I Probably Should Make My Blog Public again

I would say my run today was moderate, not easy but not tempo.  But then, I have no way of knowing because I couldn't find my watch before I left.

I started off with a little spring in my step and decided to just go with it.  I was going good and then I really found my rhythm at mile 3.  The last two miles I got progressively faster.  I sorta wish I had my watch, but I think it's probably better that I didn't.  I have a tendency to become obsessed with my pace and I think it is a limiting factor for me.  I was happy to go by feel.

I was fooled because on the way home from school it was sunny and 62, but when I actually went out for a run it was cloudy, dreary, and colder.  I almost went out in a t-shirt, but decided to put on a long sleeve t, and I was a little chilly.

I was limited on time today, so hopefully I will be able to get in a longer run tomorrow.

I started off a little fast because the weather was threatening, and sure enough, around mile 3, the wind got a lot stronger and it started to rain.  The rain itself wasn't bad, but the temp dropped and I wasn't dressed appropriately.  I finished another 3--I had a hard time deciding what distance I should do, so ran almost all of my normal 5 mile route and then decided that if I went close to home I would just stop, so I turned around and did a mile loop close to my house.

All in all it was a good run, but would you believe I left without my watch again?  This time it was unintentional.

I'm nervous about getting in a long run this Sat, since my sister decided last minute to have a birthday party at her house, so we're going to Chicago (again).  I will wake up a little early on Saturday, but we need to arrive at her house by noon, so that usually means we have to be ready to go at 9 since for some reason it always takes about an hour to get out the door.  I'll wake up early and do what I can.  I'm a little nervous about the 1/2 marathon I'm doing next week, but I'm viewing it as training, not as a race.  I'll be fine whether or not I get in the miles that I want to on Saturday.  I suppose I can try to do it on Sunday instead.

Wore my old shoes.  That was a mistake.  My left heel hurts.  I'll see how it feels when I run tomorrow morning.

I always find that the day after I take off, I'm always a little fast starting off.  Today I was a bit fast, but I decided to go with it and I had a great run.

Since we were supposed to have thunderstorms on and off today, I planned my run so that if it started to rain, after 3 miles I would be close to the gym.  If not, I could head back home and finish 2 6 mile loops.  When I hit about 3 miles, I was running roughly 8:30 pace.  It was starting to rain, so I decided to head to the gym and continue to run fast using the treadmill to push me.  I ran another .55 miles to the gym

I ran 3 miles at 8:34 pace on the treadmill and stopped for some hammer gel and water.  Then I ran 3 more.

I looked out the door and it was just lightly raining, so I decided to run back home.  I did a 1.55 miles slow (didn't look at pace and forgot to start my watch anyway) and then decided that I felt pretty good and wanted to go a little faster.  I picked up the pace a bit, but still forgot to start my watch.  At about 1.3 miles left I stopped for about a minute to stretch my left arm because my chest felt tight.  Then I ran back home.  My last mile was around 8:45.  I'm counting everything as fast except for the 1.55.

It would be great if I could duplicate this run on Saturday.

Ran a short recovery run on the treadmill.  I averaged 9:20 pace.  I have a blister on the inside of my big toe that hurts a little bit, but I haven't looked at it yet.  I know it's from yesterday because I didn't lube up well enough.

This week's plan isn't a good one.  Because I have an appointment on Wednesday, I decided to take that day off, which means that I had to do 2 days of active recovery after Sunday's hard run. I was a little bit sore/tired during and after this run, but now I get a day of rest.   This run was avg. 10 min pace.

On Thursday I'm going to try to head back outside and run 5 or 6 miles and then Friday run very lightly.  I'm afraid that if I take Friday off completely that I'll start out too fast on Saturday.

I have no idea what to expect on Saturday and I'm a little nervous, but in a good way.  I have a feeling that deciding to run with someone could either be good, or could severely get in the way of how I'd like to run.  I don't think I'll abandon my partner during the race, but I hope he's ready!  He told me that he wasn't sure if he could run as fast as I want to, but he also said that he will not fall behind.  We'll see!

I managed to squeeze in 3.7 before a track meet.  I volunteered to be the head timer for our first home track meet.  It was fun and good to be surrounded by running.  

Now for the complaints.  After standing for a few hours yesterday at the track meet, I'm kinda tired and my back hurts a bit.  I'm hoping to get some quality zzzzz's before tomorrow's race.

I went to pick up my race packet and the wind was BRUTAL!  It isn't supposed to be as windy tomorrow morning, but it is supposed to be quite a bit colder.  I'm trying now to finalize my attire!  I'm looking forward to it.

I am incredible.  I am awesome.  All those other runners in front of me?  They got nothin on me.

I am so incredibly happy after this 1/2 marathon.  I beat my supersecret goal by almost 2 minutes.  Everything was perfect today--my hydration, my fueling, the weather, my attire--all awesome!

