Race Recap: Akron Marathon Relay

September 28, 2015 - Mel

I’m so happy that I was asked to join a relay team for the Akron Marathon. This was my first relay — and one of my favorite races so far. I’ll likely plan to do the half next year because I had such a great experience. Thanks again to my teammates Chelsea, Lauren, Joe and Sarah!

Thanks to Pittsburgh City Girl for this group shot!

Registration and Cost: Individual cost for 5-person relay team was $40 each. Registration page currently shows a cost of $48/per person, so the price must go up at certain intervals as the race approaches (which is typical). Akron Marathon reps were giving out discount codes during the Pittsburgh Marathon Expo, which were not redeemable for the relay portion, but good to look out for if you’re interested in running this next year.

Expo and Packet Pick-Up: The Expo was definitely not as large as Pittsburgh, but easy to navigate with what seemed to be many of the usual expo vendors. I was a little confused about packet pick-up, and ended up at the t-shirt table first… then had to re-route back to the escalators to get my bib. THEN go back and get my shirt. Directional flow just wasn’t intuitive to me, despite there being a blue line right from the escalator to the packet pick-up. DUH. (I know, I know, that’s ALL on me.)

Bag Check: I didn’t do bag check for this race. But on the way to my relay exchange spot, there was a woman who walked along with me and couldn’t find where the drop-off was for Leg 2. Because I wasn’t on that leg, I had zero clue how to help. She was super anxious though.

Weather: BEAUTIFUL, and on the cooler side, especially since the race started in the dark (no thank you, 7am start time). Sitting around waiting for the relay was an interesting experience — and a little cold, to be honest. But I made some start line friends and settled in with my coffee and snacks. I didn’t anticipate building up so much nervous energy while waiting… I just wanted to run!

Course: I really loved my leg of the course — I had one of the steady climbs of the race (there was certainly a worse hill though on Leg 5), which I didn’t mind. This part of the relay leg also took me right by my sister’s house, so I was able to see her and my niece cheering from the tree lawn (or, “devil’s strip” if you’re *that* kind of Ohioan). My leg was 5.5 miles, which started downtown and proceeded out of the city up (!!) W. Market and onto Merriman, continuing onto Portage Path and through the (gorgeous!) Stan Hywet grounds. My exchange ended at Firestone High School.

Heartrate Hill was TOUGH (not part of my relay leg, but part of my run)

I needed to get some extra mileage in, so I ended up looping into the fifth relay leg of the course on the opposite side of Firestone (sidewalks and off the course when I could to not actually be “participating”) to get myself back into the city. Which is really easy to do when there’s a blue line to follow! Some of the spectators were hilarious, commenting “You didn’t run enough?” and “Over achiever!” as I passed through. Unfortunately, I ran out of time to complete the full 18 miles that were on my training schedule, as we had plans in the afternoon with the family.

Fans and Experience: At Pittsburgh, I felt really overwhelmed by the crowds; Akron, I felt just the opposite. They invigorated me — I was giving high fives and thanking everyone, talking to other runners. I didn’t run with my headphones for my entire leg. Music, food (people with oranges are the best!), Swedish fish… probably mimosas, had I asked — everyone was so freaking fun and excited to be cheering us on.

AK-Rowdy lives up to its name, even when celebrating the marathon. I was positively inspired to be one of these kinds of spectators at Pittsburgh next year to experience the opposite side (side note: I’ve decided that I don’t want to run Pittsburgh next year).

"Blue Line badasses this way" -- in front of DBA restaurant (and where I had an AMAZING dinner the night before the race). — “Blue Line badasses this way” — in front of DBA restaurant (and where I had an AMAZING dinner the night before the race).

Finish Line: I didn’t finish off the fifth leg, so after my extra 5.8 miles, I looped around the stadium to check out the finishers festival and meet up with my relay teammates.

Chocolate Milk in my hand, and I am happy from a good run.

CHOCOLATE MILK! That always makes my day. I knew that I would basically be left out of the post-race noms, considering they were a) beer, b) pizza, and c) a power bar with gluten in it; so having chocolate milk canceled out any ill feelings.

