My second half marathon did not go nearly as well as I hoped it would. I trained for eight weeks and then of course got sick the week before the race. It was a bad cold complete with fever, aches, and stuffy nose. I knew my loss of appetite would not be good for my training (yes, I still ran during the week, but not as much as I was supposed to).

I asked our Twitter and Facebook fans if they'd run if they were sick. The response was an overwhelming no. I know, I should have listened, but I'm stubborn! Plus I spent a total of $90 for registration and transportation.

But much to my surprise, my being sick was not the worst part of the race. The Tyranena Half Marathon ran out of water cups at miles 5 and 10! Come to find out later, they were reusing cups. This may have been the reason why I was able to get water at mile 8.

Let me back up and give more details on this excruciatingly awful race day. It was sunny, in the lower 70's, and the race began at 11:30. Race directors should have taken all of these conditions into mind and planned for more water.

As mile 4.6 approached, I was in need of water. I had the dehydration head and side aches. Mile 5: Where's the water?! Finally, after running up a hill nearing mile 5.5, I saw a table...but it was empty! Needless to say I was upset. They got water out of a well and poured it into my hands to drink. What was this?! This only exacerbated my horrible feelings.

The rest of the course was on a state trail. There were no first aid stations or patrol people to make sure everyone was at least alive. This worried me. Mile 10 came. No water. So I walked the rest of the race. I finished in 2:45, but I was a-okay with that. Oh, and they ran out of water bottles and bananas at the end of the race.

To cap it off, there was no medical tent at the end of the race. The DJ had to ask over the speaker system if there was a doctor on the grounds. I'm glad I didn't need any medical attention.

I've began training for my third half marathon. This one will be in Los Angeles. Even if it's bad conditions, just this fact alone will make it my favorite race. It already is!

Have you had a bad race experience? If so, please comment below.

I have my second half marathon coming up on Saturday. I'm running the Tyranena Beer Run in Lake Mills, Wisconsin. It's a small race- with the 1/6th marathon and half marathon totaling 1500 participants. When I told this to Adam, he said, "You could probably place!" So, as usual, this idea was put into my head. I've been jazzed about the race for a good week now, and even more so after I drove by the route the other day.

I mapped it out and it's a relatively flat race, much less hilly than my first in Madison, Wisconsin. Because of this, I hope to PR this race. Can I place? I looked up last year's results. Answer: I'll place pretty much smack in the middle of everyone. Oh well, this is just my second race! My goal is to eventually get to that point where I know I have a good shot at placing.

It'll be my first race for which roads are closed, I'll have to run on the left side, and run single-file. This will be interesting, but definitely a good experience. Knowing that I won't place, I now look forward to the lasagna, brewery tour, and the UW-Badger football game playing in the tent afterward!

Last week, three men died while running the Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Marathon. If you're not familiar with the story, three men, ages 26, 36, and 65, died within a 16-minute span. The 26 year old, Jon Fenlon, was diagnosed as a child with having a large heart, but was cleared to race numerous times. For Rick Brown, 65, this was one of over 50 marathons he ran. You can read more from the Detroit Free Press.

Reading this story has made me rethink my new love of running and my goals to run half marathons and full marathons. I'm pretty healthy, but I'm scared of sudden death caused by an unknown health condition. Then again, we face danger each time we step out of our homes. Should I also be scared to leave my house?

Running has taken over my life. If I stop now, what will I do? It's my exercise, my therapy, and my hobby. There's not much like it that can replace it.

For now, I'll continue running and let my fears subside...

Cut to the end of this entry, Adam may have inspired me to run a marathon!

Sunday began bitterly cold, but I figured if Adam was out running 26.2 in that weather, I could stand all bundled up and watch him! So, I bundled up, in clothes that I thought would keep me warm, and headed out to mile 8. If you were in Chicago on Sunday, you know that the city was hard to navigate through with all the street closures and crowds walking in all sorts of directions. My first "this is awesome" feeling came when I could hear roaring cheers before I could see any runners. The crowd was amazing, even in such cold weather! When I reached mile 8, I picked out a spot where my line of vision wouldn't be interrupted.

