This week doesn’t deserve any gold stars. While it’s not something often-talked about in runner’s circles, my motivation and energy takes a nose dive when I’m premenstrual. BUT THIS IS IMPORTANT FOR US, LADIES! I wish, probably like most women, that my cycle would coordinate with my training schedule (especially in my drop-back weeks), but that isn’t reality.
Pun intended: I just gotta flow with it.
Love this pic from run//yoga club!
My goal was to get all four of my runs in, but when Friday came-and-went (had to drive to Cleveland), I knew that wasn’t going to happen. My second intent was to at least increase my mileage from last week, which… ehhhhh.
MONDAY: Rest Day
TUESDAY: Cross-training NOPE.
WEDNESDAY: Ran 4 miles with run//yoga club — at a 9:30 pace (seriously). And then 75 minutes of yoga. Admittedly, it was a tough practice after that warm run.
THURSDAY: Rest Day
FRIDAY: Rest Day
SATURDAY: Rest Day (but for serious, I walked all over Cleveland today, so I don’t feel too terrible about skipping another cross-training day).
SUNDAY: Ran 8 miles. It was already 90-some degrees at 9am in Cleveland. Regardless of the ridiculous amounts of sweat (omg even my super-old sports bra ran color onto my white tank because of it), this was a fun run around the city. Tackled two bridges, saw three sport stadiums, and ran through four different neighborhoods and through my old college campus — which has changed something amazing since ten years ago. My amphipod handheld water bottle only took me 5 miles before I had to buy another bottle at Starbucks (did I mention: HOT?).
Weekly Runs: 2
Weekly Miles: 12.04 miles (that’s not an increase from last week, unfortunately)
Total Training Miles: 63.64 miles
With my workouts this weekend, let me just say how awesome it is that the boyfriend can drive me to work this morning. WOOF, my legs. I will enjoy my Monday rest day to the fullest.
My training week called for four days of running — with one fast finish workout and a Fartlek (which… what?) and two cross-training days (which, two-a-days are my BFF). I was also back to my increasing-weekly long run on Sunday. My home TRX system was delivered this week, so I’m excited to start those workouts (buuuuut probably not until next week, since I’m traveling this weekend).
Highlights of the week: 7-mile long run and CrossFit
MONDAY: Day of REST
TUESDAY: 4.03 miles at average 10:11/mi pace. I made sure to stretch a lot today after this run.
WEDNESDAY: 3.04 miles with run//yoga club at average 9:29/mi pace, followed by 75 minutes of hot yoga. This was an awesome class tonight too!
THURSDAY: Today was supposed to be my cross-training day, but I got enough of that from yoga the previous night.
FRIDAY: REST. Today was supposed to be my Fartlek training day with 4 miles easy and some hard 15 second bursts. I was already anticipating a tough CrossFit class the following morning, and of course we ended up doing sprints! #nailedit
SATURDAY: Run 1.45 miles to CrossFit. Today’s workout felt like TWO workouts (I don’t know if I was quite ready for this kind of return to CF). Warm up with some kettlebell swings and single-arm snatches, then 4 rounds of 8 box jumps/8 burpees/40 jump ropes (that was just the warm-up!). The WOD itself was a 20-minute AMRAP: 5 pull-ups, 5 knees-to-elbow (I did my first set of these toes-to-bar), 8 thrusters, 8 cleans, 3 flights of stairs, then road sprints. I intended to run home, but nah, I was good with walking it off — especially since I tweaked something in my glute during sprints (thankfully, while it still feels strained, it didn’t prevent me from my long run on Sunday).
SUNDAY: Run 7.01 miles at a (miserable) average 11:00/mi pace. I felt OK, but definitely felt like I was slogging through these miles again. I took a few 30-second walk breaks throughout the training run too. One of these days I’ll wake up early enough to get ahead of this humidity, but today wasn’t that day. And amidst all the crazy homework I had due, I’m happy that I mustered the energy to pull myself away from my computer for a little while.
Weekly Runs: 4
Weekly Miles: 15.53 miles (that’s a 3.41 increase from last week! woo-hoo!)
Total Training Miles: 51.60 miles
The most important WIN from this week is that I did all four of my scheduled runs. They weren’t fast or pretty and one was a mile short, but I went out there (in this humidity, ugh) and did it.
MONDAY: Active rest day: foam rolled with a new app, called simply Foam Rolling, that targets areas for runners. The app is great! There are instructional videos, sport specific “exercises” and timers for each release. Today I also had a few bonus miles by walking to/from work.