Bonus: It was really nice to have water, port o potties and silver blankets available at the end of the relay exchange. Again, this was my first relay, so I’m sure this is probably customary. There were also shuttles available to take runners back to the finishers festival (I opted to run back).

Medals and Swag: Another SUPER bright t-shirt, which I’m pumped about. The medal reminds me a lot of the Runner of Steel medal from Pittsburgh. The race sent out a virtual “race bag” email with discounts and such, but there was a nice physical bag given out with packet pick-up.

Since I ran miles 20-26, I got to see a bunch of different marathoners perspectives and personalities: some looked like they were dying, others smiling and talking to their running mates, another was seemingly video recording her experience by way of the cyclist who kept riding along with her at several places. This one poor girl though was breathing SO HARD at Mile 22 it took everything in me to not tell her to stop and slow down for a minute. But… #notmyrace.

OVERALL
The Great: It totally made my day to see my sister and niece cheering.
The Good: Since I was waiting around for my relay start, we got to watch the front of the marathon pack and WOOO BOY was it amazing to see them.
The Bad: I seriously don’t have anything bad to say about this race! I had a wonderful experience, despite being super nervous and totally Type A about doing my first relay (yes, I printed out the 22-page info booklet).
The Ugly: Oh man, the finishers had to CLIMB UP STEPS to get out of the stadium… and that was rather ugly to watch. I also watched someone run to puke, so… great visuals to bring with me when I run my first marathon in a few weeks.

Splits: 10:12 (1) / 9:50 (2) / 9:56 (3) / 9:31 (4) / 10:03 (5) {and the extra 6:08}

Results: Our official team finish time was 4:43:44.
My watch showed a total of 5.63 miles for an average 9:53 pace; total time: 55:40.9

Training Weeks 14 and 15: Niagara Falls International Marathon

September 21, 2015 - Mel

I have no reason to split out Week 14 since… well, my only run was the Movie Madness Half Marathon. Every other day I was hit by a major struggle bus. I don’t know if that’s a typical point where wannabe-marathoners feel super exhausted and like everything is impossible, but I feel those things.

So, Week 14 — total runs: 1; total miles: 13.1 (those were 13.1 GOOD miles though!)

Week 15
MONDAY: Rest Day

TUESDAY: Didn’t realize that my afternoon meeting was scheduled through 6pm (and I had to walk home), so unfortunately, my scheduled run didn’t happen. I probably could have done a quickie workout at home, but I was so exhausted from traveling over the weekend (and again all the way to the North Hills for a dinner party Monday night) that I fell asleep early. The boyfriend said he pulled my iPad out of my hands and I didn’t even move.

WEDNESDAY: run//yoga//run club with Urban Elements. Tonight we did just shy of 4 miles. No splits. Followed up with some really powerful hot yoga. Body felt pretty good and yoga felt strong.

THURSDAY: Rest Day

FRIDAY: Today was National Run @ Work Day, so I took advantage of the group run that Steel City Road Runners was hosting from Point Park. It was hot, and I was sweaty (for a long time after the run too). But I befriended a couple guys for the five-mile loop, and they kept me motivated to finish at a quicker pace than I anticipated my body would do in the mid-afternoon. It felt good. I might make that part of my work-week schedule (I purchased some scented body sprays this weekend to stash at my desk too).

5.06 miles at average 9:42 pace. Splits: 10:02 / 10:16 / 10:30 / 7:50 (??) / 9:58

SATURDAY: Recovery Day with a massage and facial (and a little retail therapy at the mall).

SUNDAY: I was so glad that I saw someone post a group run from downtown in the SCRR group. While I wasn’t doing the full 20-mile Bridges of Pittsburgh course, I knew that I needed some running camaraderie to get in my 16. I seriously lucked out with this group, who all shared great marathon and training advice — and their own long-run courses and schedules. I’ve been looking for a “tribe” so to speak to keep my training in check, and they really made me feel welcome. I never needed my headphones, and I was able to converse throughout the run. I think I got 12 of the 14 total bridges (I also crossed the 10th Street Bridge off my list!).

