...as in, the days leading up to the start of Ohio State football season! Only 5 short days until the official return of tailgating and college football to my life (okay, and tailgate food too). This will hopefully mean the steady return of fall weather, too but considering we had gorgeous weather all week only to have it get hot again yesterday and today with no end in sight I don't think that's going to happen.
However, as I may have mentioned in the past, training in this hot weather should mean great things for my overall pace and race times come fall. Barring any major mishaps, that is. I was afraid I had a mishap on my hands a couple of weeks ago, in the form of some nagging pain/discomfort in my left knee that started up during a 4 mile run and refused to go away no matter how much I rested my legs. I picked up a new pair of shoes (I was due for some, anyway), made plans to have my athletic trainer sister take a look at the knee when she was in Cinci that weekend, and crossed my fingers I could at least make it through part of my scheduled 9 mile long run that Saturday (after having rested my legs since that Tuesday). The 9 miler came and went...with only minor discomfort. That continued to diminish throughout that day, and was gone completely when I woke up Sunday morning. I don't know if it was the new shoes, or the thread of being poked and prodded by my sister (which we never got around to doing), or just a coincidence and me getting nervous over nothing, but I haven't heard a peep out of my knee since and I am SO relieved. When training for my spring half, I strained my right quad about 2 months before the race and my speed and focus never really recovered so needless to say when this nagging ache came along at the same point in my training I was NOT amused. Thankfully, my speed and focus are sloooooowly starting to come back to me so hopefully I can stay healthy and kick some ass in October :D
Speaking of kicking some ass, my friend Colleen is at this very second undoubtedly kicking some ass on the running portion of her third Ironman triathlon (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run) in Louisville. I am totally in awe-she and her husband Tom have trained like crazy for this and I know they're both doing awesome. However, I also know that their course covers a good part of the same course I ran for the Derby Festival Mini and my sister and her BF ran for the Derby Festival Marathon in April and that its a tough course. Plus its roughly 90 degrees here in Columbus so definitely hotter down south...I guess this is one of those times that training in heat and humidity comes in handy :) Keep kicking ass, Colleen and Tom-we're all cheering for you!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
C'mon, Mother Nature...
...haven't we had enough? Ohio has had humid, oppressive hot weather from pretty much May 'til now, save the random couple days of "cooler" weather and teases of 60ish degree 7am long runs. Damnit, I have a half marathon to break 1:50 in a little over TWO months from now and doing some much needed outdoor speed training is going to be much easier once it cools off a little bit! I should not sweat as much on a 3 mile easyish run (meaning, long run pace) as I did tonight. Jesus H.
On that note, I have officially joined that running group I was talking about. I've gotten to chat with a few people in my long run pace group, which definitely makes the long runs go a lot faster...and am forcing myself to do my necessary speedwork either on the dreadmill or the track at the gym. Both of which I HATEHATEHATE but it's better than doing it outside because with the aforementioned heat I know it would not go well.
I'm also trying to make an effort to rededicate myself to eating better, to improve my overall health and to lose the 5-7lbs I've gained since my half last fall (also Columbus). I know I CAN do this, I just have to remind my willpower of that :) All the veggies we're getting from our garden (hooray for ripe tomatoes) has helped somewhat, as has a couple of trips to local farmers markets. Mmmmm, peaches...
In other news, we are eagerly counting down the days until the start of Ohio State football season aka the hap-happiest season of alllllllllll...less than a month now! Between that and the hoopla surrounding TO joining my Bengals (don't worry, I still hate TO but just slightly less since he's a Bengal), things are good in my household :)
So cross your fingers things cool off here soon...it can't stay this hot for THAT much longer. Right?
On that note, I have officially joined that running group I was talking about. I've gotten to chat with a few people in my long run pace group, which definitely makes the long runs go a lot faster...and am forcing myself to do my necessary speedwork either on the dreadmill or the track at the gym. Both of which I HATEHATEHATE but it's better than doing it outside because with the aforementioned heat I know it would not go well.
