I Probably Should Make My Blog Public again

Illinois Half Marathon

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Location:

Rantoul,IL,

Member Since:

May 12, 2008

Gender:

Female

Goal Type:

Marathon Finish

Running Accomplishments:

1/2 marathon  1:43:09--Illinois Marathon, April 2013

10K: 46:50--Safe Kids Run in Crystal Lake Park, April 2010

5K: 22:07--Jingle Bell Run, December 2009

Short-Term Running Goals:

Do another marathon AFTER GOOD TRAINING

 

1/2 marathon in 1:41 or under

 

Break Burt's 5K PR by 1 second

 

10K in 46:00 or under

 

Long-Term Running Goals:

Keep encouraging my family in their development of a healthy lifestyle

 

God willing, I will run until the end.

Personal:

I run with God. I use my running time to contemplate, to pray and to listen for His call. I'm married to a non-runner, but a supportive one, and we have four children.

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Iso Lifetime Miles: 133.20
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
16.5014.1030.60
Light Blue Saucony Miles: 18.60
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
6.000.006.00

Oh, fastrunningblog, I wish I had time for you right now!

Add Comment
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
4.501.005.50

This is the first good run I've had in more than a week.  I did 4 x 400 on the track.  Each 400 was between 1:40 and 1:45, which was where I was aiming.  Felt good, though it was on the hot side and was exceptionally windy.

Light Blue Saucony Miles: 5.50
Comments(1)
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
3.000.003.00

If I were to create a site called fastreadingblog, I'd be at the top of the reading board for this week for sure.  After I finished Fall of Giants (I wish I had waiting till summer 2012 to finish this one so I didn't have to wait for the next one) I finished The Art of Racing in the Rain

I think that would be a good site.  Every night you post how much you read and the time it takes you to read that number of pages.  Then, like we have race entries, you could do a special entry for a book review and how long it took you to read the book.  Then I could brag all up and down about how fast I read.  I could figure out my PR for a book and keep trying to read things faster and faster without sacrificing comprehension. I could spend years trying to break the 30 seconds per page barrier.

I think I'd probably be the best reader on the blog.  I could give people advice on how to read faster and better.  I could critique their technique (I don't agree with the "eye sweep" technique of reading, for instance).  I could give them advice on their training (I train on InTouch magazines).  I'd probably have thousands and thousands of followers. 

Anyway, last night I was cursing you, April27, for recommending that book.  I almost didn't finish it because it was so depressing.  When I got to page 200 (that's Nook pages, so I don't know how long the book actually is) I knew I was going to spend the next 50 pages crying, and I didn't want to finish it.  The book was fairly predictable, but I wasn't sure if it was going to have a happy ending or not.  So I stayed up and finished, and was glad I did.  It was a good read if you don't mind misting for most of the book and if you don't mind knowing what's going to happen.  I did end up liking it, though, and would recommend it for the ladies.  But it's a beach read, if you know what I mean.

I know my husband will not read it, so I don't know if I would recommend it for the gentlemen.

Oh, yeah.  I also ran.  I'm finally feeling pumped for the 1/2 on Saturday.

Comments(10)
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
3.000.003.00

Another quick 3.  I was going to do a couple tempo miles on this run, but the wind made me decide against it.  I thought I'd rather have an enjoyable run to get me feeling good rather than one that might make me feel less confident :)

Comments(3)
Race: Illinois Half Marathon (13.1 Miles) 01:50:47, Place in age division: 32
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
0.0013.1013.10

Not my finest hour to date, but still fairly respectable.  I knew going in that my training was not particularly great, but I was shooting for around 1:50 anyway.

It was a windy day (between 20 and 25 mph, with stronger gusts), but it was warm AND overcast.  I could have done without the wind, but really, I couldn't have asked for better weather.  

I ran with my brother Greg, my running buddy, Jason, from the past two years, and two friends of his from school, Brock and Adam.  We all stayed together till about mile 8, when Jason was falling behind.  We tried to keep him with us, but he told us at the end that he had already decided to just run his own pace.  Greg and I stayed with Brock and Adam about one more mile, but they started to get faster and we started to slow a little.  

I felt great till mile 8, good till mile 10, mentally struggled through mile 12, and then I just tried to push into the finish. At mile 11ish I finally told my bro that I was struggling and needed encouragement, and he didn't quite get it at first.  Instead he just said, "I encourage you."  He did get it after a bit, but he kept saying, "Come on, let's pick up the pace."  I kept telling him to just go, thinking that maybe if he accelerated, I could follow on his heels.  But he (rightfully so) thought that I would just slow down.  I'm not sure which I would have done, follow or slow, but he said afterward that he didn't think he could accelerate.  But we finished strong.

Splits were 8:28, 8:22, 8:15, 8:18, 8:30 (but this was when I noticed that my watch was measuring long, so I hit the lap button when I passed the mile marker to keep my splits even.  Miles 3 and 4 were a little slower than my watch says), 8:21, 8:29, 8:31, 8:23, 8:36, 8:34, 8:41, 8:21, and then 6:52 pace at the end.  My splits show exactly what I was feeling.

Lots of bright sides:  I felt relaxed and enjoyed running with my bro, had some good conversation with Jason in the first several miles, didn't stop to walk through a single water station, kept pace with my bro at the end, and this is the first long race I've done where my second toes' nails did not get bruised.  Yay!  I do, though, have a lot more blisters than usual. 

On another great note, my running buddy Jason beat cancer this year, and ended his race feeling good with a time of 1:54:43.  I'm proud of him.  Last year when he was sick but didn't yet know it was cancer, he ran a 1:57:42.  I'm thinking about writing a letter to the paper.  There's a good running story for them.  The only thing that is holding me back is that I think he'd be pretty embarrassed.  But man, what a kid!

Light Blue Saucony Miles: 13.10
Comments(10)
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
16.5014.1030.60
Light Blue Saucony Miles: 18.60
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