Side note: I woke up SUPER early for this run: 4:45am. It was still dark out when I left the house around 6:15, and I had a scary almost-incident with some guy yelling after me in the park by my house. I freaked out (honestly, I was truly scared) and my fight-or-flight response took me quickly back to the house, where I locked up and set the alarm and sat still in the bathroom for 10 minutes. Anyway, I waited for the skies to lighten up a bit (and more signs of life to appear) before I set out to meet the group at the West End Bridge at 7:05 — just in time for the perfect sunrise over Pittsburgh.

I would never have paced this fast if I was alone, but it was really cool to see that my body was totally capable of handling it (until I got a side stitch at Mile 10). I split off from the group at Mile 13 to take the North Shore Trail back home. After showering, I immediately napped for nearly two hours. I felt really, really sore for the remainder of the afternoon (and hungry!), so I spent half an episode of America’s Next Top Model (ha!) stretching and rolling my feet.

16.01 miles at average 10:20 pace (total time: 2:45:21). Splits: 11:12 (1) / 10:52 (2) / 10:24 (3) / 10:18 (4) / 10:05 (5) / 9:53 (6) / 10:04 (7) / 10:28 (8) / 10:48 (9) / 11:07 (10) / 10:13 (11) / 8:27 (wut 12) / 10:28 (13) / 10:16 (14) / 9:58 (15) / 10:43 (16)

Total runs: 3
Total miles: 25.02 miles
Total training miles: 191.74 miles

Race recap: Movie Madness Half Marathon

September 15, 2015 - Mel

After mentally and physically having a rough couple weeks of training, I needed to have some accountability for this past week’s long run. I have also been dealing with weird stomach nervousness and anxiety before I leave for my runs. Since I was traveling to Ohio for graduation, I searched for — and found — a half marathon for early Saturday morning: the Movie Madness Half Marathon in Lewis Center (about 30 minutes from downtown Columbus). My training run called for a total 16 miles, so I planned to do the race at an easy pace then add another three miles to it. But… well, there was a plot twist.

Race Day Selfie. Plot twist was not that dreary sky.

Registration and Cost: Registration was easy and online through Active.com. Since I made my decision a couple days before race day, it cost $59 (plus fees).

Expo and Packet Pick-up: No expo, as this was a super small race. There was race day packet pick, which started an hour before race time. I planned for about half hour before race time and there was no wait. I even had some extra time to relax in the car beforehand.

Bag Check: No bag check, but the state park had PLENTY of available and close parking near the start line.

Weather: When we left the hotel it was about 55 degrees and RAINING. Thankfully (smartly), I packed my rain jacket — so I ran back up to the hotel room to get it. The weather apps all said that the rain would move out of the area by race time (8 a.m.), AND THANK THE WEATHER GODS, it ended up being a beautiful, cool fall-like morning. LOVE.

Course: This “all right turns” course took the scenic route around Alum Creek State Park and its lake.

Map

I liked the course (there were water/snack/Gatorade stops at Mile 3.5-ish, 6, 9, and 11), and there was a relentless climb after Mile 10 as you can see in the elevation below; however, the roads were NOT closed off, so we basically ran in pace lines on the shoulder of all the streets. Mile 10-ish also was the area where the dam is, which I’ve never seen. It was really neat.

Fans and Experience: No fans, and the course was quiet and peaceful (save for passing traffic). I did run with my earbuds and music for the duration of the race. I honestly felt like I was having some sort of spiritual awakening on this run. It was beautiful.

Random Bullshit: Running on the side of the roads, you see the amount of litter that people disgustingly toss out of their cars. I passed at least three dirty diapers. People are just gross. There was also, um… roadkill. I legit had to jump over the carcass of a possum at one point.

Finish Line: There was music playing at the finish line approach, and I sincerely loved hearing my name and time called out when I finished. I played a serious game of mental skill for that last mile. And somehow, my mile 13 split was only 9:37.

Medals and Swag: I like my new pink short-sleeved tech shirt! It’s not race-specific, but has the US Road Running logo on the front. The finisher’s medal is pretty sweet too.