I watched as the front runners passed. Wow. The following group of runners looked so ambitious. This was my second inspirational experience.

I then realized that I had no idea what Adam was going to be wearing or even where he was placed in the pack. How was I going to find him? Well, I remembered he posted a picture of his marathon outfit, so I loaded it on my iPhone screen and stood there with it in hand trying to match my screen to the runners. It worked! I saw Adam as he turned the corner and I started cheering, or "quietly cheering" as Adam would later tell me!

As I walked home, I felt the urge to run. I didn't, but that's not the point! I never gave the idea of running a full marathon much thought until I saw one in action. Perhaps I will do one...We'll see!

I wear pink for my mom: On Sunday, September 27 I ran the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was a first of a lot of things for me: first 5k, first Race for the Cure, and my boyfriend's first race. It was quite the experience, one that I'll probably do every year.

This was also my first race I ran that benefited a cause as great as breast cancer awareness and research. So, as we approached the race grounds, I was in awe of how many people were participating-13,000! That, and how much pink was all around!

As great of a cause that this benefits, I was unhappy with how the race officials handled the event. First,it started 32 minutes late. There's nothing like a bunch of anxious runners waiting for the start of a race! Second, there was supposed to be a separation of walkers and runners. This, however, was not the case. There were a lot of walkers in the runners' path, slowing the runners down. Personally, I wasn't running for a PR, but I feel for those who were!

However, the general atmosphere of the whole morning was uplifting. As I stood waiting for the start, I realized that everyone there came in support or in memory of someone who was/is affected by breast cancer. It was a sort of supportive experience for me to know that a majority of the people that had experienced the same loss. I was both sad and happy at the same time. Strange!

Me nice and sweaty after the race:

It's crazy what two days, well now three of five days, off from running has done to my motivation. I woke up Monday morning knowing I had to get three miles in. I didn't do it. That's not like me. I finally ran later that night, but only after I sat and watched my favorite television shows. It also helped that my boyfriend is training for his first 5k and he wanted to run, so I got up and ran with him. Sidenote: I somehow convinced him to do the Susan G. Komen 5k, which takes place on Sunday, with me and my friend. It'll be his first race, and come to think of it, my first 5k.

I should backtrack and explain why I took these days off. I was out of town over the weekend enjoying all that is Las Vegas. I did sneak in 7 miles before my flight out of Chicago, though. So, come Monday morning, I was just not up to running.

I do have six miles to do tonight, which I am planning on doing. Perhaps this will help me get back on track.

iPhone + Running = "severe water damage": Another reason for my slip is my MP3 player situation. My iPhone suffered "severe water damage," according to the guy at Apple, and no longer works. He said it could've happened yesterday or six months ago; there's no way to tell. I had to buy a new one while on vacation.

Considering how much I paid for the iPhone to begin with, I treated it like it was my baby. I don't recall it ever getting wet. Then my friend asked me, "Do you run with it?" Ah ha! I do get grossly sweaty, and so does my armnband, so perhaps this was the reason. Thus, I will not be running with my new iPhone. This presents a great problem for me. I always run with music. I've never gone with out. I do have the first version of the Nano, but this can no longer be updated, so I'm stuck with music I listened to while in college- hardly the music I want to run to!

Such a conundrum.

Apparently I can't get enough running! A few days ago I decided to do the entire 13.1 Series. How and why did I decide to take on such a task, you ask? It all started when I signed up for the Susan G. Komen 5k.

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5k. My thought process goes as such:

1)I saw that Susan G. Komen also has a marathon and half marathon component. My first step in my grand decision was deciding that I was going to run half marathons and commit to raising $250 for the organization.

2) "Well, it'll be quite some time before I can run another half in decent weather. I'm going to run somewhere warm- like L.A.!" I looked up races for the months of November through March and found the inaugural 13.1 Los Angeles Marathon on January 10. Done.

3) "Hm. Why not just do the whole 13.1 series?"

And so, I am now going to complete the series. My goal is to do the eight races in about two and a half years.

The series takes place in Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Miami Beach, New York, Chicago, Boston, and Minneapolis.

