My goal for 2014 is to improve my swimming and biking, and complete the Double Mussel and REV3 Poconos 70.3 races. I'm in the process of moving from Rochester to Albany, and am looking forward to making some new friends!
I'm making a new addition to my race schedule, the Cinco de Julio Cuatro Miler race July 9. Why? It just looks like fun! Plus I get a free entry because I volunteered at Cap City!
I'm really excited -- my race schedule lines up perfectly with my training schedule!
July 9 there are six miles on the schedule, so I'll do a 2-mile warmup to the 4-mile race.
My share of Hood to Coast is 18 miles. There are 18 miles on the schedule that weekend!
The Hocking Hills Indian Run has a 20K distance, just over 12 miles. That week, I have 12 scheduled!
The only races that don't fit are the Warrior Dash, which I have no intention of taking seriously -- I'm going to do the full seven the day before, and the triathlon relay, which I will have to figure out since I want to run that well. I'm scheduled for 10 the day before. In the relay I'm doing a 5K.
It's cleaning/organizing day in the new apartment, and I finally did something with the small collection of medals from various races, and of course my 1st place plaque from the Nu Race Trial Run!
I really can't explain the logic behind my sudden need to line up all of my running shoes and snap a photo. But, while cleaning, I decided to do just that.
From left to right, oldest to newest:
Asics Kayanos: About 350 miles logged on these! They took me through my first 10K and last fall's trail runs. I'm keeping them as trail shoes.
Blue Mizuno Precisions: 359 miles logged on them. I've read that I should be able to get more life out of them, but every time I run in them my legs hurt, so I've downgraded them to walking shoes. These took me through most of my marathon training, and the 15-miler in Granville!
Orange Mizuno Prescisions #1: I used these for the 22 miler and my marathon, and the last few weeks of training. 135 miles logged on them so far. Still in use.
Orange Mizuno Precisions #2: Noticing a theme? Hey, when you find something that works, right? Plus they're relatively cheap as running shoes go! Brand new. Didn't quite need them yet but Fleet Feet was having a sale! I think I'll break them in and then start using them right away for long runs only, and use the first ones for weekly training runs. I'll get more life out of both that way! I'll have to get different laces to tell the difference, the new ones won't stay that nice pristine shade of white for long!
In front are the Zoots. I used them for the shortest training runs, just to give the Precisions a break from time to time, and to start getting used to a lighter shoe! 30 miles logged on them.
I'm back! Did my first summer/fall training run with MIT this morning and it felt so great to be out there pounding the pavement in the sunshine with the 10:30s.
Who are huge this season, by the way! There are so many of us, it's fantastic!
And the "long run"... a whopping 6 miles! Remember when I said this? Splits today were: 10:31, 10:14, 10:01, 10:10, 10:26, 9:57.
My alarm was buzzing at 6 a.m. and I was up and ready. I made a bagel and burned a CD for the ride since the iPod is still MIA. Getting ready to run in the summer is so much easier -- shorts, tech shirt, garmin, hydration, good to go! (continued)
After a week of doing virtually nothing I'm trying to get back in the swing of things. I took the dogs for a good walk with some hills Friday, made like a floundering fish and jumped in the Y pool Saturday and Sunday, and did spinning, some lifting and ran a whopping one mile at a 12 minute pace yesterday. I'm shooting for spinning and lifting today and tomorrow, and then I'm going to jump into the MIT training schedule Saturday with 6 miles.
The good folks at Fleet Feet Sports have another pair of Mizuno Precisions ready for me to pick up Saturday, at 20% off plus a free pair of socks! My ultimate goal is to run the Columbus Marathon Oct. 16 in under 4:20. I'd like to beat a 10:00 pace so that should do it. I'm going to stick with MIT and their training plan, and keep going with the 10:30s.
But until then I have a few other plans. At some point I need to update my Daily Mile upcoming races!
My other goal this summer is to PR in a 5K. My time to beat is 24:27, set Jan. 1 of this year, I'd love to bring it under 24, that's a 7:44 pace.
JUNE 5 Warrior Dash -- I'm really stoked for this one! I'm doing it with my MIT friend Beth, Spark friend Sara and college friend Evelyn, in the 5 p.m. wave Sunday. We need to figure out ... something... costumes, war paint... something! It's in Hocking Hills, a 5K race, but with cargo nets, a mud puddle, a wind tunnel and a scrapyard to climb through, it's safe to say this won't be a PR contender! So instead I'll just toss back a few and have some fun.