Bonus: Because this was a “Movie Madness” theme, there were several runners dressed in costume. The best of which (and the costume winner) was the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. He was hilarious (and said that he bought the costume the night before and never trained in it).

Double Bonus: Well… I couldn’t run my extra three miles because I GOT A TROPHY AND PLACED 3RD IN MY AGE GROUP!

OVERALL
The Great: The realization that I really, REALLY like the half marathon distance. Also, small races are awesome!
The Good: I had a pace friend for most of the race, which was awesome. I chatted with her a bit after the race and it seemed like we both needed/used one another. Kinda cool experience.
The Bad: I started going into disaster scenario solution mode when Mile 3 didn’t have a water stop (it was about .6 miles after that). But OMG could you imagine?! I was planning in my head the logistics of my boyfriend tossing bottles of water out of the car at random course points for me. LOL
The Ugly: Car drivers. I mean, COME ON. If you obviously see a pace line of runners on the side of the road and there is traffic in both directions, SLOW DOWN — don’t speed up just to pass more quickly. I kept my left ear bud out for portions of the race because I was nervous about getting run off the road at a few points.

Splits: 11:08 (1) / 10:58 (2) / 10:57 (3) / 10:41 (4) / 10:33 (5) / 10:43 (6) / 10:23 (7) / 10:19 (8) / 10:38 (9) / 10:09 (10) / 10:11 (11) / 10:38 (12) / 9:37(!!!) (13)

Results
Official time 2:18:36 – a new PR by two minutes!
3rd (!!!) in my 30-39 age group

Training Week 13: Niagara Falls International Marathon

September 7, 2015 - Mel

It’s another drop-back week in my training plan and THANK GOD because the Demons of Summer Humidity have returned with this awful weather and really wrecked my training week. My mid-week 4-mile run felt terrible, and I felt even worse the day after (soreness that I didn’t even experience after running 14 miles, which I cannot figure out).

MONDAY: Usual Rest Day/Laundry Day.

TUESDAY: Took another rest day.

WEDNESDAY: run//yoga club – 4 miles started off at a 9:30 pace, but I started trailing behind the group at 2 miles in. I decided to turn around before my companions and slow it up a bit. That was a good decision, since that group ended up with about 4.8 miles. And OMG the heat and humidity. UGH.

Yoga felt better than last week. I really focused on stretching out my hamstrings and hips throughout the practice. I felt really strong in my warrior and crescent poses — been far too long.

4.15 miles, average pace: 9:36/mi, total time: 39:53 (no splits)

THURSDAY: My body felt like absolute shit. I’m so frustrated.

FRIDAY: I had to spend another night stretching. I wish I would have rolled too. This is something that I’ve completely let fall to the wayside but this week convinced me how badly my body needs more care.

SATURDAY: Yoga outside! These park sessions through Yoga Hive will be held every Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. (The date on the Fittsburgh website says it ends on August 29 but the instructor confirmed through weekends in October.) The weekends when I’m in town I plan to make this part of my Saturday morning routine. Drop-in rate is only a $5 donation too.

SUNDAY: Any previously-denoted “bad” run that I’ve ever talked about is now one-upped by the run I had this Sunday. I planned to meet the boyfriend after he golfed so I could enjoy a little pool time; since our club is only about 6.5 miles away and my plan called for 10, I figured I could commute there by my legs. Seemed like a good challenge. Until you realize that once you cross the West End Bridge, it’s all uphill to Crafton. ALL. UPHILL. All uphill without a lot of sidewalks. And then uphill some more.

To be honest, I’m surprised that it didn’t take me longer to do those 6.83 miles. Also a big fail that Google Maps kept crashing so I kept getting lost. At a certain point I realized that I was one street over from where I needed to be but it may as well have been 3 miles. And I still had to go uphill to get to the club entrance.

Being in the pool after that hot mess felt amazing though both in cooling my body off and getting my joints moving in the water. And I got to show off my hawt running shorts tan.

