C is for cookie

Yesterday I ran outside without a coat, gloves or hat. That was great! Did my new route again, without the wrong turn this time. The hills are definitely good for me. There is still far too much holiday food in my house. At this rate I'm going to have to increase my mileage a lot more to compensate. I'm just glad that I've been able to stick to my exercise routine through all of this craziness. I will be very glad to get back into even more of a routine once classes start in a couple of weeks.

Where's that map?

I had a very nice run outside today. It was sunny and not terribly cold. I tried a new route, too. A word to the wise, though... when trying a new route make sure you really know where you're going before you head out. I took a wrong turn and ended up adding an extra mile to my run. Oops! Given all of the holiday cookies at my house it was probably needed anyway. This new route has a lot more hills. I'm sure I'm going to be feeling it tomorrow. I'll have to see if I can run this route once a week or so. Weather permitting, of course.

Finding a new groove

Classes are over, grades are turned in, and I'm spending most of my time at home now. While this is nice, it totally throws a wrench into my running schedule. Combine that with unfriendly and unpredictable weather and it makes for an unhappy camper some of the time. I've only missed one workout and had to cut one run short but still... I like it better when I'm on a schedule. Yesterday I had a good 5 mile run on the treadmill but I'm hoping for an outdoor run tomorrow. The high is supposed to be 46 but it's also supposed to be drizzling. I'll just have to wait and see. Meanwhile, I've enjoyed hitting the weights at the Y. For some reason I get a better work out using their weights than the ones in my basement. Not sure why that is. Perhaps I push myself more when I think people might be watching. How vain is that?

Things I have learned (Part 3)

More things I have learned:

1. Unless you're talking about beer, wet + cold is not a good combination.
2. Sometimes you just can't avoid the puddles.
3. My pedometer may or may not be waterproof.
4. Wet gloves don't really keep your hands warm.

Huh?

I'm not really sure how one run could be so awful and then the next be amazing. I just finished four miles with an average pace of 8:51. That's a new PR for me. What's different today compared to Saturday? Well, let's see... it was sunny on Saturday and today it's trying to rain, Saturday I ran at home and today I'm on campus, I'm wearing a different shirt than I was on Saturday, oh yes and the Moon is now in Sagittarius. Somehow I doubt any of those things really mattered. I guess I'll have to add it to the list of things I'll never understand. Now I'm going to go enjoy my new-PR-post-run high.

An off day

I had a horrible, horrible run yesterday. I ran slower than I have in months and I felt awful the entire time. I don't know what the hell happened. Maybe it was the fact that I had been forced to run on the treadmill earlier in the week. Maybe it was because it was warmer than it's been in weeks. Maybe it was because the Moon was in Scorpio or that I didn't have my lucky charm with me. I don't know. What I do know is that it sucked and I really hope it was a fluke. There's nothing like a crappy run to ruin your mood. Pthbthbthb.

Cold!

Holy cow, is it cold! It's technically 37 but there is an arctic wind blowing that makes it feel like the mid-20's out there. With the first few gusts I literally couldn't breathe for 5-10 seconds and when you're trying for a 9-minute mile oxygen intake is somewhat critical to success. I developed a coping method after the first couple of miles which was to watch the leaves in the street about 20 yards ahead of me and when I could see them swirling pretty good I knew to brace myself for the next blast. Definitely a hard run today simply because of the cold. Before you know it I'll be looking forward to those "balmy" 32 degree days.

Running through winter

Yesterday was the coldest weather I've run in so far. It was something like 34 but with the wind chill it felt like 28. BRRRR! Luckily it was sunny. It actually wasn't that bad for running but I think anything colder would have required another layer of clothes. I managed a 9:15 mile (for 4+ miles) so that was great! I'm slowly building up to a nice base mileage for the off season. Today it's been trying to snow all day. I'm glad it's a rest day. There's none in the forecast for tomorrow so I shouldn't have too much trouble running in the afternoon. Just have to bundle up.

Fog

I thought I'd post a picture of the weather that I ran in today. Foggy and wet. At least it's not that cold... only 47 degrees. And I was lucky because it was only dripping while I was out. About 20 minutes after I finished up it started raining steadily. I think I might have to consider getting a light to wear. The combination of the fog and the shorter days means that it's fairly dark towards the end of my run. I'm not worried so much about cars as my clothes are light colored and somewhat reflective, but today I almost ran into a fellow runner as it was difficult for us to see each other through the fog until we were pretty close! I'm wondering how long it will be before I have to deal with snow and, once it's here, if I can actually run in the snow. Most people I know thought I was crazy to want to run a half-marathon in the first place. The fact that I'm continuing to run in this kind of weather without a race looming over my head has them baffled. I never claimed to be sane.