So I really need a garmin.  I had a watch and 1) I missed some of the early mile markers 2) didn't start pushing the lap button until 6 miles into the race 3) accidentally erased all my data 10 minutes after I finished.

What are you gonna do?

So here's what I remember:  I met my running partner at an off the beaten path location, which was totally not my idea but totally smart.  His dad works at U of I, so we met at one of the buildings he maintains.  I was a little nervous about 45 minutes before the race where we met, but I ate well last night, had my standard morning cereal about 2 hours before the race, was drinking my gatorade, and popped a couple ibuprofen.  We jogged slowly toward the start line about 10 minutes before the race, which was the only mistake of the day.  The start line was so clogged that we couldn't get close to the pace team that we wanted to run with (we were stuck behind the 4:45 marathoners).  But we turned it into a positive because we had wanted to start off slowly anyway.

I missed the first mile marker completely.  We crossed the second mile at 17:18.  Then I don't remember until 6 miles (just after I saw my husband and kids--my husband trying valiently to get a picture of us running and then cutting across the field to take more because he didn't have the camera set correctly--I was yelling "Change the setting!" and the runners around me were laughing).  We hit that at 50:53, just under 8:30 pace.  I had a Gu at about mile 7, one of the race provided ones.  It was thicker than what I'm used to--I usually use hammer gels--and a disgusting chocolate flavor.  I choked it down and chased it with water.

The only other split I remember was mile 8 (I think) at a little over 1:15.  I'm terrible (about remembering, but still totally awesome at running).

I started flagging a little at about mile 11, but I kept up with my partner.  It was nice:  I led us in the first 7 miles (he told me afterwards that at certain times when I was weaving around slower runners that he was thinking "Are you kidding?  I don't think I can do this") but he really helped me a lot in the last 6 miles--I know I wouldn't have run as fast if I wasn't running with him because I didn't want to be shown up.

I got more energized a bit before mile 12 because our school cheerleaders were on the corner right where the marathoners and 1/2 marathoners split.  They saw us and let out a roar!  It was great!  And totally needed at that point.

The rest was hard.  I know with better fitness I will go faster next time.  With about .75 to go I gestured to my runner partner to go ahead, but I kept up with him when he picked up the pace (that was smart of me).  With .2 left he got a burst of energy and yelled at me to keep up as we ran into memorial stadium.  I tried valiantly, but he ended up beating me by 10-15 seconds.  Next time I'll get him--we already decided to run together next year.

I think my watch said 1:50.20 when I crossed the finish, but I'll correct as necessary when race results are posted.  I was just so excited to post this entry!

Hooray for me!

update:

How's this for a bunch of hooey?  I'm looking up race results for my official time, and I'm not listed.  Neither is the kid I ran with.  I emailed the keeper of the list to see if there is some explanation, but I'm disappointed.  Hopefully there's a good explanation and a good fix.  Oh, and it was mile 9 that we crossed at 1:15 or so.

 update to my first update:

 Okay, so I am finally listed!  They must have missed a bunch of people because according to the paper I was roughly 166 of all the women, and now I'm officially 174.  I'm just relieved that I officially ran.

So:  I was 726th overall (out of 3752 runners)

I was 34th in my age division (out of 308)

I was 174 out of 2097 women.

Not bad.  I'm still pretty excited.

After a day of non-stop eating yesterday, I'm surprised that this run was pretty good.  I just ran at an easy pace in the dreary wetness of today.  

I got a nap today while my youngest was sleeping and my oldest and my nephew played quietly in a bedroom.  They left me undisturbed for a good 2 hours.  This was a historic moment.

I did 3 miles at 9:05 pace and then 2 miles at 8:49 pace.  All on treadmill--it was cold, windy, and I didn't run until later than normal.

The run itself was fine, but I'm having stomach issues.  I don't know if anyone else is like this, but if I have a significant change in diet, even if it's just one meal (like on Easter I ate some richer foods that I don't normally eat) my stomach bothers me for days.  It's quite annoying.  So I really wanted to stop running from mile 1 on, just because I was uncomfortable, but it was only slightly so I finished my run.  I hope this subsides today before I go running, otherwise I'll just do another easy paced run.

Something in my chest has also been bothering me for the last 2 weeks or so, but I can't pinpoint the location.  Sometimes it feels like my chest but other times it feels like my back.  It's probably a ligament or something?  I've had this feeling before.  I should probably schedule a doctor's visit, but I probably will just wait it out.

I didn't feel too slow yesterday, but I did have to stop for about a minute after 4.5 miles while a stomach cramp subsided.  But I forced myself to continue, even though I wasn't feeling it so much.

I don't have a game plan for the short-term yet as far as running is concerned (besides a 5K next weekend and a 10K the weekend after that).  I'm thinking another 1/2 marathon this summer, but I don't know when.  My brother is doing a triathlon at the end of August--I'm thinking about that, but I don't know how that'll fit in with my fall schedule.  