6.83 miles, total time: 1:29:02
Splits: 10:59 (1) / 12:13 (2) / 12:59 (3) / 10:51 (4) / 16:12 (5) / 12:38 (6) / 13:12 (.82)

Total runs: 2
Total miles: 10.98 miles
Total training miles: 153.62 miles

Only a couple more days of this insanely hot and humid weather. Then, good riddance dog days!

Training Week 12: Niagara Falls International Marathon

August 31, 2015 - Mel

Nothing like a good half marathon race to put your running spirits on overdrive! I had to force my brain (and my body) to rest on Monday.

MONDAY: LAUNDRY DAY! aka: Rest Day. Seriously though, I go through an ungodly amount of clothing in the summer.

TUESDAY: My plan called for a Fast Finish workout (4.5 easy and 1.5 moderately hard), but I was more in that mood where I wanted to see what my body could do. Surprisingly, I was able to sustain a fairly fast pace at Mile 3 (once I was warmed up). And though it was a cooler evening, the humidity still was pretty unbearable (hello, elbow sweat). Followed up with about 20 minutes of foam rolling.

5.10 miles, average 9:40/mi pace. Splits: 9:27 (1) / 10:02 (2) / 8:10 (3) / 10:45 (4) / 10:03 (5)

WEDNESDAY: run//yoga club night!

3.00 miles, average 10:10/mi pace. No splits. I struggled with this yoga session a lot and my hips were so tight. I frequently felt “stuck” in poses, especially warrior. My legs eventually gave up.

THURSDAY: Rest day. Originally planned to do the Elevation Challenge with True Runner, but other plans took priority.

FRIDAY: Rest day

SATURDAY: 14 miles!!! Yep, my furthest training run. I honestly cannot believe how great this run felt. AND I was out the door by 7:30am. The morning was so nice and cool, which is probably why I felt mostly normal again. I kept this training run intentionally slow because I knew it was going to be a long morning. First time that I listened to a podcast during a run, and synced up perfectly with the release of Nicole Antoinette’s new show Real Talk Radio.

14.00 miles, average 11:23/mi pace. Total time: 2:39:39.
Splits: 11:34 (1) / 11:17 (2) / 11:34 (3) / 11:08 (4) / 11:00 (5) / 10:57 (6) / 12:11 (7) / 10:47 (8) / 10:50 (9) / 11:39 (10) / 12:04 (11) / 11:11 (12) / 11:53 (13) / 11:29 (14)

I should mention that my legs felt *really* tight afterward, and I had to stop to stretch my IT band near the end of the run because my left knee was starting to go wonky on me. Not pain, but TIGHT. I also have my new favorite long run fuel in these Pamela’s lemon shortbread cookies. It may be wholly unconventional but those goos and gummies do absolutely ZERO for my hunger on long runs.

SUNDAY: Early in the morning, I took off for OMs in the Outfield at PNC Park. To be honest, I was underwhelmed by the experience despite feeling very excited before the event. I originally intended to do a separate review, but now that I feel very “meh” about the whole thing, I won’t. And I refuse to give in to FOMO again. I did think it was cool that Chelsea Collective got involved with OMS in the Outfield though — every participant got a free branded yoga mat.

Maybe I was just crabby about how janky my feet looked?

Total runs: 3
Total miles: 22.10 miles
Total training miles: 142.64 miles

Training Week 11: Niagara Falls International Marathon

August 24, 2015 - Mel

MONDAY: Finally got back to spinning class this week (on what is my usual rest day). I knew that I would have more than enough rest days this week. And I just really wanted to start the week off right.

TUESDAY: Went to the Chelsea Collective store preview party. See my post here!

WEDNESDAY: run//yoga club with another 3.01 miles (time: 29:54) and 75 minutes of hot, sweaty yoga. Still a little adapted because of my finger, but I definitely felt stronger than last week.

THURSDAY: Anticipated getting a post-work run in, but there was an office party that went longer into the workday. Meanwhile, I skipped drinking at the party so I could run, but then I was too tired by the time I got home at 7pm PLUS I still had to pack for my weekend trip. At least I got another day’s worth of walking in for my commute.

FRIDAY: Drove to Cleveland, and there was no time for anything but singing alone in the car. Hashtag, thanks Pitbull Sirius channel.

