Spook-tacular October Running

[yellow]

Wow, Dianna, congratulations! Nothing like having your first half marathon be extra challenging! I'm glad you decided to do the event, even if your body and head were not quite in the place you wanted them to be.

I am sure that you will have a better experience at your next one. You have lots of time to recover and restore and now that you've done one you know what to expect.

Oak, you are soooo going to kick that half's bootie :-)

[GLC1968]

Great job, TrekDianna! You should be VERY proud of your accomplishment!

I did a half yesterday too. This same race was my first (and only) half marathon two years ago. It is the race that prompted me to sign up for 3 more in the spring of that year (all of which I had to pull out of due to my injury). The only reason I was signed up for this one in 2013 is because they automatically rolled me over into it for not racing in 2012. When I realized this mid-summer, I was nervous and thinking that I wasn't ready but figured, why not?

Last week, during my taper, my long run was 8 miles. I only managed 7 before I had to walk the last mile home because my foot hurt so badly. Oddly enough, I had no foot trouble for the 11 and 12 mile training runs of the previous weeks. So I was nervous about this race. I was well rested, I ran twice this past week, and the weather was very much to my liking (50's and dry). My plan was to just run. Not to worry about time or pace...just to run and keep it comfortable.

Started out at a good pace but kept it in check. Around mile 3 I started to think "OMG, I still have 10 miles to run? Ugh...I better get comfortable". Right around 6 - 7 miles, I started to lag, so I made the point of observing all the good things about the day. It was beautiful weather, a great temperature, I was doing a nice long run while someone else provided me with water, there were lots of funny outfits to observe, my husband was waiting for me at the finish, etc. As I was doing this, I realized that I did the exact same thing at the exact same spot 2 years ago (course was the same). Now I can't help but wonder if that part of the route was a false-flat or something?! Anyway, I also noticed that everyone was breathing hard but me. I was a bit chilled too, but I was afraid to push any harder for fear that my foot wouldn't make it the full 13.1 miles. I told myself that if I made it to 9 miles without pain, I could consider picking up the pace. When I hit 7, I immediately thought, "Oh goody! Only two more miles before I can run a little harder and warm up some!".

At 8, I picked up the pace just a tad. At 9, the same. By mile 10, I was feeling really good so I opened it up a little more. Between 8 and 12 are where the only two hills on the course fall. I buzzed up both of them, feeling incredibly strong. I flew past everyone! I think I'm built to run hills...I was barely breathing a little faster while everyone else was dying and resting/walking. This is not the first time I've observed this oddity. Go figure.

At mile 12, I realized that I'd just run strongly though the mile where I was dying 2 years ago. Back then, I almost quit. I was certainly hobbling (my hips were all of a sudden killing me). When I realized how good I still felt, I picked it up again. By 12.5, I really let it loose and RAN it in to the finish. I was leaping around people and smiling and having a grand old time. People seemed to like it as I got a ton of cheers! When I crossed the finish line, my husband looks at me and says 'are you even sweating? You look like you just came back from walking the dogs or something!'

Yeah, that means I didn't run it anywhere near as hard as I could have! That's OK. I did the best I could with a bunch of unknowns. Ended up with a 2:22 (had a 2:16 in 2011).

Today my legs are pleasantly tight, but not that sore. My foot is also a tad sore, but nothing major at all. Now I know that I can run 13.1 miles without pain. I also know that with a little more training and some better pacing, I can CRUSH this time during my half marathon in December. Yay!

[Crankin]

Congratulations, GLC. You did a great job.

[OakLeaf]

Very nice GLC and TrekDianna! Great that you could do it without problems, GLC ... TrekDianna, I hope you didn't set your recovery back.

I'm getting over some kind of minor bug. Just about everyone in the family came back with it. It's so pervasive I'd say it was the flu if it weren't so very mild ... it's just that I couldn't eat much for about three days, and I could just feel my muscles breaking down to build white blood cells. Hopefully it didn't set me back too much.

[TrekDianna]

I am good. I woke up a bit stiff, but walked it out on the morning jaunt to let the chickens out of the barn.