TUESDAY: Run 2.06 miles at 9:06/mi pace (yay?) The plan was for three, but there was a heavy thundering in the air that provoked me to run straight home. I followed up with some upper body work with weights at home. Also, walked to/from work today.
Saucony Party!
WEDNESDAY: Lunchtime restorative yoga for an hour, then run//yoga//run club at Urban Elements after work. We did 3.06 miles at 9:47/mi pace and 75 minutes of hot yoga. I didn’t feel strong today at ALL and found myself not being able to keep up in the flow much, which was disappointing, but… meh. The instructor did a LOT of core-based movements too. I also walked to/from work/yoga studio today.
THURSDAY: Rest day; walked to the hair salon from work which is a little bit further than my normal walk home (boyfriend was nice and dropped me off before he went to golf for the morning).
FRIDAY: NO WORK, NO EXERCISE. FREAK OUT ABOUT FINISHING PROSPECTUS. [repeat] I have no excuses for not running, other than I was just plain tired and decided to listen to my body. I moved this run to Saturday morning.
SATURDAY: Ran 3 miles at 9:43/mi pace and then did some core work at home.
SUNDAY: This week dropped back into a foundation week, so no “long” run today (I move up to 7 miles next weekend!). I completed 4 miles at an average 10:44/mi pace — another hot and muggy day AND IS IT OVER YET. I scheduled a 90-minute massage for the afternoon, and let me tell you: BEST. DECISION. EVER. Not only has my shoulder felt messed up all week (yay, sleeping injury!), but when he got to my feet, I was in 7 minutes of pure heaven.
I’ve probably talked about this here before, but getting a monthly massage is part of keeping my body healthy and I consider it my physical therapy. Admittedly, I don’t stretch as much as I should, so I get deep tissue or sports-specific massages and it REALLY helps my muscles relax.
Weekly Runs: 4
Weekly Miles: 12.12 miles
Total Training Miles: 36.07 miles *Walking miles from commute not included in mile totals
Worry about finishing my two classes resulted in my not really following along with this week’s Training Plan. For what it’s worth though, my scheduled long run this week felt amazing.
Monday: REST
Tuesday: REST DAY. I had the intention running before work, but I suffered from some serious insomnia the prior night. We had a baseball game after work, so oh well.
Wednesday: Lunchtime yoga, restorative and some trigger point therapy. This class was exactly what I needed! Unfortunately, I had a concert after work, so I had to miss run//yoga club (and my training run).
Thursday: Now it was time to catch up on work for my final papers and projects that are due this week…
Friday: I ran 3 miles at 6am with a friend! And it was a slow, heavy slog through those three miles — over 11:30/pace (that felt much faster). Gross. I took her over through the West End Bridge loop though, and there was a perfect fog resting over the tops of downtown Pittsburgh. Little things like that remind me of my adventures while running and keeps me coming back to “see the view,” so to speak.
Saturday: FINALS DUE! Another rest day.
Sunday: As part of Open Street PGH, I ran 6 miles in the AM with the Steel City Road Runners Club. It was rainy but cool, the course was fun (I mean, what’s not to love about running in the middle of the street?!) AND there were legit people out there cheering on our training run. What a blast! Most importantly, it felt GOOD to run. It was a great way to cap off Week 3.
Open Streets!
Weekly Runs: 2
Weekly Miles: 9.02 miles
Total Training Miles: 23.95 miles
*Also walked 4.5 out of 5 days to/from work for another 10-ish extra miles, not included in the training total. I finally mapped my two different courses to work, and one is closer to 1.5 miles in one direction, and maybe that’s why I’m so tired every day? lol
While I did increase my mileage this week, I did not meet my frequency plan. One day I feel really awesome, and then the next I’m struggling like a beginner all over again. I’m wondering when my body will acclimate to this heat.
MONDAY: Rest Day
TUESDAY: Flipped my training plan, since I found out about the Flash 5K Pop-Up on Thursday (which, news flash, I didn’t end up doing), so I did some cross-training. Similar to the Kick My Ass workout that burned last Thursday, but did a few sets of push-ups instead of planks.
WEDNESDAY: Lunchtime yoga (1 hour, restorative) / run//yoga club at Urban Elements, we did 4 miles at a 9:20 pace.
run//yoga club!
THURSDAY: Flash 5K! Er, nope.
FRIDAY: Rest Day
SATURDAY: I did my 108 sun salutations to welcome in the summer solstice. It was a lot harder than I anticipated. I hoped to do it outside or at a studio, but after canceling the Flash run the other night, I knew that I couldn’t rely on going anywhere else (plus the weather outside wasn’t having it).