I'm also trying to make an effort to rededicate myself to eating better, to improve my overall health and to lose the 5-7lbs I've gained since my half last fall (also Columbus). I know I CAN do this, I just have to remind my willpower of that :) All the veggies we're getting from our garden (hooray for ripe tomatoes) has helped somewhat, as has a couple of trips to local farmers markets. Mmmmm, peaches...
In other news, we are eagerly counting down the days until the start of Ohio State football season aka the hap-happiest season of alllllllllll...less than a month now! Between that and the hoopla surrounding TO joining my Bengals (don't worry, I still hate TO but just slightly less since he's a Bengal), things are good in my household :)
So cross your fingers things cool off here soon...it can't stay this hot for THAT much longer. Right?
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Goodbye, vacation ::sob::
I've been enjoying my supremely lazy vacation this week, and now it's Saturday. I go back to work on Monday. Sniff. It's amazing how fast time flies when you've done diddly squat all week.
Now that I think about it though, this whole summer has gone pretty fast. WhenTF did we get to the end of July?! On the upside, this hopefully means that this godawful hot summer will be over before I know it. I swear, it's been 80-90 degrees with 95% humidity since May. Enough is enough, damnit...I want to be able to run outside later than 7am!
Speaking of running, I have officially decided that I'm going to do the 1/2 version of the Columbus Marathon again in October. I'd still love to break 1:50 in a 1/2 marathon this year, and Columbus's nice flat course and great racing temps are going to (hopefully) help give me a good chance. To shake things up, I'm joining a local running group that does their group runs from a high school about 10 mins from my house. It motivates me to get my ass out of bed before 7am on Saturdays, which is always a good thing. Except today, but that's because I drank too much beer at a local golf tournament yesterday afternoon and still had a pounding headache this morning. It's amazing how getting $1 beers after every birdie on the 13th hole can be both a good thing and a VERY bad thing...either way, J, his cousin, and I had a blast and that's the most important thing, right? I tried running @ the gym today but that wasn't happening either so I'm going to try to get up tomorrow morning.
In other news, our downstairs bathroom is done!!!!!!!!!! Squeeeee!!!!! Thanks to my super awesome wonderful father, without whom J and I never would have emerged from this project with our marriage intact. The bathroom looks great, and we are SO glad it's done. I'll post pictures one of these days. Next up, painting the family room this winter. Now that the bathroom is a color we like, the yellowness of the family room walls (the bathroom is right off the family room, and they used to be the same yellow color) is driving us nuts.
40ish days 'til OSU football season begins-yahoo! I was able to get alumni tickets for the OSU vs. Marshall game this year, which is a night game, on a Thursday, and the official kickoff to the college football season. This means I get to take the next day off work, because I know I'm not gonna be in the mood to work. My sister managed to get alumni tickets for this game also, so needless to say we're really looking forward to this. Come onnnn, college football (and the fall weather that goes along with it)!
Time to go water the veggie garden, and see if our tomatoes are getting any more red. We've got a crapload of 'em, so once they do ripen something tells me I'm going to be learning how to can tomatoes...watch out!
Now that I think about it though, this whole summer has gone pretty fast. WhenTF did we get to the end of July?! On the upside, this hopefully means that this godawful hot summer will be over before I know it. I swear, it's been 80-90 degrees with 95% humidity since May. Enough is enough, damnit...I want to be able to run outside later than 7am!
Speaking of running, I have officially decided that I'm going to do the 1/2 version of the Columbus Marathon again in October. I'd still love to break 1:50 in a 1/2 marathon this year, and Columbus's nice flat course and great racing temps are going to (hopefully) help give me a good chance. To shake things up, I'm joining a local running group that does their group runs from a high school about 10 mins from my house. It motivates me to get my ass out of bed before 7am on Saturdays, which is always a good thing. Except today, but that's because I drank too much beer at a local golf tournament yesterday afternoon and still had a pounding headache this morning. It's amazing how getting $1 beers after every birdie on the 13th hole can be both a good thing and a VERY bad thing...either way, J, his cousin, and I had a blast and that's the most important thing, right? I tried running @ the gym today but that wasn't happening either so I'm going to try to get up tomorrow morning.
In other news, our downstairs bathroom is done!!!!!!!!!! Squeeeee!!!!! Thanks to my super awesome wonderful father, without whom J and I never would have emerged from this project with our marriage intact. The bathroom looks great, and we are SO glad it's done. I'll post pictures one of these days. Next up, painting the family room this winter. Now that the bathroom is a color we like, the yellowness of the family room walls (the bathroom is right off the family room, and they used to be the same yellow color) is driving us nuts.
40ish days 'til OSU football season begins-yahoo! I was able to get alumni tickets for the OSU vs. Marshall game this year, which is a night game, on a Thursday, and the official kickoff to the college football season. This means I get to take the next day off work, because I know I'm not gonna be in the mood to work. My sister managed to get alumni tickets for this game also, so needless to say we're really looking forward to this. Come onnnn, college football (and the fall weather that goes along with it)!
Time to go water the veggie garden, and see if our tomatoes are getting any more red. We've got a crapload of 'em, so once they do ripen something tells me I'm going to be learning how to can tomatoes...watch out!
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Ah, summer in Ohio...
Aka time for lovely, disgusting humidity. We've been spending lots of time in air conditioned comfort, plodding along with the bathroom remodeling project (with LOTS of help from my dad) and only going outside when absolutely necessary. Said bathroom currently has tile and paint, so now we need to get around to putting in the small fortune's worth of fixtures (sink, vanity, faucet, toilet, lighting, etc.)...sometime before the cookout/anniversary celebration we're having on July 17th. In three weeks. Cross your fingers, people :D
Work is going pretty well. We "went live" with a new electronic medical record system a few weeks ago, which on one hand has been a PITA b/c we were all used to the old system, but good because now we're on the same system as the rest of the hospital so that comes in handy. So far, so good though...and by that, I mean I haven't tried to throw my computer out the window yet :)
On the health/fitness front, I've been a lot better about going to the gym or running at least 5x/week and resisting the urge to be lazy all.the.time. I'm trying to get back into the routine of working out before I go to work, which means getting up at an ungodly hour but makes the rest of the day SO much easier! I managed to do it twice this week so we'll see how this week goes :)
Plus, I actually ran a 5k yesterday. I try to avoid summer races at all costs b/c of the heat, and this summer has been no exception. However, this race was at a park I hadn't run in yet, and was starting at 8am so I thought it'd be cooler. WRONG! I still managed to pass everyone I wanted to pass, and got 3rd in my age group! (Before you ask, yes it WAS a small race but a medal is a medal damnit :D) My finishing time was 27:00 even, which is a good two minutes slower than my PR (25:02) but that was set in March 09 when it was significantly cooler outside. Ah, spring races...how I miss you!
Otherwise, not much is going on around here. Our vegetable garden and potted herbs/lettuce are growing nicely-maybe we'll have some edible veggies here soon! We've been trying to get stuff done around the house to get ready for the upcoming par-tay, so that's been keeping us on our toes. Add in two weddings, and you've got a busy June. Bring it on, July!
Work is going pretty well. We "went live" with a new electronic medical record system a few weeks ago, which on one hand has been a PITA b/c we were all used to the old system, but good because now we're on the same system as the rest of the hospital so that comes in handy. So far, so good though...and by that, I mean I haven't tried to throw my computer out the window yet :)
On the health/fitness front, I've been a lot better about going to the gym or running at least 5x/week and resisting the urge to be lazy all.the.time. I'm trying to get back into the routine of working out before I go to work, which means getting up at an ungodly hour but makes the rest of the day SO much easier! I managed to do it twice this week so we'll see how this week goes :)
Plus, I actually ran a 5k yesterday. I try to avoid summer races at all costs b/c of the heat, and this summer has been no exception. However, this race was at a park I hadn't run in yet, and was starting at 8am so I thought it'd be cooler. WRONG! I still managed to pass everyone I wanted to pass, and got 3rd in my age group! (Before you ask, yes it WAS a small race but a medal is a medal damnit :D) My finishing time was 27:00 even, which is a good two minutes slower than my PR (25:02) but that was set in March 09 when it was significantly cooler outside. Ah, spring races...how I miss you!
Otherwise, not much is going on around here. Our vegetable garden and potted herbs/lettuce are growing nicely-maybe we'll have some edible veggies here soon! We've been trying to get stuff done around the house to get ready for the upcoming par-tay, so that's been keeping us on our toes. Add in two weddings, and you've got a busy June. Bring it on, July!
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Some updates, and a race report.
First, the race report.
This morning, Stevi, Colleen, and I did the Columbus 10k. I woke up at 7am to the sound of torrential downpours hitting my roof and thought to myself "Oh, crap. Really?". Luckily, by the time I left the house almost an hour later, the rain had stopped and we haven't seen it since. Once I got parked, a little voice in my head told me to put on sunscreen even though it was overcast, and it was a good thing I did-the sun came out shortly after the race started, and stayed shining for pretty much the rest of the race. I would have gotten ROASTED if I hadn't put on the SPF 45-it takes work to maintain this shade of translucent white, damnit! :D
Between the heat, humidity, and the hills (which aren't necessarily "big", but they were for superflat Columbus), Stevi and I decided pretty quickly that we needed to run to have fun and not to break any speed records-she starts her marathon training program tomorrow and neither one of us have had a good transition to warm weather running so we knew that trying to haul ass just wasn't a good idea today. Despite a short walk stint to let Stevi's burning calf muscles rest, we both finished in right around 1:00:00 flat, which given the conditions was FINE by me! Plus, we got postrace pancakes, and those always help :)
Now, onto the other stuff...despite today's tough race, I think my body's transition to running in warm weather is starting to come along. In Columbus, we went from spring temps in the 60's to temps in the 80's with 90% humidity, with maybe a few days of temps in the mid 70's...so the abrupt change has NOT been kind to me. Add in a lovely chest cold and you get a few weeks of craptacular running, which I am finally done with.
My eating healthy endeavours are starting to take hold, as is my plan to work out more consistently-I actually made it to the gym or ran 6 out of the last 7 days! YAY! Strength training is still not happening much yet, but I did buy the 30 Day Shred DVD so that's a start :) I haven't been able to do it yet since our family room is taken up by the fixtures we're putting in the bathroom that's in the process of being remodeled, but I AM going to try it soon...promise.
Other than that, not much is new in my world. We've got a couple of weddings coming up, and need to finish this bathroom before our big summer party in the middle of July. I don't have any races on the horizon at this point, but there are a couple of races I've come across that look interesting-one of which is a 5 mile run+obstacle course. Hooray, mud! All in all, I'm just glad winter is over and summer is finally here :D
This morning, Stevi, Colleen, and I did the Columbus 10k. I woke up at 7am to the sound of torrential downpours hitting my roof and thought to myself "Oh, crap. Really?". Luckily, by the time I left the house almost an hour later, the rain had stopped and we haven't seen it since. Once I got parked, a little voice in my head told me to put on sunscreen even though it was overcast, and it was a good thing I did-the sun came out shortly after the race started, and stayed shining for pretty much the rest of the race. I would have gotten ROASTED if I hadn't put on the SPF 45-it takes work to maintain this shade of translucent white, damnit! :D
Between the heat, humidity, and the hills (which aren't necessarily "big", but they were for superflat Columbus), Stevi and I decided pretty quickly that we needed to run to have fun and not to break any speed records-she starts her marathon training program tomorrow and neither one of us have had a good transition to warm weather running so we knew that trying to haul ass just wasn't a good idea today. Despite a short walk stint to let Stevi's burning calf muscles rest, we both finished in right around 1:00:00 flat, which given the conditions was FINE by me! Plus, we got postrace pancakes, and those always help :)
Now, onto the other stuff...despite today's tough race, I think my body's transition to running in warm weather is starting to come along. In Columbus, we went from spring temps in the 60's to temps in the 80's with 90% humidity, with maybe a few days of temps in the mid 70's...so the abrupt change has NOT been kind to me. Add in a lovely chest cold and you get a few weeks of craptacular running, which I am finally done with.