Myself, Abbey and Anna.
JULY 17 Greenswell Triathlon relay -- Meet the Manic Mojos, comprised of myself and all-star Newark Advocate reporters Abbey Roy and Anna Sudar. We're doing a short triathalon relay at Alum Creek, women only, for breast cancer research. Since the run is the third leg, I don't know if this would be the best shot for a PR, either, but it will be a good time.
AUG. 26-27 Hood to Coast -- I am a proud member of Coasties and Ghosties of Sparkpeople.com. I'm stoked, and nervous, given that I've never met my 11 teammates before! It will be two days in Oregon, 197 miles starting at the top of Mt. Hood and running to the ocean. It's coming up fast, time to start planning my trip!
SEPT. 17 Hocking Hills Indian Run -- This was my first 10K, and my first trail run, last year, and I am definitely going back. Not sure on the distance yet, probably a 20K or a 40K, I'll compare it to my training schedule later and do what fits.
So, I still need to find a good 5K. I have a free entry for an M3S event, and there's something called the Bull Run in Columbus Aug. 6 that looks fun!
As long as the legs hold up, it's going to be a good summer!
We are now five days past the marathon and I am mostly recovered. I still feel a little shakiness in the knees. I still feel a little stiffness getting up and sitting down. And most of all I have just been tired.
But more importantly, I have pictures! These are both the Brightroom proofs of the official race pics, and also photos of the wonderful 10:30 gathering on Wednesday at Champps in Columbus.
First the official race photos. Hands down my favorite, I know it was taken during the last .2 miles because I took my earbuds out at the 26th mile marker.
And a nice, blurry procession of me finishing:
MIT Team 10:30 met at Champps on Wednesday to celebrate all of our races! What an amazing group of people and set of accomplishments! I felt naked with only one medal!
This is Coach Randy, me and Kim. Randy ran the Gettysburg North-South Marathon and Kim ran Cap City.
Sarah, who ran the Pittsburgh full and Katie, who ran the Flying Pig and Cap City halves.
Me, Sarah and Kim.
And speaking of medals, Michelle K. from our pace team pointed out a typo on the medal! The Rite Aid logo says 2010 marathon! It's ok, it still says 2011 in large, funky, psychedelic type!
And, for no reason whatsoever, this is the cat that has taken up residence outside my apartment window. I think it gets great pleasure from torturing my dogs.
Plain Dealer photo of everyone running down the Shoreway.
This morning, stairs are the enemy. Yesterday was phenomenal, though. See my race report here, my music report here, my expo loot here, and my race plan here.
And here's some coverage from the Plain Dealer:
An excellent piece about the growth of the marathon, and racing in general:
"From his vantage point on the West Coast, Lamppa said Cleveland's recent creation and promotion of an "Experience" also are not to be underestimated. Just as the "Flying Pig" image pays off at the Cincinnati Marathon, so is Cleveland's hippie theme working wonders.
"There's something about that funky, psychedelic look that I personally am drawn towards," he said. Cleveland's found a way to brand its event, and that matters."
"What looked like an opaque wall of early morning mist stood between 19,000 runners Sunday morning and a successful 34th running of the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon.
The mist didn't stand a chance..."
I love reading the stories about why people participate:
"The 34th annual Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon brought nearly 19,000 runners and walkers downtown. Thousands more lined the streets to cheer for them. It's a big event, but one comprised of so many little stories..."
They also have this video of the race starting. It's about 1 minute long. It took me 7 minutes to reach the start line. I was in the middle of the pack.
I requested today off, so I'm being lazy. My quads hurt the most. Going to use the foam roller and walk the dogs later to work out the lactic acid, and head back to Newark tonight.
So I'll just start at the beginning of one crazy day! I'm still reeling, so some edits will likely be necessary tomorrow.
I was up at 5 and downtown by 5:45. The exits were already blocked off so my mom managed to drop me off a few blocks away. The Plain Dealer reported that there were almost 20,000 runners in the various events, it was a madhouse! Check out the photo on the link that has everyone running down the shoreway.