SUNDAY: Break in my new shoes (and new sunglasses and new armband) — and run (almost) 5 miles. This was the grossest, worst training run I’ve had since I started running in September. WAY too hot, humid — I had to stop after 2 miles… and then after 3. I walked after 3.5 for about 5 minutes before running again. I started cramping up (side stitch) too, even though I was barely doing a 12:00 pace. I barely eeked out that 4.91 miles, holy Lord. I feel terrible. Afterward (and after a cold shower), I was so tired that I had to nap — and was cold but sweating profusely. Something went terribly wrong today, and I don’t know what.
Replacement Saucony Ride 7 (in a different color — I love these shoes! And my new armband from ArmPocket.
Weekly Runs: 2
Weekly Miles: 8.91 miles
Total Training Miles: 6.02 + 8.91 = 14.93 miles *also walked 5 out of 5 days to/from work for 10-ish extra miles, not included in the training total
It’s now finals week, and I have a baseball game AND a concert this week, so it will be tough to fit in three runs this week; however, that’s my foundation goal for upcoming Week 3. How are you doing on your training plan?
The Niagara Falls International Marathon is 20 weeks away, and I have my plan mapped out from various training programs across the internet. I found one that has 3-4 days of running and incorporates my love of cross-training for a total 6 workouts a week. I’ll be trying to stay on plan for most of it, with some two-a-days as my body (and schedule) tells me that I need another day of rest — or for the days I go to my run//yoga club.
Check out this course map! Niagara Falls International Marathon Course Map
I think I’ll struggle most with the intensity of my cross-training days though, since I still want to do some CrossFit-type workouts. It will be challenging, but I’ll need to back out of any super high-intensity WODs that I cannot scale for the next 20 weeks. Also, Monday is called for a Rest Day throughout the plan and I REALLY like my low-impact spinning classes on Monday nights. Might just alternate rest days every other week. I’m a work-in-progress!
MONDAY: Rest Day
TUESDAY: My training plan called for 20 minutes of cross-training, but I scheduled another rest day because of my Wednesday workout plans.
WEDNESDAY: Restorative yoga practice at lunch time for an hour; we focused on some core work, and the session felt a lot more intense than usual. After work was my weekly run//yoga club with the lululemon crew at Urban Elements (seriously, if you’re interested in joining this group, send me a message!). It was a warm one! We did a quick 3 miles (9:30/pace) and 75 minutes of hot flow yoga with a LOT of hip opener exercises.
THURSDAY: Rest Day / plan called for 20 minutes of cross-training but Wednesday was enough!
FRIDAY: Three miles before breakfast (uh, that was dumb). I don’t know how it happened, but MapMyRun told me that I ran that first mile at 6:19 (I didn’t run with my watch, so was not replicated); altogether average pace over three miles (3.02) was 8:28. OK. I think I’ll run more at 6am, eh?
SATURDAY: Did a 20(ish)-minute cross-training workout that really burned, adapted from a Runner’s World program:
1 minute of squats
3 sets of biceps curls (10# x 12 reps)
1 minute of jumping jacks
1 minute of mountain climbers
1 minute of static lunges (alternating)
30 seconds of weighted “car driving” (10#)
1 minute of burpees
1 minute of front kicks (think: kickboxing; alternating)
1 minute of plie squats
3 sets of triceps extensions (this was actually really hard for me at 10#, so I did 1 set of 12; then alternated reps of 6 with following movement; followed up by a 12-set of flies)
1 minute of squat jumps (doing in the attic was fun! LOL)
1 minute plank
#dead
SUNDAY Eh, sometimes the rain and humidity come along at the same time, and you’re all NOPE. I had a small window where I could get out between finishing a major paper and having dinner with friends, but I flaked out on my run. Meh.
Total Runs: 2
Total Miles: 6.02
Training for a Fall Marathon? Share your link in the comments, so I can follow along on your adventure — and we can commiserate together in our long-run weekends. 🙂
I’ve been working hard to get my 5K time under 30 minutes since October, and was seriously bummed after what happened at the RnR 5K a few months ago. So I scheduled two 5Ks in June — the Stride for Pride and Gold Jacket Hall of Fame — to try to reach my goal again.
Pre-race: my new Fabletics pants are awesome.
This past Sunday was the Stride for Pride. I didn’t sleep that well the night before, but the start was a little later in the morning to help adjust. AND I could walk to the start line, so that was already a win.
Registration and Cost: Early registration was $20, and I received a $5 discount with my SCRR membership.
Packet Pick-Up: I couldn’t get to Shadyside for pre-race packet pick-up, so went over about 15 minutes before race start time to pick up my bib and swag bag. There was a line, given only two people were working the registration table; but with only a couple hundred runners total doing this race, everything moved quickly.
Start line!
Weather: Before I even reached the start line, I was muttering to myself about the heat (and the fact that I wore capris instead of shorts). Don’t get me wrong, it was a beautiful day, but I just haven’t switched over to my shorts game yet.
Course: Out-and-back down the north shore trail — my stomping grounds! Easy, mostly flat, a little gravel to deal with, but not a challenging course by any stretch. I like that it wasn’t closed to the usual traffic of runners and bicyclists — although the race certainly overwhelmed the path.
LOVE this image from the course photographer, but OMG I look so warm.
Stride for Pride and its beneficiary foundation strive for Pittsburgh to be a community that supports equal rights and equal love. We are so grateful to have the Pittsburgh community rally around this event during Pittsburgh Pride week and hope to create an event that is welcoming to ALL members of this beautiful, colorful community! Join us to run or walk with PRIDE!
Finish Line: I finished within the top 100 and there were already NO bananas left when I got to the refreshments table. I couldn’t have the cookies or bagels because gluten. Also, no water bottles, which sucked (considering I had to walk home and a dixie cup just wasn’t enough with that heat). I was unfortunately not prepared (and obviously have been spoiled by other races).
Medals and Swag: No medals for this race, but I really liked the t-shirt design! The lululemon handled bag was nice too. Thankfully I found a friend who was running — who had someone NOT running with her to hold my stuff.
After Party: Since my sister and niece were visiting, I didn’t stick around for the medal ceremony. Went home for my usual post-run chocolate milk treat (and a shower), and we spent the afternoon at the Aviary.
OVERALL
The Great: SUB-30 MINUTE 5K!
The Good: pacers!
The Bad: Ugh, I shouldn’t have worn capri pants.
The Ugly: OMG, so thirsty.
OH MY GOODNESS, ALL THE EXCITEMENT! (watch time, unofficial, obvs)
RESULTS
#94 (8th in my age group) with an Official Time of: 28:15.42 (Pace: 9:07/mi)
I’ve got one accountability week left until I start training for the marathon (*gasp*). There isn’t/wasn’t much accountability this week, as I was considerably sore for a few days after my yoga retreat (and inadvertently glutened at some point too).
run//yoga club (me, on right)
May was mostly a month of rest from running (or short runs), as I considered my plans for my full in October and recovered from the half. May I totaled 29.42 miles, which includes the Pittsburgh Half Marathon.
MONDAY REST
TUESDAY REST
WEDNESDAY No lunchtime yoga this week. In run//yoga club after work, we covered 3 miles at about a 10-min pace, and it was another 75 (tough) minutes of hot yoga. Man, I was still so very tired and realized that I needed much more recovery.
THURSDAY So, REST
FRIDAY And REST.
SATURDAY Does running around cleaning, moving furniture, setting up for the yard sale, and chasing my six-year-old niece count? Because I’m beat! #functionalfitness
SUNDAY Ran the Stride for Pride 5K (recap coming!)
Total miles: 6.22 I also walked my round-trip commute to work 4 out of 5 days this week.
Next week’s post will be Marathon Training Week #1!
Since I’m not currently training for anything (at least for a couple more weeks), and posting my workout weeks helps keep my motivation in check, this is my accountability week(s) post. I’m currently starting to look at training programs for running the full in October, with about 18-20 weeks of training, so I welcome any references! I’m familiar with Higdon’s model, but I’d like to know what else is out there. Update to my race schedule: I now have another half on the schedule in August (The Rock Hall half in Cleveland) and I’m running the Akron relay in September with some friends.
The week directly post-half marathon I DID NOTHING (in the form of exercise). It was kind of glorious, and it left me a good span of time to focus on finishing out my winter semester. My recovery from running the half was pretty seamless into my regular life; I was able to walk to work the next day (and the next!), with very little soreness. Must be that post-race chocolate milk!
My intention last week was to get a couple runs in to shake everything out, return to CrossFit workouts, and do some YOGA.
Week May 11-17:
MONDAY: Rest Day, duh. While I generally don’t like working out on Mondays (I don’t know, I’m grumpy or something), my friend returned to spinning class on Monday evenings at the Y, so I’ll start that up again once a week starting next week.