My eating healthy endeavours are starting to take hold, as is my plan to work out more consistently-I actually made it to the gym or ran 6 out of the last 7 days! YAY! Strength training is still not happening much yet, but I did buy the 30 Day Shred DVD so that's a start :) I haven't been able to do it yet since our family room is taken up by the fixtures we're putting in the bathroom that's in the process of being remodeled, but I AM going to try it soon...promise.
Other than that, not much is new in my world. We've got a couple of weddings coming up, and need to finish this bathroom before our big summer party in the middle of July. I don't have any races on the horizon at this point, but there are a couple of races I've come across that look interesting-one of which is a 5 mile run+obstacle course. Hooray, mud! All in all, I'm just glad winter is over and summer is finally here :D
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
So, what now?
That's what I find me asking myself. My spring race is done (see below post), and I haven't even decided for sure if I'm doing a fall race, let alone which one. There are tons of 5ks and a handful of 10ks coming up this summer that are easily within driving distance of my house, but I also have a busy wedding/house project/yard project/party season ahead of me-there are easily three upcoming 5ks that I've thought "Oh, that would be great to do", only to find out there's a wedding or bridal shower or something else going on. So for now, I'm playing things by ear. For me, that means trying to keep my weekly mileage from tanking (I'm hoping to maintain 15+ miles/week, schedule permitting) and adding some much needed elements to my overall fitness routine. If you know me and what I do (or in this case, don't do) on a regular basis, you know this means...
Strength training.
You see, I have the wimpiest.muscles.ever. My core strength sucks, and my arms aren't much better. My lower body strength is okay, thanks to running, but still needs to improve. So that's what I'm going to be slowly rededicating myself to. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to do that yet...work with weights at the gym? 30 Day Shred? Something else? Using the weights at the gym has it's pros and cons, as does 30 Day Shred...so we'll see. I'm working on it.
Another thing I'm working on is reining in my love of all food that is crappy. Fried food, sweets, cheese-you name it, I love it. As a result, I put on almost 10 lbs after my fall half and have only been able to take off a couple lbs of that weight so far. So needless to say, I need to work on my restraint, and eating a more balanced diet.
So, that's what now. As I mentioned, I haven't decided what, if any, "big" fall race I'm going to do. I do think that, assuming I do one (and I probably will, lets not fool ourselves here) I'm going to try joining a running group this time. Lord only knows Columbus has a few for me to choose from, but I'll probably look into the Marathoner In Training group (no, this doesn't mean I'm doing a full)-mostly because their weekend runs start at a high school near my house, and from what I've heard a lot of their group runs are on my side of town. But fall's a long time away, thank goodness...bring on summer! Happy running!
Strength training.
You see, I have the wimpiest.muscles.ever. My core strength sucks, and my arms aren't much better. My lower body strength is okay, thanks to running, but still needs to improve. So that's what I'm going to be slowly rededicating myself to. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to do that yet...work with weights at the gym? 30 Day Shred? Something else? Using the weights at the gym has it's pros and cons, as does 30 Day Shred...so we'll see. I'm working on it.
Another thing I'm working on is reining in my love of all food that is crappy. Fried food, sweets, cheese-you name it, I love it. As a result, I put on almost 10 lbs after my fall half and have only been able to take off a couple lbs of that weight so far. So needless to say, I need to work on my restraint, and eating a more balanced diet.
