What was your watershed moment?

Tonight we took a tour of a local distillery here called Watershed Distillery. Totally cool opportunity to see how the alcohol we enjoy are made! They make a nice vodka, a gin (first time I had gin) and are starting a bourbon that won't be ready until 2013. It is awesome to have a chance to try local spirits and support local businesses. Yet again, another Groupon deal but worth it!

When asked how they came up with the name of their Distillery, the owner who gave us the personalized tour said many things about how they got to the name. They were thinking about putting it in an area of town near a Watershed but that changed. But the idea for the name stuck with them as they developed a marketing plan around discovering what their customers' watershed moments were in life since opening/owning a distillery was their watershed moment. I forgot about the meaning of watershed moment until now. A watershed moment is when a moment in time where everything changes. Mine? I have two but one I will keep to myself. The other watershed moment for me that motivated me to begin my exercise and go from a couch to a half marathoner was being diagnosed with high blood pressure at what I considered to be a young age.

To call it a turning point technically is true, but it is an overly simplistic definition of the phrase. Think about it: what is your watershed moment? What one thing changed your life and you know it will never be the same?

My husband goes to PAI

Part of my 2011 initiative to get healthy was joining PAI Yoga & Fitness after purchasing a Living Social deal from them in December. I joined in January and have been going for 6 months now. I do like it quite a bit there. Enough that hubby & I joined them for a whitewater rafting retreat where he tried yoga for the first time. One of the beginning instructors that was at the retreat was kind enough to him to encourage him to go again to a "real" beginners class. We had yogis at the retreat varying from 10/12 years to like 6 months to a newbie. A true beginners class was definitely in order.

Since he is on vacation this week and I can't go anywhere due to work (end of quarter, yadda yadda yadda), I asked him to join my Monday night routine. I usually head to PAI for TRX & beginners yoga after work. Last week, PAI had a Groupon for 20 classes at $32. Quite a deal and we were lucky enough to get one of the 1,500 available. He used it last night. Half way through TRX, he asked if he could take a nap soon. He did great though - tried every pose and gave it his all. Not sure if he will go again but he tried it - and that is what I wanted. He did like beginners yoga with Kara (she is awesome). We're planning to go again Friday at lunch! So I may have turned Steve into a mini-yogi.....not sure - we'll see! I love yoga and I hope it catches on for him too.

Race Club 2011!

Fleet Feet Sports Columbus does a Race Club each summer where they give you a lists of races to participate in and once you do a certain number of them, you get a jacket. I did Race Club last summer to get a green Fleet Feet jacket. I had a great time and it was nice to know there'd be people I knew at each and every race this summer. I debated about joining again this summer but decided I would.

This year each race director is making a donation to Share Your Soles for every Race Clubber who signs up. I decided that would make it worth it. The races included are:

6/12 Race for Ellie – Powell
7/4 Westerville Rotary 5k – Westerville *
7/4 Freedom Four Miler – Lewis Center
7/9 Cinco de Julio - Downtown **
7/24 Wellness in the Woods 5k, 2 Miler – Scioto Audubon
7/31 Giant Eagle Multisport 5k – McPherson Commons Downtown *
8/13 Purplestride Columbus 5K - Bicentennial Park Downtown
9/4 Emerald City Quarter and Half Marathon – Dublin **
9/5 Run for the Health of it 4 Miler - Westerville *
9/23 Oktoberfest 5k – Columbus Fairgrounds *
9/25 EAS 5k and 10 Miler – Grove City
11/13 Buckeye Classic 10k – Highbanks Metro park *

I missed the first race but I am signing up for all the starred events. I am looking forward to next Monday's Westerville Rotary 5K as they are giving out awards for the top 3 walkers so it is competitive for walkers! So excited. I am pacing the Cinco De Julio Quatro Miler on the 9th in the 14 minute category and I'll be pacing the Quarter Marathon at Emerald City in September. I am also planning to do a neighbor race this Friday called the Firecracker Trot. Cheap, ($10), nearby and worth it!

Did I rock Cleveland or did it rock me???

Finally - the race recap everyone has been waiting to read! :) I traveled to Cleveland for my second attempt at the Cleveland Half Marathon. I had enjoyed the race last year and thought I had done well so I decided to sign up again.

I found a friend who wanted to race with me so we headed up to Cleveland on Saturday. The weather this year was not as good as it was last year. We went to pick up the packet at where the Expo was in 2010 but it wasn't there. The rain was pouring and we were getting nervous about whether or not race day would be a huge downpour! Once we found the race packet pick-up (all the way out in Euclid), we went back to the hotel and started getting ready. I laid my clothes out for the next day:

Short sleeves were planned in proud display of my training group, MIT but I had a feeling the rain would have me wearing their neon yellow training jacket from this season throughout the race. I was right! This is how I looked pre-race:

It was just barely drizzling at the start but the fog was really thick! You could hardly see towards the lake. I was not willing to spend the race cold and figured I could take it off during if I needed to. I never did. It was interesting watching my friend prep for the race as she is very different than me. MIT teaches you about proper nutrition, rest, making sure you know what you're wearing and the big thing: NOTHING NEW RACE DAY! I always heed those warnings because I am nervous of messing anything up. It works for me every time! We always start at the back where the walkers are. This year they said they would have pacing for walkers and I did see A pacer. Asked her what her plan was and it was 3 hours for the half and 6 for the full. Intriguing. I figured I'd pass her pretty easily. We were surprised to see her take off around mile 3 for the first rest stop as I was pretty sure that would get her off her pace goal. The race started and up a few hills by Browns stadium. Nothing too big - gradual - mostly ramps like up to a highway. It was different this time not having local people on the sidelines cheering me on in the beginning but I kept on. We were knocking out 13-13:15 minute paces for the first few miles without much thought. I felt so good during the entire race I kept thinking "Is it really this easy?" I enjoyed some of the support they had throughout the course - even doing the OSU cheer around mile 9 - but it wasn't nearly what the Cap City Half Marathon had had the previous weekend. Way to go Columbus! The return back into the city was right by Jacobs Field. We were smoking the race and I was getting mad because they were letting cars drive right across our path! It was annoying! My friend got a cramp around mile 10ish and I felt great so I kept going. We had agreed that if one felt better than the other, it was cool to go. I posted 2 miles under 12 minutes towards the end which helped pace me to my best race yet and another PR! Check out my official time:

Laurie Bilovesky #14643

Columbus, OH, USA

Age: 36 Gender: F

Distance	HALF MAR
Clock Time	02:56:14
Chip Time	02:46:38
Overall Place	30 / 13320
Gender Place	17 / 7424
Division Place	2 / 1171
Pace	12:42.6
Split10K	1:21:03

My division place (age group) was 2! I could not believe that. I am not sure I believe the other results but it could be based upon the walking category. Here is my finish picture:
Overall? The 2011 Cleveland Half Marathon was my best race yet but there were a lot of issues and I am not sure I'll go back again. They had problems with the timing and for days after, it looked like I did terrible (clock time versus chip time), the course was different but I liked it and they are moving the date to later in May for 2o12. I am proud of my time and excited to see myself get faster and faster...........