What next?

Did 3 miles today. It's really small potatoes compared to 13 but I'm still following this training program. It has 3 weeks worth of post-race training to get you back to a "regular" amount of running. Since the program worked so well for me for the race I figured I would see it through to the end. It was damn cold out there today - 38 degrees at 12:30pm. I made the mistake of leaving my gloves at home. Won't be doing that again. My pace was better than a few days ago, which is reassuring, but I'm anxious for it to get back to that near-9-minute-mile mark. A friend is trying to convince me to run the Broad Street run in Philly in May of next year. It's a 10-miler. I'll probably do it. I need something to look ahead to. That nervous energy seems to serve me well.

Back on the pavement

I went for my first run since the race today. Just a short 30-minute run. I was very slow. I'm sure part of it is that I'm not fully recovered from the race (although I feel just fine) but hopefully most of it was due to the fact that I had just rolled out of bed. I never do that. I'm usually up for a hour or two before running and even then I find that I'm slow. But since today is Thanksgiving and there were pies to be baked and a turkey to be cooked I had to get my butt out there. Anyway, it was good to be running and I'm jonesing to get back to my "fast" runs. I'm trying to be patient but it's not one of my virtues.

Coming off that high

Well, it's been two days and I'm still feeling pretty damn good. I'm sore but really not that bad. I'll be running again later this week and I'm looking forward to it. The weather is awful now but I'll manage. I'm already thinking about the next race. Not sure what it will be but I realize that I do much better when I have a specific goal so I'll find something to shoot for. I know the Philly Race For the Cure is in the spring. Since that's only a 5K maybe I'll make it a goal to do an 8-minute mile. We'll see. In the meantime, I promised pictures so here are a couple. The one that I had some people take of me at the actual race was far too awful to post here. These were taken after I got home. Don't let the "medal" fool you... everyone who finishes gets one. Lame, yes, but I wore it anyway. ;) Tess was obviously very thirsty from sitting on her butt while Mommy ran 13.1 miles so I shared some of my water with her.

RACE DAY!

I need to say something before divulging my race results. There's no way I will ever win a million dollars, grow taller or win a Nobel prize. You see, it would appear that whatever I deem impossible comes true these days, so I just wanted to get those things on the record. I ran and finished the Philadelphia Half Marathon this morning with a time of 2:04:30. That's a 9:30 mile. I was totally shocked. I was actually averaging closer to a 9-minute mile up until the hill around mile 10. It wasn't a steep hill but one of those long, slow climbs and it kicked my ass pretty good. I was never quite able to get back into that 9-minute groove again. But that's OK. I'm more than happy with my time. The weather was decent. Not great but it could have been a lot worse. It was cold and it tried to rain but didn't manage to do more than drizzle a couple of times. All in all a good race. I promised pictures but they'll have to wait until tomorrow. I'm off to celebrate!

Last run

Well, this is it. I went for a ridiculously short 20 minute run this morning. It was 34 degrees outside. Brrrr! 24 hours I will have completed 13.1 miles. I appreciate all of the support from friends and family these past few days/weeks/months. I will post pictures here after the race. If you are awake and lucid at 7am EST tomorrow you can cheer for me.

Snow!

It is freaking cold out there. There were actually teensy tiny snowflakes falling for a few minutes a little while ago. What the hell! And it's windy, too. I seriously hope the weather improves between now and Sunday. The forecast is for a high of 47 on Sunday. That's the high, folks! Egads. I suppose it really doesn't matter. I'm running no matter what. It would just be nice not to have to stand shivering at the start line for 30+ minutes beforehand. If the wind goes away then the temps will probably be tolerable. I picked up my bib today. Can't wait to be wearing it Sunday morning. While most of you are still sleeping.

Things I have learned (Part 2)

More things I have learned:

1. Wet leaves are slippery.
2. Humidity can be a good thing.
3. No matter how cold it gets, I really don't need gloves after a couple of miles.
4. I may not be considered a "slow" runner anymore.

Fidgeting

Definitely feeling anxious. For the second time now I want to go for a run even though it's a rest day. I seem to have a lot of nervous energy these days. It would be great if I could save it all up and then tap into it on Sunday. I tried to look at the profile of the course. They don't have one posted on the race website but I made a crude one using the pedometer function on Google maps. There appears to be a good-sized hill from mile 7 to mile 8. That will be difficult as mile 8 tends to be the crux for me. Luckily, after that it appears to be pretty flat. I need to work on some visual imagery or mantras to get me through the rough spots.

