Let's Talk About Me... Wait, We Always Do!!!

Hello everyone! Life is crazy (as always). After our NYC weekend, I ended up with Bronchitis and a bacterial infection in my lungs which put a little bit of a damper on running for a little while (about 2 weeks). I basically ran only on race day for 2 weeks straight. Here are the race reports and a marathon update from the past 3 weekends.

Washington DC - Army 10 miler:
We drove down to DC after school on Friday - a 7 hour drive when we were both very sick. We arrived in DC at Mimi and Erich's house (sorry to both of you for our non-stop runny noses, coughing, etc.). It was a beautiful weekend in DC. We went to the National Portrait Gallery on Saturday after packet pickup. The Gallery was enormous. It was so cool though. I can't believe how many pictures and paintings there are in that building. We spent a good 2 1/2 hours there and didn't get through half of it. We then headed back to Erich's house to order pizza for Radius (some of the best pizza I have ever had), watched a little of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and headed to bed early. The next day we wake up early, get on the metro, and arrive at the Pentagon in the dark. This is the biggest production I have ever seen. There were armed army officers everywhere. There were even security dogs. We wandered around for a while found the port-a-potties, found the baggage check, watched the Canadian parachute team do formations after jumping from a plane, and then went through security to get to our starting corrals. Yes, I said security - no electronic devices, no bags, and no beverages over 6 ounces. This was the most secure race I have ever been a part of. It is also the most organized race I have ever been a part of which was great for me since I am a little obsessive about having organized events. The first wave started at 8 am, Erich and Joe were off - not that I could see them as I was in a parking lot and they were up on a road about a 1/2 mile from where I was standing. I was in the bathroom line again when their wave went off which was great since no one was waiting for them at that point. I had been warming up for about 20 minutes by this point so I bathroomed it, found my corral and stretched. By the way, my warm-up consisted of running back and forth in an area inside of security since I would have had to go back through security again if I had left the area and the lines were far too long. So, my wave started at 8:10. Really??? The canon went off but we were still standing in the parking lot. 8:20 we were on the move through the parking lot and up a grassy incline (how come those of us who are the slowest have to go farther than those who are the fastest - oh, the irony) and at 8:25ish I am across the finish line. Why did I bother warming up??? Not sure, I will not do that next year. The race started well. I was running ok considering I was not feeling well. It was a little more hilly than we had anticipated and it was warm. Beautiful route though. We went by the Botanical Gardens which had these really cool "Earth's" outside. We went by a lot of monuments. Imaging running here everyday - how cool would that be. Then we got to mile 8. It went on a road that acts as an overpass. Holy crap!!! It was such a long incline. At this point not feeling well really started to hit home. I wanted to run my marathon race pace (11 min per mile) but had averaged under that up until this point. I didn't think I could keep it up. But we got past mile 9 and then to mile 10 and the finish. I finished in 1:48.32. A 10.51 per mile pace which was good for me during marathon training. I then had to navigate through the chaos of the 30,000 runners and their family members at the finish area at the Pentagon. I finally decided that Erich and Joe may have decided to go to baggage claim to wait for me since I would have to end up there at some point. After the race, Joe and I both felt awful. I told Erich and Joe that running this race was probably one of the worst moves I have ever made and I should have just stayed home today. Oh, well, hindsight is 20/20. We all know that next time I am sick and there is a race I will do exactly the same thing I did that day and feel bad after all over again. I finally found them at baggage check and we went back to Erich's, showered, ate, and I took a nap before the GPS took us on a screwy way home but we were home within 7 hours so it was ok. We will be back next year and hopefully we will be in better health and faster!!!

HMRRC 1/2 Marathon:
So, running 10 miles when sick is not a good idea. I didn't feel well the entire week leading up to this race. I finally felt ok to run on Saturday and the race was on Sunday. So, I guess I was really well rested for this one. My goal - to finish without relapsing into sickness again. We get to the start we find that it was much colder out than we had planned. We got to the start at a perfect time though. We got to use the bathrooms before the busses got there with all of the other runners who left their cars at the finishing area. (Those of you who are not runners don't understand how important bathroom time is to us runners.) When we got to the start and I decided that I was going to sacrifice a long sleeved shirt for my warmth. A mile in I lose the shirt - bye bye shirt. I feel like I kindof fell asleep for the first 4 miles - not really sure why but I did. After a sub-par mile 4 I kicked my butt into gear and started to race. Not sure what clicked but it was the best and longest tempo run/1/2 marathon race pace of my life. What a fantastic run too. I had a 5 minute PR in the 1/2 marathon. I ran it in 2:18. I finished before the first marathon finisher too. I knew I was on my upper limit as to my pace for this distance and kept waiting for the wall - I love when I hit the wall because it shows me that I have pushed as hard as I can and I learn where my limits are. The wall never came. It was a fabulous experience. I realized today that I have done all of my 1/2 marathons in Lake Placid or Schroon Lake which are incredibly hilly courses so who knows if my PR is one of just being on flat terrain or of me being in better shape. The downside of this run is that I have learned that my new shoes are great for up to 6 miles but over 6, I get a horrible blister on my heel. Need to fix this by next week if these are going to be my marathon shoes.

Marathon Training Run - 15.5 miles - What a great day. I felt great. It didn't feel like I ran that far but I did. I also can't believe how good my body felt the next day. How exciting!!! Blister worse though. I ordered new shoes. Thank you Alynn for riding your bike with me for 2hours and 50 minutes.

The Great Pumpkin Challenge - 10K
I love this race. It is really flat in the first 5K and then the second 5K is all hills. It is challenging once you get past mile 4. Today was a speed day. I wanted to average under 10 minutes per mile for the course which is tough on a hilly course for me. I am in great distance running shape but have not trained on hills because the San Antonio course is not hilly and I am not in 10K speed shape either with my focus on 11 min per mile workouts to make sure that I can PR at San Antonio. This was going to be hard for me even though it was only 6.2 miles. The course is through Saratoga State Park which is gorgeous so I was hoping that that would be a distraction enough for me to succeed. I went to warmup on this rainy, cold day and felt ok on my warm-up. I got to the starting line 5 minutes before the start time to stretch but we started late so by the time we started I was cold again. The first mile felt fast but wasn't what I wanted it to be - 10:08. The next mile was better 10:01 but still not fast enough. Mile 3 was great - 9:15. I was happy with that mile. Mile 4 was a 9:45 then mile 5 with 2 or 3 of the hills was slow at 10:08. Mile 6 was excellent even though I was struggling - this was a fast day for me and I was feeling the pain - 9:55. I finished on my watch at 1:00:56 which is my PR on the course. They had me at 1:01:17 which still may be a PR for me on that course. Nice and fast day!!! My new shoes are fantastic too. No knee or foot pain. No new blisters. No extension of the old blisters. I am happy with my performance of the day.

In conclusion:
So, I feel semi-confident in my abilities for the marathon on November 16. Next weekend is my longest run of my training. Hopefully that will go well and I will end marathon training on a high note. Then I go into the Stockadeathon in Schenectady where I want to do some more speed training for 9.3 miles (about the same pace as the Great Pumpkin Challenge just with 3 extra miles) which should help me with some speed and a little endurance late in training right before the main part of my taper. I really want to PR this marathon. I am not sure why it means that much to me but it does because I don't think I have given this distance a great try. I am faster than my previous times would show that I am.

So, I will end with my mantra that gets me through running hard and long because these are all true of my and my running.

I am strong
I am fast
I am visualizing pain leaving my body with every breath exhaled.

Talk to you all after my last long run next weekend. Have a good week.