Timing is Everything!

So I caved and bought a running watch. It's changed my life in just one run!

I was in Cleveland this past weekend for my cousin's Bar Mitzvah, which meant lots of shopping. I had spent all last week surfing the internet for the perfect semi-cheap pink running watch. I didn't need anything with bells and whistles, so I settled on the Timex Marathon (in pink of course). Lucky for me it was on sale at Dick's and came with a pedometer.

I ran 6.5 miles on Sunday with my new watch. First off all, I felt amazing during the run. I had only managed to run 2 miles since the half marathon the previous weekend. I ended up on a trail that had quarter mile markers. This resulted in me looking at my watch every 2 minutes. I pushed myself well beyond my limits. It was sort of fun at the time. It kicked my ass though, I was on the couch for the following two hours with a headache.

While, I need to not try and push myself beyond my capabilities, this new timing device has helped me understand what my race pace feels like. I'm going to try not to look at it every two seconds but maybe every 9 minutes and 21 seconds to get to know what a mile feels like during a a race.

I guess now I don't have any excuses to skip speed workouts!

Race Expos

The Amy 10 miler is two weeks from Sunday. But what I'm looking forward to most is the race expo. According to the website, there will be a lot of great vendors.

I'm such a sucker for this stuff. When racing, the expert say to use your training as practice for what you will do on race day from what you eat, drink and wear to how much you sleep. I follow this idea with one exception, I always buy a new shirt for race day. Probably not the smartest thing in the world, but it's a fun little tradition for someone that loves to shop!

Army 10 miler vendors, I'm your dream customer!

No PR

I write this posting with mixed emotion. While, I came no where close to a PR yesterday (which I will get to in a moment), the course was beautiful. I had run most of the Parks course in segments in advance of the race. But running it all at once was stunning. Minus a little pushing and shoving right when you entered the park path, it was a great course for a race.

The down side: I ran with my pace group (9:30/min. mile) for a good 4.5 miles of the course. Then I was a couple seconds behind that until the 6 mile marker, at which point I felt sick beyond belief. I think I finally made it to a port-o-potty at mile 8. I then waited in a 5 person deep line. ugh. Who waits in line for a stinky port-o-potty?! After about a 10 minute or so detour, I was back on the course. Dumping water on myself at every water station to follow (it was 90+ degrees). Honestly, no idea how I managed to cross the finish line still running. Or how I managed to jog the last three miles of the course after my "incident."

Why did this happen? I've begun to process the situation, as I would like to run more half marathons in my life. (nope, I'm not giving up after this horrible experience). So here is a list of things I would do differently for half #3:
1. Do not sit outside in 90+ degree weather the entire day before
2. Use the port-0-potty multiple times before the race begins (just keep standing in line... yes, this is gross, but part of the racing experience).
3. On hot days, go a little slower than my pace group for the first half
4. Don't skip fluid stations
5. SLEEP! I did nothing good for my body leading up to this race. I had something going on every night this week and clearly did not sleep well. Before my last half, I completely shut down the week before the race, coming home every night and getting in bed by 8:30 or 9pm.
6. As for my stomach... still trying to figure out how to avoid stopping during a race. This has never happened to me during a race or a long training run (happened during shorter runs, thank god for gas stations).

T minus three weeks until the Army 10 Miler! Stayed tuned...

2:08:30

Two days to go! Wow, I have not prepared mentally at all for this race. It hasn't hit me yet that this will all be over in 48 hours. Months of training, getting up early, pushing myself to go faster and farther each week... all over on Sunday. But don't worry, I'll be back training for the Army 10 miler which is only three weeks away!

A couple of people have asked about my goal time. I did my first half marathon in 2:14 and some odd seconds, so I'm not looking to be too ambitious with the second one. My mile pace is significantly faster than when I trained last, but with all my aches and pains I'm aiming for a 9:48/mile pace, which puts me across the finish line in 2 hours, 8 minutes and 30 seconds. We get to predict our race times as part of a competition when we pick up our race packets, so wish me luck in winning that side bet.

I probably won't have time to blog again before the race, so before I say farewell for now, a shout out to my teams: Go Buckeyes! Go Terps tomorrow! A big week for both playing west coast teams. And congrats to my brother for winning big in Vegas this morning!

Investments

As a current MBA student and someone that actual enjoys finance, I think today's runner's world quote hit the nail on the head:

"Running is a great investment. Your principal is low. Your rate of return is enormous, and it keeps growing every year. And there is no hidden charges, unless you count an occasional blister."

-Florence Griffith Joyner and Jon Hanc, Running for Dummies

My Second Date Theory

Fact: The second date is by far the most awkward when pursuing a new relationship.

I think first dates are so much fun because you get to know someone. It is like sorority recruitment. I thrive in situations like that because if it's not going well I make stuff up about myself knowing I will never see that person again. I can also literally talk to a wall, which helps.

If you make it to a second date, however, it gets a little tricky. I find it to be awkward because you've already done the "get-to-know you" questions/conversations, so you really have to dig deeper for material. I just think you might as well skip the second date and go straight to the third date where you've established that you both like each other enough to put the awkward second date past you.

Where is all this going you ask... it dawned on me this week, as I prepare for my second half marathon, that this could be like the second date. I'm going into it a little too relaxed. Not quite on my game. I may need to just do it, get it over with, and sign up for the third one the second it's over to reassure myself that I am committed to continuing my relationship with running.

Home Stretch

This week will be completely different from the week leading up to the last half marathon I ran. I purposely had no plans after work that week. I woke up earlier and earlier each morning in preparation for the 7 am gun time and made sure to get plenty of sleep. This time I do not have that luxury. Tonight I have class, tomorrow the Indians game in Baltimore, Wednesday dinner with an old friend (who's only in the country this one week of the year), Thursday class again and Saturday college football bright and early in the morning (can't really complain about that though, I'm a true fan).

This busy schedule has made it hard to emotionally process the fact that the race is on Sunday. It really has not sunk in yet. I'm also beyond scared to run 13.1 miles because of my recent toe pain. Despite everything, I'm stubborn and I will do it and I will be upset if I don't get the time I want even with everything I have going in my life and with my body.

On a bright note, I have full control of the TV remote this week having picked more NFL games correctly than my boyfriend (I'm pretty sure he's the only one that reads this... so a little bragging is in order). Go me and go tribe tomorrow night!

T minus two weeks

My training for the Parks Half was better than could ever be expected... until I started tapering. I'm having all kinds of foot issues now. I've never had foot pain before when I've run. I used to have issues with my feet falling asleep, but that was easily fixed by buying a new pair of shoes. I'm to the point this time where I'm just not sure I can endure the pain for 13.1 miles. So with less than two weeks until the race, it's really up in the air as to whether I will be able to run.

I had a good decently paced 4 mile run this morning (I ate half a cliff bar beforehand, go me)... but there was still some foot pain. And for such a short distance. I'm concerned about what will happen at the longer distances.

I'm going to try and take it easy over the next week and a half, with short easy runs. I'll be spending a lot of evenings doing school work and watching TV (now that new shows are airing, yay), so I'm hoping to be well rested. Although I'm not quite sure what affect that will have on my feet.

Of course, of my fall racing schedule, this race means the most and would be most disappointed if I missed it. Such is life I'm learning though. As an MBA student, this semester I have more work than my last five semesters combined. I'm trying to learn not to be disappointed when I miss out on social events and other fun things people are doing while I'm home writing papers and reading about strategic management. I guess this lesson can also be learned in the racing world.