TUESDAY: CrossFit. Naturally, we started off with a 500m run warm-up, and I was happy about all the mobility work. The WOD was a quickie 3RFT for stair climbs (3 stories), snatches, and box jumps. I stayed easy today, with only the bar, since I haven’t been going regularly.
WEDNESDAY: Run//yoga club at Urban Elements. We had a small group today, so we held a pretty quick pace (for me) of 9:30/mi for 4 miles. First run back, and it pushed me a bit, but I was able to keep up. And maybe I should stop running at 10:30/mi so much. Following up the run was a 75-minute yoga session, where we did a lot of Warrior work. It was intense! And we have a new instructor, but I loved how she taught for different skill levels. I’m hyper-mobile, so she also suggested some great adaptations for me to enhance my practice and how to stretch my hamstrings.
THURSDAY: Rest.
FRIDAY: Rest. Wine.
SATURDAY: Did another CrossFit session that was book-ended by running TO the box and then back home. In the rain, no less. We did a couple sprints before the WOD and a 500m run, then it was Elizabeth. I’m still hanging out in the Bronze category, so it was 55# for me and three miserable rounds of push-ups at 15-12-9. For time: 6:21 minutes.
SUNDAY: Another day of rest
Week May 18-24:
This was another week where I had a lot of motivation going into the week, yet quickly lost it because of stressing out about school work. I need to learn that taking a break to do something active will help alleviate that feeling, but I get SO blind-sided by the onslaught.
MONDAY: My return to spinning! This session reminded me why I love spinning so much — it’s such a great, low impact workout (I barely sweat, but that doesn’t mean I’m not trying) that hits you with that good soreness a day later.
TUESDAY: Rest day.
WEDNESDAY: Lunchtime yoga started today, courtesy of work. We get some wellness “points” that contribute to a program that gives us some money back for our health premiums by participating. Plus, I get away from my desk for an hour a week. This session was a great restorative and slow practice, and she actually went well over an hour (oops). I enjoyed every minute of it.
After work, I had a hair appointment near home, which I planned to run to. I took a long route through the Point, which was a nice 1.90 miles to add to the log this week.
THURSDAY: STRESS DAY. Because let’s be honest, while I wasn’t necessarily working out, my body and mind were not at rest. BLARGH.
FRIDAY: This was a rest day.
SATURDAY: Does cleaning my patio count? Because I feel like it was a workout.
SUNDAY: My return to golfing! Oh man, I am still terrible, but I had one really great drive out of 9 holes of play. Now, how can I do that all the time?
It was absolutely wonderful to be out in the sun, and as I mentioned before, my boyfriend is super relaxed when playing so I really had fun despite my annoyances of not being able to get much lift on the ball. It felt like vacation in a way; we had lunch outside at the club and then hung out at the pool for a couple hours.
How is everyone else doing in their “off season”? Have you planned your next races?
Everything still feels pretty surreal since finishing my FIRST half marathon a week ago. A lot of the race is a blur, but I really tried to take everything in and savor moments, while also achieving my goals for the race.
Registration and Cost: I had to go back to see how long ago I decided to do this race. My registration was at the end of October of 2014 — BEFORE I HAD EVEN RUN MY FIRST TEN MILER. I must’ve been some kind of crazy. Blame the Halloween candy. The cost was $85 for the half registration, which I imagine had some fees attached.
Expo and Packet Pick-up: I am generally not an Expo person, but I LOVED this Expo. I loved it so much that I went back a second day — and spent a LOT more money. CURSES, EXPO! But I have a lot of fun running shirts and pants now. I had to pick up both my 5K and half packets; packet pick-up was super annoying for the 5K, only because they lumped the last name starts with “U” with the “Ss” and OMG every “Smith” or “Stewart” was in line before me.
For the half, I had to repeat my number at least 6 times, but poor lady was probably number-dumb by the time I showed up. It’s like when you see the same word over-and-over again and it just doesn’t look right anymore. Picking up my bib was simple, but everything else was separate and a little frustrating. I had to go down a few tables to the shirt section for my shirt (for 5K they were behind every table). The race bag was ALL THE WAY AT THE OTHER SIDE OF THE EXPO. I hate that. A lot. I am an efficiency person.
Fundraising: I ended up raising $355 for the National Aviary — thanks to everyone who donated!
Bag Check: I didn’t use since I could walk to the start corrals (and packed the boyfriend with a bag for the finish line), but I had several options, including the special bag check perk from being an SCRR member.