My new PR

I ran a 9:06 mile today. Technically a new PR but since it was only for ~3.5 miles I don't know if it really counts. I wanted to see what I could do if I really focused but I also didn't want to be foolish about it so close to race day. I probably won't push it anymore, just to be safe. But after the race (and a recovery week or so) I think I'll have to play around with some speed work and see what happens. It still feels really weird to be running such short distances when I've got 13.1 miles to run on Sunday. Today I tried convincing myself that the speed made up for it a bit but I wasn't buying it. I guess we'll just have to see.

Grrrr

I do not run well first thing in the morning. My average pace over the 5 miles this morning was OK but the standard deviation was horrible. I was all over the place. My legs are just not awake that early in the morning. This doesn't instill me with confidence for next Sunday. Today was my last "long" run (I don't think 5 miles can be considered long anymore) and I really wanted to feel better about it. I started thinking that perhaps my pedometer wasn't working properly but since this same pedometer recorded my PR two days ago it's just too sad to consider the possibility that it was wrong. Besides, it's a poor runner that blames her gadgets, right? I can't believe the race is only 7 days away.

Picking up speed

9:19. That blows the doors off of anything I've done in the past. Yeah, I've run faster than that for very short intervals of time but this was over 4 miles at that pace. Of course, there's no way I can keep up that pace for 13.1 miles but it's nice to know that I can do it for the short runs. I'll be interested to see what I can pull off on my next short run. It was 39 degrees out there, too. I'm having a hard time imagining it as "warm" as 45 degrees at 7am next Sunday when it's been in the 30's at that time of morning this week. I think I need to find some gloves.

Itchin' to run

Today is the first time that I've wanted to run even though it's not a "run" day for me. Today is a rest day - one of two that I get each week - and normally I'm happy to rest on those two days. But today I actually feel restless and would love to go for a run. Perhaps it's the decreased mileage that my legs sense. Maybe it's pent up frustration from other areas of my life. Whatever it is, I'm itching to go for a run. But it's a rest day and I'm trying to respect the schedule. Tomorrow is a 40 minute run. Maybe I'll try for another PR.

The clothes make the run

Sometimes a good run can sneak up on you. At the start of my run today I wasn't feeling into it - the first 5 minutes or so I was running my normal pace but I felt slow. After another 5 minutes the kinks were working out and I was doing better. Then all of the sudden I was running a sub-10-minute mile. I realize that doesn't sound very impressive but that's fast for me. And I kept it up for the rest of the run - just over 4 miles. Not sure what happened but it was pretty cool. It's got to be the new running clothes, right?

Getting cold

When I checked weather.com before heading out for my run this morning it said "44 degrees - feels like 38". They weren't kidding. I'm not used to running in the cold. Next time around I'm going to have to do more of my training at the appropriate temperature. It took me 3 miles to get into the groove because of the cold but after that the rest of the run was OK. Eight miles today and my pace was actually faster than usual for a long run. I sweated off about 2 pounds this morning, despite the cold. Two weeks to go.

No turning back

It's official. I'm registered for the race. No backing out now. Yesterday was so hectic that I completely forgot about my cross training until it was 9pm and I was already in my PJs. I threw on some shoes and jumped on the stationary bike, PJs and all. I guess I can say I'm dedicated. I don't normally like to work out right before heading to bed but there was no way I was going to skip it. I don't want to miss a single workout this close to the race. 18 days to go. I just read on the race website that the average temperature at the start of the race is 45 degrees. Crap.

Chaffing

Ten miles. Done. The last two miles weren't pretty but it's done. I'm going to be sore tomorrow. Hell, I'm already sore tonight. And I really, really need to buy some non-chafing clothes. I start tapering now for the next two weeks. That scares me. I've done two half's before and I didn't taper much for those but then I wasn't following a specific training program like I am this time around. I'm going to trust the pros on this and just stick to the schedule but it scares me, after struggling so much to finish the 10 today, to start running less when I'm going to be running 13.1 miles in a few weeks.

Things I have learned

Things I have learned so far:

1. The mood I'm in greatly affects the quality of my run, and vice versa.
2. The right music can drastically improve a run.
3. An article of clothing that is very comfortable on a 3-mile run can chafe in unexpected places on an 8-mile run.
4. I can run in 54 degree weather wearing only a T-shirt and shorts and not freeze my ass off.

A good run

One more month to go until the race. I've managed to stay on track for the most part. I'm running alone but I think I've gotten used to that and running with someone at this point would probably be too difficult. I just crank the iPod and go. I am slowly determining which songs are the best to run to (The Mavericks "I Want To Know" being my favorite at the moment). I do occasionally see some of my students as I run around campus and I think it amuses them to see me running. I've increased my pace so I wouldn't say that I'm "lumbering" anymore but I'm not fast by any stretch of the imagination. I had an awesome run while in Tucson, AZ. A combination of time spent with good friends, being kid-free, and the gorgeous scenery made for a fast and fun run. Too bad they can't all be like that. This weekend is my 10-miler. The 8 that I did a couple of weeks ago wasn't pretty so we'll see how this one goes. I know I can do it, but I'd like to do it well.

Working out the bugs

The training continues but not without issues. One of the days that I run is also my busiest teaching day and I've already missed a run because of that. This week went OK but I'm just going to have to see how it plays out. If I start missing runs regularly I'm going to have to rethink my schedule. I really don't want to have to get up at 5am and run before I head to work but if that's what it takes to stay on track I'll consider it. I also got sidelined by a very nasty virus that I'm still not 100% over. I missed a run and a cross training workout because of that. So this is actually my first full week of training for several weeks now. But I think I'm back in the groove. My long run tomorrow is 6 miles so we'll see how that goes. At least the weather is now perfect for running!

Small steps

Well, I started my training program for the half-marathon. So far, so good. Of course, I'm only on day 3 but hey, you have to celebrate even the smallest steps, right? I mean, I'm on track and I haven't injured myself yet. That's got to be worth a gold star or something. Classes will be starting in 12 days. That will be the real challenge - to stick with my training routine once my work load shoots through the roof. Hopefully with 2 weeks behind me already I'll be in somewhat of a groove. I may have even convinced a fellow professor to join me in the race. I'm sure he'll kick my butt but oh well.

I think I can

I took a look at the training program for the half-marathon in my favorite running book, Marathoning for Mortals. I was thinking that I wouldn't be able to pull off the Philly half-marathon this year but now I'm thinking otherwise. It's a 14 week training program which means I'd have to start in a couple of weeks. Since I don't have any upcoming travel for the next few months I don't see any real obstacles. Except for my laziness, but that's a constant. So I've written the program goals in my planner for the next 4 months and I'm going to give it my best shot. Heck, even if I don't stick to the program it wouldn't be the first time I ran a half-marathon a little under-prepared.

The Beginning

I'm starting this blog mostly for myself but also for anyone interested in reading about a normal person (or as normal as you can consider someone like me to be) training to run a marathon. I first started running years ago as a grad student at Arizona State University. Oddly enough, I hated running. I was a big fan of aerobics, so much so that I started teaching step aerobics, but running was never an activity I enjoyed. I started doing it because some part of me felt that doing something that was hard for me and being successful at it would make it even more rewarding. That's how it all started.
I worked up to running 5K's, mostly the Race for the Cure in whatever city I was living in. By the way, I highly recommend that race to everyone, even non-runners. After many years of running, I somehow got the idea that I wanted to run a half-marathon. It seemed crazy but what the hey. I lived in Tucson at the time so the Tucson half-marathon was an obvious choice. Plus there is the benefit that the race is almost entirely downhill. Woohoo! The first time I ran the course I was 2 months pregnant (I ran one of the Race for the Cure's when I was 6 months pregnant). I finished in 2:40 or so. The guy who won the marathon, which started 13.1 miles behind me and 30 minutes after me, beat me across the finish line by 10 minutes. ! Oh well. My goal was just to finish, not set any records, so mission accomplished. The next year I ran it again, increased my time by 10-15 minutes, and beat the marathon finisher by a few minutes. Yea!
My next goal would be to run the entire marathon. I started training and was waylaid by a hip injury. After that I had a hard time getting back into running on a regular basis. So here it is, many years later, and I'm trying to find my groove again. I'm only running short distances at the moment and haven't participated in any races for some time. I hope to rectify that soon and eventually run in the Philadelphia Marathon. I was hoping it would be this year (the race is in November) however I still have a ways to go before I'm ready for that kind of training. They just added a half-marathon course last year so perhaps I'll be up for that by the time November rolls around.
My current running routine takes me around the WCU campus where I teach. I'm hoping to get some students to run with me this fall. I'm sure they'll find my slow, lumbering pace a bit amusing but if it gets them out and running I don't mind the snickers. Besides, I'm in charge of their grades.