SATURDAY: I really didn’t want to run the day before the race. I did a 5K the day before Pittsburgh, and well… I didn’t want to do that again.

SUNDAY: Half Marathon Day! Read my recap here. 13.1 miles at an average 10:37 pace. This run felt great, and as I wrote in my recap, was 33 seconds faster than my Pittsburgh time. I only walked at two water spots (just long enough to drink and eat some beans). I probably could have even done the first few miles a little faster but I had a really great pace group. This feels good though and makes all this mileage madness worth it. A few seconds is progress, and interesting to see where I can make even more.

My breakfast was a little different than for my usual long runs too, which is interesting to note. No eggs (stupid room service).

Total runs: 2
Total miles: 16.11 miles
Total training miles: 120.54 miles

By the end of next week (and in next Monday’s post), I can officially say that I have run the furthest that I ever have, with a 14-mile long run on the schedule for my weekend. Here’s hoping for some crisp Fall-like weather, eh?

Race Recap: Rock Hall Half Marathon

August 23, 2015 - Mel

I finished my second half marathon this morning, you guys! And overall, it was a great run and I feel good about my result.

I’m at the mid-point of my full marathon training right now, and a half marathon just happened to coincide with my weekend long run of 13 miles. This was the Rock Hall Half Marathon in Cleveland presented by Second Sole and part of Greater Cleveland XC — in collaboration, obviously, with the Rock Hall.

Registration and Cost: I was one of the first 500 participants to sign up, so the discounted registration price was $55. Registration day-of-race (for comparison) was $95.

Expo and Packet Pick-up: No expo, but bib pick-up was INSIDE the Rock Hall, and you can’t get much cooler than that venue!

Bag Check: This race did NOT have a bag check, but I was staying at a nearby hotel and walked to the start line all geared up.

Weather: The morning temperatures were probably very similar to Pittsburgh’s Half — chilly but sunny. The temperatures quickly rose into the low 80s and I was glad for wearing my tank and shorts and not having to shed any layers (despite how chilly I was to start). No humidity at ALL though, and even a nice little wind. SO NICE.

Course: USATF certified course that started at the 9th Street Pier (aka: where the Rock Hall sits) and its ONLY hill is within the first 3/4 mile going up West 3rd. The course quickly diverted out of downtown down Lakeside, and up 18th Street to Carnegie, which took us all the way to MLK Boulevard — where the museums and beautiful Cultural Gardens are located. MLK dead ends, basically, into the lake, so we pulled a left to run along North Marginal, which takes you back to the Rock Hall for the finish. There is the tiniest little incline coming back into the last finish sprint, but coming from Pittsburgh, Cleveland “hills” are laughable.

There were many jokes made in my small group about the “perfect” place to have a heart attack, as we passed through Cleveland Clinic’s campus.

Fans and Experience: Minimal fan interaction along the course, save for the start and finish. My favorite fan was definitely the female cop on MLK who gave every runner a high five. Considering my being overwhelmed by the crowds at the Pittsburgh Half, the nearly-empty sidelines were welcomed.

I started off with the 2:40 pacer (who was ironically from Pittsburgh), and it was a really great group. I broke off with one of the older gentleman around five miles in. At the mid-point of the race, we attempted to catch the 2:15 pacers. Eventually, I needed a shortest-walking break to take in a bit more water (that I had mostly skipped) and eat a packet of sport beans, and my partner advanced ahead of me. It was nice to have someone to run and talk to for a lot of the race though! Plus, I didn’t put my earbuds in until about 8 miles in.

Random Bullshit: Uh, there was no cop or volunteer stopping traffic at the 18th and St. Clair intersection, which was a little scary. Thankfully, another runner grabbed a cop at the next intersection to get somebody there ASAP.

Finish Line: Short chute, with plenty of water close by at the end. Jimmy John’s was giving out sandwiches and I saw people walking around with plates of pizza and ice cream sandwiches (crazy jealous!). SO MANY vendor booths at the Pier. Well done.

Medals and Swag: Both the half and 5K medals were awesome, and the awards were in the shape of a guitar pick (none of the latter for me lolz). In our swag bag was a ticket for free admission to the Rock Hall and probably one of my favorite free race t-shirts ever.