So, that's what now. As I mentioned, I haven't decided what, if any, "big" fall race I'm going to do. I do think that, assuming I do one (and I probably will, lets not fool ourselves here) I'm going to try joining a running group this time. Lord only knows Columbus has a few for me to choose from, but I'll probably look into the Marathoner In Training group (no, this doesn't mean I'm doing a full)-mostly because their weekend runs start at a high school near my house, and from what I've heard a lot of their group runs are on my side of town. But fall's a long time away, thank goodness...bring on summer! Happy running!
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Race Recap
Scratch that. Let's call this a general weekend recap.
This weekend was my race-the Kentucky Derby Festival Mini Marathon (aka half marathon). The 10 days leading up to the race were filled with much obsessing over weather forecasts on Weather.com, some good painfree runs (and one crappy but pain free 10 miler), and many efforts (some failed) to eat more good food and less junk. We (J and I) drove down to Louisville on Friday, met our friend Jess for lunch, and hit up the race expo so I could pick up my race packet and see what other free stuff they had (not much). Oh, and plopped our butts at a nearby bar where J could drink some beers and I could drink a couple of beers and a lot of water. My sis and her boyfriend (who were doing the full marathon) met us up there for a little bit after their own expo trip, and Jess met us there after she left work before we all headed back to the house she and her fiance share (aka where we were bunking for the weekend). We took it easy for the rest of the evening-went to one of their favorite restuarants for an appetizer and a glass of wine, and another restaurant for dinner. Mmmm, lasagna. I stuck to my plan to be in bed around 10pm, and all was good.
Despite all my obsessing over the weather and my praying for nice, cool, non humid weather, we woke up Saturday morning to...drizzle. And humidity. Humidity+temps in the 60's=uncomfortable running weather. Thankfully, the drizzle pretty much stopped for the start of the race but picked up again shortly thereafter and got progressively heavier until around mile 6 when it stopped for good (well, for the duration of the race at least). The drizzle didn't bother me as much as the humidity, though. And the hills. Oh, the hills. The first 4 miles of the race wound through a local park that just did not look that hilly on the elevation map...WRONG! We went up, we went down a little, we went up some more, down some more, back up some more...and so on. That, plus the humidity, took a LOT out of me-I ended up sucking it up and taking a fair share of walk breaks throughout the race. Which I HATE, but you gotta do what you gotta do, and I did what I had to for my own sake and so I could finish the race. (But hey, I didn't hear/feel a peep out of my balky quad at ALL, which is a huge relief)
My chip time was 2:07:44-which is 12 minutes off my PR (1:55:42) and almost 7 mins slower than my slowest half thus far (2:01:02). And I'm okay with that. I'm not thrilled with it, but I'm okay with it. Plus, I got a free beer afterwards to keep me company while I waited for Jess and J to come find me after the race :D
After the race, we made our way back to Jess's, got cleaned up, relaxed for a bit, and headed to a great local restaurant for lunch. By then, I had talked to my sister (who had the same difficulties during the race that I did) and she and her BF had decided to take us all up on our offer of dinner so they made their way out to the house and we cooked out, drank beer, and hung out for the evening. Which was exactly what three tired runners needed!
Lessons learned-the Derby Festival Mini Marathon and Marathon course is NOT flat and fast, as my sister's running group friend had told her. Not at all. In fact, the Marathon was even worse than the Mini-they went through another (even more hilly) park in the second half of the race and according to my sis it was miserable. Plus there wasn't as much crowd support in the second half of the race, which made it tough for the marathoners.
-if you're looking for a flat, fast race, do more research on the elevation changes of the course before you sign up. Looking at the elevation map provided on the race's website is not enough.
-most importantly, high five the kids holding their hands out for high fives as much as you can...even if you're having a crappy race. It's amazing how doing so puts a smile on your face, even for a second. Plus, seeing the kids' faces light up is a great little energy rush :)
Next up-who knows? There's a local 5k that I may do this coming Saturday, depending on what the weather ends up doing. Otherwise, I don't have any races planned and am still debating what I want to do for my fall half. In the meantime, I'm going to try to step it up with the strength training and improve my overall fitness in the hopes of losing the rest of this pesky weight I've put on since last fall :P
Now, time to take it easy...my legs are a little sore but not horribly so but I took tomorrow off work anyway in case we decided to stay in Louisville through Sunday, so I have another day to relax. Hooray!