[rocknrollgirl]

Great Job and congrats to both of you! TD way to tough it out and GLC, I am really happy that you had a good day. I was thinking about both of you guys this weekend.
Who is up next Oak?

[Crankin]

And TrekDianna, it's amazing you got through your half. This proves that mental attitude is at least half of it.

[skhill]

Great work, GLC and TrekDianna! Y'all are inspiring!

I was talking to my brother yesterday and he was excited about this Sunday's Columbus Marathon/half (now that's surprising). The church where he's interning this year is near the start line, and has a tradition of serving a pancake breakfast starting at 5:30am for any who want it. He's concerned about how driving there and parking and I suggested he join in the spirit of the day and just run in instead (but he'll probably bike it). If it weren't for having to make arrangements for my dog, I'd probably head up there this weekend just to enjoy the day. Next year I definitely want to do it! (probably the half, not the full 26)

It's been a while since I've done any speedwork at all, so I included some intervals on the track on this morning's run. Felt good to go fast for a bit. Weather permitting, I'll get back on the track later this week and do some more.

[OakLeaf]

The church where he's interning this year is near the start line

Trinity! I don't eat wheat before a race or I'd stop in and say hi ...

He's concerned about how driving there and parking

Heh. I do the same idiot thing every year: I think, "It's not that far, I'll just pick up my packet, get dinner and go home, then drive back in the morning of the race." Then about a week before race day I start getting cold feet about getting up so early in the morning and contending with race traffic, and by then (now) the only hotel rooms available are clear out by the airport, which still cuts the travel time and distance by 2/3 or more, but it hardly matches the convenience of a downtown room that's walking distance from the start and finish. Sigh.

[TrekDianna]

Thanks all, it was tougher than I thought with the neck injury, but I finished that that was my goal.

GLC, were we at the same one? The Girlfriends Half in Vancouver?

[GLC1968]

I was wonder if that was the case...YES! We were at the same race!

Damn, it would have been nice to say 'hi' to someone! None of my local friends ran it this year so I dragged my husband up there with me to cheer me on.

Is it wrong that I'm thinking very seriously of running another half this coming Saturday? There is one in the Corvallis area that I might do...

[TrekDianna]

Oh, if you do, please let me know. That's where I live! I have another planned for Nov 2nd in Sisters. It's a trail half on my regular MTB trail.

[skhill]

Oak, if you do stop by, he's the tall bearded seminarian. If I were to make a spur of the moment decision to go up, I'd definitely run in-- he lives on the course, right around mile 5.5. But he couldn't run 5 miles to save his life...

No run today. It wasn't raining all that hard, but I just don't like running in chilly rain. Don't much like walking the dog in it either, but there's no getting out of that chore.

[GLC1968]

Dianna - I'm going to skip it. As much as I'd love to do it, I really need to focus on my weight loss goals right now and long runs/events like that just throw me off. They make me feel justified in skipping other workouts in the interest of a 'taper' or 'recovery' or fear of having sore legs and not performing correctly...

I bet that run in Sisters will be awesome!

Of course, I'm still shooting to run the half marathon I've signed up for in December at a much better pace than last Sunday. To this end, I did my training run today even though my legs were still a bit sore from Sunday. I did a 5 mile pace run with the middle 3 miles where I was supposed to target a 10:05 pace. I wasn't sure quite how to make that happen, so I just ran a little harder for those miles. I couldn't even use the time they took me very well because there were traffic lights here and there. When I got back to the office, I downloaded my garmin and oddly enough, I did all three of those miles at a 10:22 moving pace. A little slow, but not bad for a first attempt! I'm a bit shocked that they were all the same but I'll take it.

[skhill]

So much for intervals... I took a roundabout route to the track, going slow and enjoying the day. But when I had been at the track for less than 5 minutes, it started raining. I kept on for a bit, then gave up and headed home. By the time I was a quarter mile down the street the rain had stopped. Thought about turning around and going back to the track, but it was a bit chilly to be so wet. So be it.

And what's up with all the extravagant Halloween decorations? Every year it seems like more folks are going over the top. I don't really get it.