Running Update

What have I been up to?  Well, I've been running!  (Of course).  And cycling.

Quarryman Challenge 10 miler (4/13/13)

Since I never got to my Quarryman Race Recap, I'll just say I finished the 10 miles of hills.  Some of the hills (about 4) were very extreme!  They pretty much went straight up, then up more, then when you thought it couldn't get any worse, up more!  Straight up. Steep!  The rest were rolling hills and after the major steep ones, the rolling hills were NOTHING!  It was really amazing.  My goal was to just run easy.  It was 10 easy training miles of hills.  I have a lot of races and really didn't feel like pushing this one.

Of course my garmin crapped out on me before the run.  It was actually great because I had NO idea how I was doing and there were no timing clocks on the course.  So it was me, running, on the hills.  It was a very small race, I'd say about 200 people or so.  And since there was snow that day (in the middle of April), some people stayed home, I'm sure.  Derek joined me at about mile 6 and ran with me to the finish. I was happy to have the company.  But all in all, it was a very peaceful run for me.  I really enjoyed it and maybe that was because I wasn't stressing about the time, looking at my garmin every 2 seconds.  And when I finished, they had people printing out the time.  I looked at it was 1:40:47 for a 10:05 average pace.  I was really surprised because I just assumed I'd be closer to about 11 minutes per mile.  I ran everything except walked up a portion of every large steep hill.  Just a small portion of the steepest part to catch my breath.  So I was pleased with the end result.

Finish photo courtesy of a friend

Around the half way point after mile 5 (source)

Training Run (11 miles) -  4/20/13

Last Saturday, I ran an 11 mile long run.  The night before I had been speaking with Jodi about my concerns to get a sub- 2 hour half marathon in Indy in May.  She gave me a goal to run my mile splits for the 11 mile long run as close to 9:10 min/miles as possible. I, of course, freaked out (inside), thinking there is no way I can do that. But after some encouragement from her and finding a person in my run group that was going to shoot for 9:15's that day in preparation for her attempt at a sub- 2 hour half marathon, I decided to give it the good ol' college try!  I told myself I would shoot for mile splits as close to 9:10-9:15 as possible (since I still doubted I could run solid 9:10's)!  I also decided I would start the first mile as a warm-up.  But then again, I never listen to myself!

Frankfort/New Lenox Running Group

Mile 1-5: 9:04, 9:02, 9:06, 9:03, 9:08
Mile 6-10: 9:08, 9:22, 9:13, 9:19, 9:11
Mile 11 (cool down): 10:15
I didn't warm up (that's what happens when you are trying to stick with someone running faster than you).  It got really rough from mile 6-7 (9:22 split).  My negative thoughts kicked in. I wanted to be done. I hated everything at that moment.  I told everyone to go ahead of me.  Then I decided that I just needed a moment to catch my breath.  I just needed a moment to slow up.  Then I knew I only had 3 more miles to get through (and my cool down mile since that was the only way I was going to be able to finish mentally).  So that mile, I took my break.  There is a hill in that mile and I thought it would be a good mile to have a slower split.

The rest of the miles, I worked for those splits.  The beginning of the miles were a little slower and half way through, I would try to push up the pace a bit.  I wanted to try to stay as close to 9:15 as possible (since I figured 9:10 was impossible!).  But my remaining splits weren't too bad.  I almost didn't do the 11th mile cool down. I stopped running after 10 and said I was done.  But with some encouragement, I decided to finish what I started and run my cool down.  This was definitely the fastest long run I've ever done!

RFK Runners for Boston Solidarity Run 4/22/13

Last Monday, the local running store Running For Kicks had a Runners for Boston Solidarity Run.  Every Monday they have a fun run but obviously this Monday was special.  So special in fact that over 240 people came to participate!  It was a gorgeous and sunny day too which was nice.  Police blocked off streets for us and people came out to cheer us on.  Most people ran 4-6 miles (I went 4.31 miles on the rolling hills in Palos).  It was a great night and very moving.

Photo courtesy of Gail with RFK

Upcoming Half Marathon (Christie Clinic Half Marathon in Champaign, Illinois) - 4/27/13

This weekend I have a half marathon in Champaign, Illinois.  You may remember, I ran this last year...but ran the FULL marathon (recap here).  It will be nice to be able to walk afterwards this year since I'm only running the half!  I, once again, know many people running the full and the half so it should be a great time, before, during, and after.

Of course, my original plan for this half marathon was to run easy since I have another half next weekend and that was my goal half for a sub-2 hour half.  Of course, my plans changed and Jodi gave me some goals to shoot for.  I'll share those goals after the run this weekend and let you know how I did on them. 

Cycling

I've gone on a few actual outdoor bike rides with Derek the past couple weekends.  It's been a fun change of pace from the running.  One Sunday I went a total of 21+ miles (split into two rides), and last Sunday I went over 10 miles.  I'm really enjoying it and trying to get a cheap road bike online for myself.