This weekend was my race-the Kentucky Derby Festival Mini Marathon (aka half marathon). The 10 days leading up to the race were filled with much obsessing over weather forecasts on Weather.com, some good painfree runs (and one crappy but pain free 10 miler), and many efforts (some failed) to eat more good food and less junk. We (J and I) drove down to Louisville on Friday, met our friend Jess for lunch, and hit up the race expo so I could pick up my race packet and see what other free stuff they had (not much). Oh, and plopped our butts at a nearby bar where J could drink some beers and I could drink a couple of beers and a lot of water. My sis and her boyfriend (who were doing the full marathon) met us up there for a little bit after their own expo trip, and Jess met us there after she left work before we all headed back to the house she and her fiance share (aka where we were bunking for the weekend). We took it easy for the rest of the evening-went to one of their favorite restuarants for an appetizer and a glass of wine, and another restaurant for dinner. Mmmm, lasagna. I stuck to my plan to be in bed around 10pm, and all was good.
Despite all my obsessing over the weather and my praying for nice, cool, non humid weather, we woke up Saturday morning to...drizzle. And humidity. Humidity+temps in the 60's=uncomfortable running weather. Thankfully, the drizzle pretty much stopped for the start of the race but picked up again shortly thereafter and got progressively heavier until around mile 6 when it stopped for good (well, for the duration of the race at least). The drizzle didn't bother me as much as the humidity, though. And the hills. Oh, the hills. The first 4 miles of the race wound through a local park that just did not look that hilly on the elevation map...WRONG! We went up, we went down a little, we went up some more, down some more, back up some more...and so on. That, plus the humidity, took a LOT out of me-I ended up sucking it up and taking a fair share of walk breaks throughout the race. Which I HATE, but you gotta do what you gotta do, and I did what I had to for my own sake and so I could finish the race. (But hey, I didn't hear/feel a peep out of my balky quad at ALL, which is a huge relief)
My chip time was 2:07:44-which is 12 minutes off my PR (1:55:42) and almost 7 mins slower than my slowest half thus far (2:01:02). And I'm okay with that. I'm not thrilled with it, but I'm okay with it. Plus, I got a free beer afterwards to keep me company while I waited for Jess and J to come find me after the race :D
After the race, we made our way back to Jess's, got cleaned up, relaxed for a bit, and headed to a great local restaurant for lunch. By then, I had talked to my sister (who had the same difficulties during the race that I did) and she and her BF had decided to take us all up on our offer of dinner so they made their way out to the house and we cooked out, drank beer, and hung out for the evening. Which was exactly what three tired runners needed!
Lessons learned-the Derby Festival Mini Marathon and Marathon course is NOT flat and fast, as my sister's running group friend had told her. Not at all. In fact, the Marathon was even worse than the Mini-they went through another (even more hilly) park in the second half of the race and according to my sis it was miserable. Plus there wasn't as much crowd support in the second half of the race, which made it tough for the marathoners.
-if you're looking for a flat, fast race, do more research on the elevation changes of the course before you sign up. Looking at the elevation map provided on the race's website is not enough.
-most importantly, high five the kids holding their hands out for high fives as much as you can...even if you're having a crappy race. It's amazing how doing so puts a smile on your face, even for a second. Plus, seeing the kids' faces light up is a great little energy rush :)
Next up-who knows? There's a local 5k that I may do this coming Saturday, depending on what the weather ends up doing. Otherwise, I don't have any races planned and am still debating what I want to do for my fall half. In the meantime, I'm going to try to step it up with the strength training and improve my overall fitness in the hopes of losing the rest of this pesky weight I've put on since last fall :P
Now, time to take it easy...my legs are a little sore but not horribly so but I took tomorrow off work anyway in case we decided to stay in Louisville through Sunday, so I have another day to relax. Hooray!
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