Little did I know that when I started with WalkJogRun almost a year ago that I'd be running a bunch of half marathons... I like it!

Of course I'll blog about all of these, so stay tuned!

I took a week off after my half marathon. Well, as Adam put it, I cheated a couple days ago when I went for a 6-miler. So, after Labor Day weekend, I was itching to get back into running. Yesterday I put my gear on and set out for what had I planned on being a four mile run. Wow. At .6 miles I was aching! So I decided to just do two. Nope, that didn't work, either. So my four mile run turned into a 1.3 run. I didn't even want to log it in my Nike+ account.

But then again, this time last year I was struggling with 1.5 miles at 10-minute pace.

We'll see how my run goes today...

Today I ran the inaugural Madison Mini Marathon in Madison, Wisconsin. I was pretty excited the whole week leading up to this event, and I couldn't sleep most of the nights!

Race Start: I started with the 2:20 group. While I was standing there waiting for the start, I began to get really nervous. Finally it was my turn to cross the start line, so I started my Nike+ Sportband and I was off! My goal was to finish before at two hours exactly, despite my Runnersworld.com training schedule having me finish at 2:05.

I'm from Wisconsin, but I had never done a long-distance run there. I've been training on the flat, even surface of the Lakeshore Drive path in Chicago. I soon remembered how hilly Wisconsin is!

A summary of my thoughts throughout the race Mile 3: "Whoa, ten more miles?!" Mile 4: "Why is my Nike+ .3 miles off?" (This would soon stretch to .8 miles off. Not fun!)

Mile 6: "Well, only seven more to go." Mile 7: "Sweet, more than half way done!" Mile 9: "Alright, only four left." Mile 10: "Now it's just a 5k!" I picked up speed, and switched my iPod to play a bunch of power songs in a row.

Mile 11: "I'm at 1:43. I can do this!" Mile 12.9 "The finish line!"

I got a surge of adrenaline and started sprinting. I had no one around me, and I felt like I was the only one running the race! I crossed the finish line at 2:02:03. Nice! I got my finishers medal and was all smiles!

I will definitely do this race again. There were so many people cheering us on all along the route. Photos were taken on Madison's famous gigantic Memorial Union chair, which if you're familiar with them, was really exciting!

My results: There was a total of 2453 runners. I came in 1435th place, and 579/1278 for women. I was quite happy! I'm ready to sign up for my next half!

Just finished what I would call the worst run of my running career. Today in Chicago it's supposed to reach 90 degrees, so I figured a run at 10 am would beat some of that heat. However, perhaps I'm exaggerating, but by the end of the run, I thought I was feeling the beginnings of heat exhaustion. Don't worry, I'm fine!

As I headed down to the Lakeshore path, I heard what I thought were the planes practicing, which they've been doing all week, for the air show this weekend. Well, they weren't practicing, the show was actually going on! Once I hit the path I saw hundreds of people. It was too late to turn back as I already planned my 8-mile route on WalkJogRun. So I braved the unrelenting crowd as people decided not to move over for runners or bikers, stop in the middle of the path, and also have their little kids zig-zag across the path.

This brings me to my next point: I did not wear a shirt over my sports bra today, thinking I wouldn't be seeing this many people. I'm hoping I didn't offend anyone, but then again, there were many girls dressed as I was. And plus I was on the beach, where there were bikinis galore. I did wear my most modest bra though, which happens to be my favorite. Read on.

Favorite Sports Bra: The Under Armour Endure

I've tried out a fair amount of sports bras, and as my runs got longer, I started to buy the expensive specialty ones that gave super support. My first one, which I still like, I bought from Fleet Feet for $40. It's the Moving Forward brand, but I'm unsure of the style. I first liked it because it has an adjustable band with bra hooks. The only down fall of this one is that it's low-cut. If I simply wear a tank over it, I'm definitely putting on a show

Then I hit the jackpot when I decided to splurge and spend $50 on the Under Armour Endure. Pros: high cut so no cleavage is shown, lined so nothing else inappropriate is shown, and a cris-cross back. Cons: Well, I've had it for a couple weeks and the only con I can come up with is that it only comes in black and white. I would like to add a little more color to my runs!