I become a 'bama fan. Crazy! Love that Leigh Tiffin.
and finally... a baseball update:
For your viewing pleasure, Grady Sizemore: http://www.mensvogue.com/magazine/articles/2008/10/grady-sizemore

That's all folks... off to Chicago for the long weekend!

Marine Corps Weekend

I'm not longer running the 10k this weekend (for medical reasons... I want to, but my mother would kill me) ...but I still got to enjoy the race expo last night. I think I must have a sticker on my forehead that says "sucker" when I walk into these things. I literally buy every new product. Last night was an all time low for me. I bought some strap that goes around my boobs to give me more support when I run. I tried it this morning and while it actually works, it's very uncomfortable.

I want to wish everyone running the Marathon this weekend a ton of luck! I will be out there cheering everyone on, especially Chuck Bell from NBC4, Andy Baldwin from the Bachelor, and most importantly my amazing boyfriend. I'm so proud of him for all the hard work he's put into his training.

I have a special outfit picked out for race day (lets just call it an Erbear Original). I promise this time to actually post pictures of it afterward.

13.1 vs. 10

I've never trained for a 10 mile race before. I just assumed that if I could run a half marathon, 10 miles would be a piece of cake. However, in my mind I was having a hard time visualizing the difference. It wasn't until I actual ran my first 10 mile race that was I able fully comprehend the 3.1 mile difference.

At mile 8.5 of the Army Ten Miler it hit me! Only 1.5 miles to go (huge smile on my face). If I had been running a half I still would have another 4.6 miles to go. That is where I finally realized the difference. It's not in 3.1 mile difference, it's at mile 9, when you only have one more to go!

26,000 Army Strong!

Yesterday, was the Army 10 Miler, the largest ten mile race in the country.

It was a beautiful day in the district, 52 degrees when I woke up at 5 a.m. Walking to the metro, I had goose bumps on my legs, so I knew it would be a good running day. You know it's a large race when everyone on the metro had race numbers on. It was quite a site.

As we arrived at the Pentagon, the sun was just rising above the Potomac. It was truly a beautiful October morning. With the weather on my side, the only real concern I had was the sheer volume of racers I would be tripping over the first couple of miles. A plane took off from Reagan National Airport as the gun went off. I could only imagine the captain coming on the loud speaker telling the passengers to look out their left window. Twenty plus thousand racers were lined up to take to the streets of DC.

My partner in crime told me to just look at my feet until things spaced out a bit. That I did. I went with the flow of the crowd and ran the first mile in 8:51. This is the first race I ran with my new watch. It confirmed how great of a purchase this was. I wrote all goal split times down on a post-it note last week and memorized them, along with my overall goal time. After the first six miles, I was well ahead of my pace. I had planned to do a negative split time, but was feeling good during the first half and knew there were some difficult hills at the end, so with my eye on my watch, I reevaluated the course and decided to do a positive split. I hit six miles about two minutes ahead of schedule. Miles seven and eight were my slowest miles, but I knew I had to save my energy for the last mile. After running the previous two miles at a 10 minute pace, I pushed hard through mile 10. I had 8:30 left on my watch before I hit my goal time. I ran that last mile in 8:49. I crossed the finish line at 1:37:24... only 19 seconds after my goal time. I was pretty damn pleased!!!!!!

Overall, I was very happy with my ten miler performance. I would like to work on pushing through the miles right after the half way point better. I was successful at managing the water stops, even with the crowds. I jogged through them, not stopping or walking, but thinking of them as a rest point, which helped mentally. I run hills everyday living in DC, but they are still something that I struggle with. I had some minor foot issues around mile 8/9, but during a race it doesn't seem to affect me as much as training. While I hit my goal, I still think of each race as a learning and growing experience.

Flashing back two days, the race expo was great. I got a shirt that I wore on race day that says "Will Run for Ice Cream." I got a lot of cheers for "Ice Cream Girl" during the race!

This was definitely a great race. The crowd, the other runners, and the course made it an exciting morning. I wish there was a better way to get back to Virgina at the end, but every course has its challenging sections. I'll definitely sign-up again next year!