Bonus: Since I haven’t been able to curb my hunger during long runs, I packed a couple gluten-free lemon shortbread cookies from Pamela’s and THEY WERE PERFECT.

Double Bonus: One of the SCRR runners that met up for a pre-race picture saw me approaching the finishing climb of the race and ran with me almost to the end. That really made me feel good, and that kind of race day camaraderie is why I love this running community.

Pittsburghers (and Steel City Road Runners) invade Cleveland!

Notable 30-somethings: High five to the 35-39 age group winner (ahem, my group) who finished in 1:23.42. Seriously.

After party: I found out from my sister that, randomly, my dad’s band was playing out at Legacy Village. We stopped out there for a couple hours to catch up with family, got more sunshine and lunch. And then it was back in the car to Pittsburgh.

OVERALL
The Great: Being able to run a race back in my hometown!
The Good: Weather was awesome, and I felt really, really good. Man, I haven’t had a good run in far too long.
The Bad: My boyfriend forgot to bring down my dang chocolate milk to the finish line!
The Ugly: Um… had some “digestive” issues prior to the race which made my already-nervous stomach more so. Thankfully, I had no problems on the course (but certainly did again afterward). Hashtag, runners problems.

My internal monologue was doing a little shit-talking after Mile 12, but MAN I felt so much better at this race overall than I did at Pittsburgh.

RESULTS
Finished: 2:20:16 — 33 seconds faster than my half in May, so I have a new PR!
53rd in my age group (out of 82)

Training Week 10: Niagara Falls International Marathon

August 17, 2015 - Mel

So since I broke my finger, I intentionally took a couple days off because of the immense swelling. But by Wednesday I felt my body was ready to do some running and yoga and get back into my routine (and get over my crankiness). My finger is still super bruised and gross though.

MONDAY: Scheduled Rest Day

TUESDAY: Supposed to be a Fast Finish day, but rested (and hated everything and everyone and OH MY THE CRANK).

WEDNESDAY: run//yoga club with lululemon from Urban Elements. Our group run started off with a nice gift from lululemon — a pair of their running socks to try out. That’s super exciting (and they’re purple)! They fit very similar to the Champion socks that I swear by, but my feet felt a little sweatier in them. I’ll test out over a few more short runs before claiming them as a new option.

We did 3.07 miles at a 10:00 average pace. We kept it slower than normal because of a new runner to the group. New people means the club continues (you should join us). Plus, the weather felt nice! Like, THERE’S HOPE FOR US ALL.

I was able to modify my yoga a bit too, so as to not further injure my finger. 75 minutes of hot flow, as per usual (but without any difficult inversions or floating).

THURSDAY: Rest. Was invited over to a friend’s for a little patio fun, which was necessary.

FRIDAY: Supposed to be a Fartlek day. *sigh*

SATURDAY: Had enough of rest days, and went out for a 5-mile run at average 9:38 pace. Today was supposed to be cross-training, but I needed to run. And it felt awesome. I followed it up with some plank holds and GOOD stretching.

SUNDAY: Functional Fitness 101, aka: moving furniture. It was too dang hot and I wimped out of my run (again). I keep telling myself that we are less than a month away to the onset of Fall temperatures (sweet baby Jesus, hurry). I know that I need to work on my resilience and my motivation, but 94 degrees plus humidity means NOPE. So I spent an entire day cleaning out my attic and organizing.

This was a day that all I had to do was put on my run outfit, and I probably would have gone out. But I became so preoccupied in getting this space organized. (At least, it’s no longer an excuse, right?)

I’m starting to feel bad about missing my runs. Seriously though, I know that I cannot continue this behavior and be able to run a full marathon. I will chuck this up to a fake taper learned behavior for my half marathon next weekend, and then I need to get super serious about my training. I MEAN IT.

Total runs: 2
Total miles: 8.08 miles
Total training miles: 104.43 miles FINALLY over that century mark!