Weather: The morning was chillier than I expected, so I started down with a long-sleeve shirt. I initially picked out a throw-away, but when it was colder, I realized I would be running most of the race in long sleeves. Cue, dramatic irony when it felt suddenly like 103 degrees. Once I was up the hill of Carson Street, the long-sleeve had to come off. It was a beautiful day, to be sure, but definitely not ideal for a marathon. That morning I suffered from a wardrobe indecision, and my “flat Mel” changed twice before leaving the house.
Alas, there was an AMAZING sunrise that morning.
(also, that guy from the Anchorman crew ran with a lamp for the entirety of the race. People are hilarious!)
Course: So much love for this course! During my training runs, I covered most of the half marathon route, and the north side/downtown sections were my regular stomping grounds. And since I’m a proper Pittsburgh lady, I love running those bridges.
Fans and Experience: There were fans — a LOT of them. I high-fived a cow in Allegheny Commons. I touched a blow-up llama alpaca for good luck. I ran down the hill of the West End to a band singing “YMCA” — with hundreds of people happily dancing and spelling it out on the sidelines. I saw Steff on the 16th Street Bridge. A lady gave me a giant, incredibly delicious orange in the South Side. I did not eat the lube on a stick (that was the best first marathon advice ever received)!
But here is what I didn’t expect because people talk about how the crowds and cheering help you get through everything… I was overwhelmed before I made it to Station Square. Completely, totally over-stimulated and wanted to be alone in my running world. I never trained for that happening — I mean, how can you?! Through doing large races like this, I guess. I put in my headphones and didn’t take them out until I crossed that finish line.
Recycled derby sign!
Random Bullshit: Guy yelling and face-timing on his phone in the Strip District WHILE HE WAS RUNNING about his prior night losing $600 at the Casino. That was really too early to feel so annoyed at another runner, but OMG what an asshole. Kinda hope he puked on his shoes somewhere.
Favorite Sign: South Side, “I’m not flat, but the next mile is!”
Finish Line: A Robyn song came up on my playlist, and I turned into the crazy person singing this down Boulevard of the Allies all the way to the Finish Line. SINGING. I felt strong, I felt empowered… I felt silly! But I gave zero shits. I WAS RUNNING 13 MILES.
Medals and Swag: This race weekend was a medal extravaganza — I got a finisher’s medal for doing both the 5K and the half marathon, but also the Steel Challenge medal. For swag, I’m pretty sure everyone else covered hating the salmon-pink shirts, right? I don’t hate pink, but I REALLY wanted that green shirt; and considering how large the women’s small was, a men’s shirt would never have fit me. I liked the magazine/booklet for the race that was in the bag; it’s a nice keepsake. And those ice pods are the bomb. There was also a can of some Redbull product and a NuGo bar in there — both of which I likely can’t have, so… eh. I was honestly really hoping for one of those small foil packets of sunscreen or lube to put in my “fuel” belt.
Bonus: Great way to start off the birthday week! This was also officially the last race I finished as a 37-year-old.
Notable 30-somethings: There were three 30-something females who placed in the Top 10 for the half marathon. Caitlin, Jennifer, and Sarah: you’re amazing! There were two 30-something men in their division’s Top 10 too. Heck yeah, Sam and Jeff! Man, is it beyond hope that one day I’d like to run a 6-minute mile?
After party: Our Neighbors hosted a post-race brunch and there were all the things to eat. I could barely stomach a deviled egg and some mimosas. I did happily enjoy a full plate of pickles though. GIMME BRINE.
OVERALL The Great: NO KNEE PAIN. Like, at all. No pain anywhere. The Good: I felt SO GOOD all the way through Mile 11 (where I almost started crying because at that point it was my furthest distance ever). The Bad: My fingers swelled up though, like two times their size. It was really uncomfortable when they started pulsing. Chalking it up to the heat. The Ugly: Mile 12, man. For how good I felt at Mile 11, I felt completely opposite at Mile 12. Probably because I had so much energy to run up that dang hill right after the Birmingham Bridge and it was just too much. But I was not walking that hill. Nope. Strangely, my split doesn’t reflect how terrible I felt.
RESULTS
Finished 2:20:49
Pace 10:44/mi avg (per official race results)
I’m so proud of my finish! I was right on target for my time goal too — running my fastest mile at 7 miles in kinda blows my mind. There wasn’t much I could do about starting slow, which is something of a blessing, as there was a LOT of congestion in Corral D for at least the first two miles.