Lots of life-changing choices need to be made in the next month.  One is deciding whether I can balance school, work and coaching all at once.  I hate making decisions.

Hubby was late, dinner was late, bath and bedtime were late, this workout was late.  Bah.

This was a tempo run.  I ran out to meet Chuck and the kids at the Knights' park (via Murray Road and the Cemetery Road).  It was nice to run on some hills for a change.  

Sorry to all the people out west who are getting snow, but it was 74 and sunny here.  This was our first real spring day, but it isn't supposed to last--next week it'll be in the 50s.

I did a warmup mile (8:30) and then did 3 min. fast, 3 min. slow.  I did this 8 times throughout the run, ending my last fast time about 1/2 mile from home, so I just did a 1/2 mile cooldown. 

My average pace for this run was 8:21.  I'm guessing my fast miles--it was probably some distance between 3.1 and 3.2, but I'll give myself credit for 7:30 fast pace.

Every time I do an actual workout instead of just running (which isn't nearly often enough, I don't think) I think that I should invest in a garmin.  Maybe when school ends (only 3 more weeks--how insanely awesome is that?).

I just did an easy run.  I took the day off work today because I am getting together with my old college roommates.  I'm very excited.  We haven't all gotten together other than for weddings pretty much since we all went our separate ways.

My game plan for today's run didn't happen the way I envisioned it.  I wanted to do a trial 5K.

But I was stressed at work, had a headache when I came home, husband got home late.  So I went to the gym because I had to run after dinner when it was getting dark.

I thought it would be maybe better on a treadmill, but it wasn't for some reason.  I warmed up, did one mile at 7:30 and then couldn't force myself to continue at that pace.  I slowed down some on the next mile (to 8:34 for a couple minutes and then sped up to 8).  I hung on to that pace for 2 miles and then cooled down. 

I think my goal of somewhere in the 22's for the 5K needs to be revised.  I will be happy if I am somewhere from 23-23:30.  Over the summer I'll shoot for the 22's.

I was actually able to run tonight without worrying about getting finished fast since my husband took the kids to clean his sister's yard and out to the farm.  He wanted me to pick them up when I was done running, but I need to get some stuff done without them (packing and bills and whatnot) plus I wanted to run a little bit longer than normal.  Hooray for little victories.

So here I am blogging instead of paying bills....

I started a normal 8 mile route and then changed my plan slightly because to get in 8 miles I get near my house at mile 7 and then run out again and I didn't want to take the chance that I'd get lazy.  So I ran out 4 miles and then ran back the same route so mile 4 was a nice steady uphill (with the wind) and mile 5 was back downhill (against the wind, which seemed stronger than the 14 mph than it was.  But man does it make a difference when the wind is accompanied by sunshine and 70 degrees). 

My pace was all over the map, but none of my miles was slower than 9 min or faster than 8:20 (and that was the uphill but with the wind mile).  I averaged 8:48.

I woke up at 5 to get in 3.2 before work.  I thought about doing 4 and it's a good thing I didn't.  I was already running late because I had to pack the car.

I started off too fast but soon settled into a nice and easy slow pace.  Didn't wear my watch.

I woke up this morning at 7 and panicked because my race was at 9 in the city.  While I was rushing around, throwing on clothes and popping a muffin in the toaster to take on the road, I discovered it was only 6 and I had plenty of time.

My friend organized the race for colon cancer research (she lost her fiancee to colon cancer 6 years ago.  He was only 24).  It was in beautiful Lincoln Park, right along the lake front.  My drive was nice, but parking was stressful.  I definitely don't miss city driving.

I ran from my car to the site--just a little over a mile. Then I waited for another friend I had recruited to run.  She ended up being late, so I warmed up another 1.5 miles by myself.   It started to pour about 15 minutes before the race.  My friend actually ended up running in the pouring rain from the el (they got off at the wrong stop) and made it just 3 minutes before the start.  The rain miraculously stopped right before the gun.  We were pretty far back when they started, but it was okay.

My first two miles I was on 7:25 pace.  I always struggle the last mile, but I just kept telling myself, "I have a cramp; I'm fighting through it" and "This wind really sucks, but I'm so close to the end."  I know I slowed down (my last 1.1 averaged 7:48 pace), but I'll work on it.

I did a lot of passing, and I was passed by only 1 woman and 1 man.  That ain't bad.

My friend and I cooled down back to the car.  Reeeeeeaaaally slooooooooow.  She is not fast.

My time was 23:26.  I'm happy.  There were 236 runners (although some of the times listed as runners had to have walked it).  And I was the 7th female!  That makes me feel good.

Then my son bruised my nose (accident) and my mom forced me to go on a zoo death march.  I'm exhausted.  And my nose hurts.

Apparently I have a mild concussion from my blow to the nose on Saturday.  I won't be running until I feel right again.  

Is it wrong that I'm amused?