Fun fact: I’m just about equal to the total training miles that I had for the Pittsburgh Half (granted, that was at 14 weeks of training). It’s still probably far too few miles, but I had a pretty good half in May and I hope this spells good for Cleveland next weekend.

Training Week 8: Niagara Falls International Marathon

August 4, 2015 - Mel

Week 8 was an OK training week! I know that this upcoming week is going to be hit-or-miss what with traveling and finals. I also realized that my scheduled 5K is on SATURDAY (not Sunday), and I have my final presentation an hour later, so I’ll probably be too stressed to run it. *sigh* In any event, I look forward to taking some run-selfies in Toronto this week. (God, I hope it’s not 80+ degrees!)

MONDAY: Rest Day

TUESDAY: I experienced technical difficulties in between my MapMyRun and my Garmin. My stupid watch wouldn’t connect to GPS (again!) downtown, so I ran around for a half mile or so to the Point in hopes of connecting. I did the reverse loop from the Point over the Ft. Pitt Bridge and over through the South Side trail, back up Smithfield and through downtown again. MMR also logged me doing a 4-minute mile swim over the Allegheny again, so… I guess I’m going to start pausing my workout when I run around the Convention Center.

Anyways, one app tracked me at 6.06 miles, the other at 4.5; I split the difference and figured I ran somewhere around 5 miles.

lululemon running tank pink — Sweating it out in my awesome new lululemon top — a gift from my run club buddy for my 5K PR. *love* (see also: cat photo bomb)

WEDNESDAY: Weekly workout with run//yoga club — 3.2 hot, slow, and sweaty miles and 75 minutes of hot and sweaty (and not slow) yoga, with an added emphasis on heart openers. This was probably my favorite practice so far with Megan at Urban Elements.

THURSDAY: Extra rest day (since I had to work a 12-hour day, oof)

FRIDAY: Liberty Mile! And yep, only that one mile. Once again, no connectivity with my Garmin, so I had NO pacing function. Recap of this race to post this week!

SATURDAY: I was really getting that urge to run again today, but I decided that resting for Sunday’s long run was more important. I did get a massage in the morning, which was overdue and much-needed.

SUNDAY: ~~Run 9 miles~~ Kind of run 10.01 miles. Admittedly, this was a TOUGH run. I waited until late afternoon, where the heat index was still somewhere in the mid-80s and felt like my shoes were melting on the pavement. I took several walk breaks, and went out too far on the South Side trail. And, well, by the time I was downtown, I was still a mile away from home. I kind of run-walked that last bit only because I was going to pass out if I stopped (and I seriously contemplated calling the boyfriend to come get me).

Total runs: 4
Total weekly miles: 19.21
Total training miles: 92.01

July Recap: All the sweaty miles you can handle!

August 2, 2015 - Mel

I’m less than 85 days away from my first full marathon, and still mildly freaking out about it — but in good, productive ways. I am in my last week of school too, so I look forward to being able to only focus on training for a while (and not that I have to sometimes skip/balance workouts with homework or advising sessions).

running downtown pittsburgh convention center — That point of my run where my GPS can never find me. Also the coolest (literally) place to run in downtown in July.

JULY STATS
Total miles for July: 57.12 — an increase from June, which had 36.08 total miles.
Total runs: 14

My longest run of the month was 8.04 miles on July 16 (in hot, sweaty Cleveland).
The month ended with my shortest (but most fun!) with the Liberty Mile.

I only missed one of my weekly run//yoga club sessions, and I met up twice with Steel City Road Runners Club this month. I didn’t miss ANY of my Sunday long runs. Hooray!

I PR’d my 5K time at 28:08!

White board goals: lots of shrugging and accountability.

Upcoming for August: LOTS OF MILES
I’ve got two races scheduled: a 5K in Toronto on August 9 (Ray’s Race, aka: the running of the psychologists) and the Cleveland Rock Hall Half Marathon on August 23.

If I ONLY run my long runs each week (which, that would be dumb!), then I’ll be at 54 miles for the month, so my August total miles should totally rock the socks off of that July total.

Although, I anticipate August being MUCH sweatier.

Legs, are you ready?

Heartland Transplant

Running Therapy