We were in Browns' stadium so I was happy for lots of bathrooms and places to spread out. I warmed up just enough to get the heart rate up, then stretched for a long time. The starting corral was really chaotic and disorganized, I ended up having to walk across the mud to get in the very vicinity of where I needed to be. They got us worked up with "Cleveland Rocks"
Once it starts it takes me 7 minutes to reach the start, so the clocks on the course were worthless, but I had my Garmin. I try my best to stick with the 4:45 pace group but it was difficult. I ended up back with the 5 hour group at the beginning and did some zigzagging to catch up (probably why my Garmin said 26.49 at the end)
I caught up to the 4:45s but lost them quickly. They stopped at every water station (every two miles) so it often took some time to get in step with them after. I only really stopped at 6, 12, 18 and 22.
Still, the first two miles along the shoreway were a lot of fun, the energy was unreal, I liked being by the lake, and passing Edgewater Park where my high school cross country team used to train. Some complained about the hill as we ran up the on-ramp. I've done much, much worse.
The first 10K was a breeze. It was really hard restraining myself, I wanted to speed up.
The second 6 and change took us through Tremont and Carnegie Ave. which was a really phenomenal part of the course. The crowd support was unreal. I ran a lot of this without my iPod because there were bands and people playing music everywhere!
Just before the halfs turned off, I hit a marathoner's jackpot -- a port-a-john with no line. (The port-a-john lines were another chief complaint I've heard of the event). With the Indians' stadium in sight there were lots of cheers as we bid farewell to the half marathoners.
Then things started to get real.
I was back with the pace group at this point, and as we headed down Euclid Ave. toward the east side I was really glad for it. As we got through the CSU campus and left downtown things got really quiet. I started to get tired. The pace group started to get chatty. That helped.
Miles 13-19 were definitely the hardest. At one point I got ahead of the group and ended up stopping to stretch my knees and ankles while they caught up. I see my mom around Mile 15, which gave me a boost. Miles 16-19 I went for all the peppy, make me smile songs on my iPod. Usually these make me speed up, but in between my exhaustion and the pace team I stuck to 10-11 min miles.
I think the double caffeine Gu kicked in at Mile 19 because at this point I found some new energy. Around 19.5 I realized the pace group was behind me. I told myself I'd stick with them for the first 20 -- close enough. I kick it up to 9-9:30. I turned off the fast pace alert set to 10:00. My iPod, set to shuffle on the 12-hour playlist was all about the classic rock, which was perfect.
At this point every single muscle was screaming. My legs feel so numb. I'm soaking wet and hardly notice. But I'm passing people. This part of the course was really pretty. We turned onto a bike path as we went through several parks and along Lake Erie. I watched waves of the lovely brown waters splash against the breakers. I watched a bird eat a dead fish. I saw these people, I think they're from DetermiNation (photo from the Cap City race... the CLE signs were similar). Any distraction was a welcome distraction. I'm keeping a sub 10 pace.
Every mile marker gave me new energy. I was going for it and was going to finish. I didn't care what my watch said. I ran the way my legs wanted to carry me. Kali, who ran the half and blogs about her running ventures, was there around Mile 24. Another boost. I passed Mile 25. I'm exhausted, dying, but I'm going to make it.
I can't touch my iPod at this point -- the battery is dying, and my hands were so slimy, so I just took what the shuffle function gave me. First I hear Fleetwood Mac's Don't Stop. Then, the Beatles' The Long and Winding Road. Then I see Mile 26 and hear cheering and music. I tuck my headphones in my FuelBelt and start sprinting.
I cross and the first person I see is my good friend Theresa Edwards, who was volunteering and handed me my medal. I'm exhausted. Once I stop running I can barely walk but I stumble through the chute, catch up with an MIT friend.
I remember high-fiving the guy at Mile 8 with a sign that said "18 miles til beer". I had a free drink ticket and beer was the last thing I wanted. I'm delirious. I am soaking wet. My mom brought me dry clothes. Changing was painful.
So, after you run 26.2 miles, you eat what you please. I had yet to try Five Guys before, delicious! Then for dinner we went out for Mexican.
At that point, I was happy for this:
And, of course, this:
I'm all signed up for the next session of MIT. I'm going to train for the Columbus full!
I know I haven't held a lot of affection for my hometown (and I know this is in my last post too), but it is only fitting that I end this post on this note:
