Yes! Finally! I was at the 14th Street Bridge. This was supposed to be the be-all and end-all of the marathon. I had heard it from everyone; Ramon, Christine, even John Bingham. If you made it past the bridge and felt okay, you were good to go. I was trying not to think about the fact that I already felt like crap. In fact, my 19th mile was a 10:19 feel like crap.
I desperately wanted my coaches. In particular, Coach Steve. My coaches had been yelling and screaming and going crazy all throughout the race. That was all well and good. I mean, I felt great at the time. But now I felt like crap and I needed them to run with me. Coach Steve is especially good at this. He says just the right things, and runs with me, picking up my pace ever so slightly to what it should be so that I don't notice, and then I'm running all well and happy on my own. I knew he was coming up, because when I saw him at the 10K mat he said "I'll see you on the bridge at mile 20!" So I kept looking around, like "Where's Steve?"
This bridge...I don't even know what to say about it. It was like a bazillion miles long. All flat. But that kind of flat that drags on forever. Not like a pretty bridge either. This was a highway overpass. Gross. I HATE running on the highway. WHY does EVERY marathon have a section like this? At the END, no less!!!
Yay! I saw Steve. He was on a cellphone, like, coordinating with the other coaches. I heard him say that he saw me coming up and he got off his phone to run with me.
I honestly can't remember everything he said. But he did help me pick up my pace AND he was like "Uh, you only have one 5-mile loop of Central Park left. You can do that in your sleep and I know it because I've seen you run it a million times." And I was like "He's so right!" He also told me Mike (the coach from Brooklyn) was coming up, which made me happy. Another coach!
Back down to 9:54 for mile 21 AND off of the million mile long bridge.
Into Crystal City...our TNT Hotel HQ! For some reason (deliriousness) I felt like I knew this area, so it would be easier. I was thinking of it as my stomping ground even though I've never been to DC in my life and had only spent 1.5 days in Crystal City. Lots of crowd support, lots of pretty, colorful flags and...
what? A turnaround? I HATE turnarounds. Especially at this point, because they are always longer than you think. Plus, right before the turnaround, they had you duck into this circular driveway. What? Mentally this was horrible course planning.
It did make the miles go faster though (at least in my head. Not in timing.)
Mile 22 - 11:10 (OUCH). Uh. And that's when I had to go. Like really really badly. My stomach was in all kinds of knots and I knew I had JUST passed a port-o-let. My time was also bumming me out. I was like "TRY to get back to the 10s."
Mile 23 - 10:47. Come on. I really really have to go. Where was that port-o-let on the other side?
Found it! Not ideal, but I had to cut across the runners going the wrong way to get there. Needless to say, my mile 24 was a slow 13:08.
I was finally out of Crystal City, thank goodness, I never wanted to go back there again.
I was now on to...a highway. Seriously. I am going to beat whoever thinks that it is a good idea to put final mileage of a marathon on a deserted highway.
Yay! I saw Mike and I was so happy!
Plus, Mike had great news. He pointed to the Walmart truck and told me 1. There was a water stop. (Hurrah! I thought I had already passed the last one!) 2. That was mile 25.
I was super energized (well, as energized as I could be. I knew at that point that I WAS going to finish).
Now, in my mind I was kind of cheating. I don't think I really needed the water, but I needed to walk. And I was NOT going to walk this marathon. AT ALL. But...we all know I can't run through the water stops without choking. So the water stop was a perfectly valid reason to walk a little but then have to run as soon as the water was done. I picked up mile 25 to a 10:18.
And right around the corner? Coach Christine! I told her I felt like crap and she was like "What? You're kidding! You look great!" Now with most coaches I do not buy this at all. But she really for real sounded sincere. And I was like "Wait. I am doing great. I screwed up my entire marathon, but I'm still doing 10 somethings." So that made me speed up a bit.
Mile 26: 10:03.
And RIGHT at the 26th mile marker was Ramon. I was SO HAPPY to see him. He was happy to see me too. He grabbed my hand and started running with me and talking to me and asking how I felt. I was like "I'm dying!" And he laughed and was like "Of course you're dying. What? You think this is easy? Are you crazy? Look at all these people cheering. If this was easy, all these people would be doing it. You are doing awesome. You look strong. You are going to run up the last hill...NOT HARD, just real easy. Ok. You can do it." And then he squeezed my hand and ran away and I felt the hill in my calves and I was like "This isn't so bad. I CAN do this hill! This hill is nothing!" And then I looked over my shoulder to my left and I was like "OH SH*T. THAT'S the hill!!!" So I took it easy, felt my heart rate climb to a million beats per minute, looked at the overhead clock, saw it was 4:22 (my last ditch goal from the end of the season, my first goal from the beginning of the season) and sprinted (ha ha) it in as much as I could.
4:22:54.
NOT what I was hoping for, but pretty good all the same.
Plus, I beat Oprah. (And Al Gore and Ted Koppel).
Friday, October 31, 2008
SOS: Trying to Beat the Mental Game, The Middle Miles
I had to go to the bathroom.
REALLY REALLY badly. And I had just passed a port-o-let not too far away, which meant that another one was probably really far away. And I was already losing the mental game with myself, so I tried to tell myself this: It's no big deal to stop now. In fact, it's so much better to stop now, because you are way ahead of pace. If you stop at the end you will be mad at yourself. This just gets it out of the way.
YAY! Wherever it was that the Marines were giving out oranges there were two port-o-lets. Of course there was a line. And one person in line was a non-runner, which sort of made me really angry, like "Hey! Let me in front of you!" But I knew that this was also just my anxiety talking. Sensibly I knew that this man had every right to the port-o-let too. I kept looking at my watch and flipping out and the girl behind me was like "I KNOW, right?"
Back in the game with a 13:38 for the 10th mile. TRIED not to look at the pace bracelet to see how far off pace I was. (And I was off pace, even though I had "banked" time in the beginning, which, everyone knows, you SHOULDN'T do.)
Mile 11 - 9:12. Good. (At this point, I was like, "Yeah. Hey, if it feels good, it's good.")
Mile 12 - 9:21. I would like to tell you about the course, but the honest truth is, that I don't remember. I think at this point I was running by the Mall. At some point it got very very narrow and we could only run with two runners across. It was tense, but at the same time it gave me energy. This was good, because while I still felt pretty good I could tell that I was starting to drain.
Mile 13 - 9:23. I was like "Hey! I just finished a half marathon!!!" Because really, at this point I was still feeling like I had a ton more energy than I did at the Staten Island half and the miles were flying by. But the little devil Emily on my shoulder was like "Uh, well you SHOULD have more energy than your half marathon. For one, you are going slower, and for two you are only HALFWAY finished. Oh, and did you notice that you are gaining time? By the end you will be doing 11:00 miles." I tried tried tried to stay positive, but it is sometimes hard to shut up that little voice.
Mile 14 - 9:47. Panic. Because I was feeling like the "Death Drain" that you see when you are trying to beat Tom Morello in Guitar Hero and just can't do it. And? It was only mile 14. I told myself to pick it up a bit, but not too much.
Mile 15 - 9:19. For some sick reason, this made me feel better. Even though I should have known better because it was not in my window. I was like "SEE! I CAN do it!" At this point I needed all the optimism I could get, so when I ran over the 25k mat I was like "Whoo-hoo!" quietly, which made the guy next to me laugh. I mean, really, I had no idea how much 25K was, but I did know that a marathon was 40-something K.
Mile 16 - 9:44. I was like "That's ok. Pick it up in the next one." This just shows how demented I was at this point. Because what I should have been saying was "Perfect! Right on target!" But no, I was telling myself to speed up.
Mile 17 - 9:35. Maybe I regained my senses because I was like "Perfect!" But I also felt like I was dying. Like "OK. That was a good run. I'm finished." Which sucks. You are NOT supposed to hit the wall at 17. I told myself I was almost at the bridge, which was my next big milestone. Everyone wanted us to "beat the bridge." If you beat the bridge, you were okay.
Mile 18 - 10:00. This seemed like the longest mile of all eternity. I actually felt like if I logged a 12:00 I would have been happy. I was so done at this point. I told myself that I was doing great and that I needed to make <10:00 on the next one and to just focus on that next mile.
Mile 19 - This was also rough. I felt like I was dying. At this point I was like "Come on, Emily. You haven't hit the wall. You are still pretty much on pace. In your first marathon you felt great until mile 22. Let's do that again. Just make it to mile 22." I logged a 9:44 and congratulated myself.
REALLY REALLY badly. And I had just passed a port-o-let not too far away, which meant that another one was probably really far away. And I was already losing the mental game with myself, so I tried to tell myself this: It's no big deal to stop now. In fact, it's so much better to stop now, because you are way ahead of pace. If you stop at the end you will be mad at yourself. This just gets it out of the way.
YAY! Wherever it was that the Marines were giving out oranges there were two port-o-lets. Of course there was a line. And one person in line was a non-runner, which sort of made me really angry, like "Hey! Let me in front of you!" But I knew that this was also just my anxiety talking. Sensibly I knew that this man had every right to the port-o-let too. I kept looking at my watch and flipping out and the girl behind me was like "I KNOW, right?"
Back in the game with a 13:38 for the 10th mile. TRIED not to look at the pace bracelet to see how far off pace I was. (And I was off pace, even though I had "banked" time in the beginning, which, everyone knows, you SHOULDN'T do.)
Mile 11 - 9:12. Good. (At this point, I was like, "Yeah. Hey, if it feels good, it's good.")
Mile 12 - 9:21. I would like to tell you about the course, but the honest truth is, that I don't remember. I think at this point I was running by the Mall. At some point it got very very narrow and we could only run with two runners across. It was tense, but at the same time it gave me energy. This was good, because while I still felt pretty good I could tell that I was starting to drain.
Mile 13 - 9:23. I was like "Hey! I just finished a half marathon!!!" Because really, at this point I was still feeling like I had a ton more energy than I did at the Staten Island half and the miles were flying by. But the little devil Emily on my shoulder was like "Uh, well you SHOULD have more energy than your half marathon. For one, you are going slower, and for two you are only HALFWAY finished. Oh, and did you notice that you are gaining time? By the end you will be doing 11:00 miles." I tried tried tried to stay positive, but it is sometimes hard to shut up that little voice.
Mile 14 - 9:47. Panic. Because I was feeling like the "Death Drain" that you see when you are trying to beat Tom Morello in Guitar Hero and just can't do it. And? It was only mile 14. I told myself to pick it up a bit, but not too much.
Mile 15 - 9:19. For some sick reason, this made me feel better. Even though I should have known better because it was not in my window. I was like "SEE! I CAN do it!" At this point I needed all the optimism I could get, so when I ran over the 25k mat I was like "Whoo-hoo!" quietly, which made the guy next to me laugh. I mean, really, I had no idea how much 25K was, but I did know that a marathon was 40-something K.
Mile 16 - 9:44. I was like "That's ok. Pick it up in the next one." This just shows how demented I was at this point. Because what I should have been saying was "Perfect! Right on target!" But no, I was telling myself to speed up.
Mile 17 - 9:35. Maybe I regained my senses because I was like "Perfect!" But I also felt like I was dying. Like "OK. That was a good run. I'm finished." Which sucks. You are NOT supposed to hit the wall at 17. I told myself I was almost at the bridge, which was my next big milestone. Everyone wanted us to "beat the bridge." If you beat the bridge, you were okay.
Mile 18 - 10:00. This seemed like the longest mile of all eternity. I actually felt like if I logged a 12:00 I would have been happy. I was so done at this point. I told myself that I was doing great and that I needed to make <10:00 on the next one and to just focus on that next mile.
Mile 19 - This was also rough. I felt like I was dying. At this point I was like "Come on, Emily. You haven't hit the wall. You are still pretty much on pace. In your first marathon you felt great until mile 22. Let's do that again. Just make it to mile 22." I logged a 9:44 and congratulated myself.
MCM: Ants In My Pants, the First Miles
Isn't our team cute? This was right before we headed out to the metro to catch the train to the starting line. I couldn't have asked for better weather, I got the right amount of sleep (like 7.5 hours!!!), I was all pastaed up...but...I felt so insanely nervous. Like, I felt like I was going to throw up. I kept forgetting my mantra that Gina helped me with ("My spirit fears nothing."), my stomach was off kilter and I pretty much did not feel like I could run 26.2 miles. I tried to suck it up as much as I could though.We left en masse for the starting line. We lost Gina and Donna and the rest of the team almost immediately, but I wasn't worried. Especially when we caught up to them before we even got to the runner's village. We couldn't find the rest of our team but luckily we ran into Coach Steve, who also couldn't find the rest of the team. He got on his phone and was like "I've got 5 of them here." Which for some reason made me laugh really hard inside, which I attribute mostly to feeling sick with nerves.
Gina, Donna and Pam went to check bags and I decided I should go to the Port-o-let. By the time Bill and I had gotten back, the team was gone, so we decided to book it to the start. It was a good thing we did. It was massively crowded. It took me forever to get to the 6-7:00 finishing time area, and I had to get all the way up to 3:45!!!! (Ramon said we needed to start 30 minutes ahead of our projected finishing time.) I think that number (3:45) made me sick to my stomach as well. Last year I would have been happy with finishing anywhere lower than a 5, so the number seemed way crazy to me (even though I wasn't trying to finish there). It was like swimming in concrete. I could NOT get anywhere. I JUST got to the 3:45 flag when people started moving forward.
I was concentrating on my strategy. Keep it at 9:40s. You can go up to 9:50 or down to 9:30 but THAT is the window. If I did that, I would be able to get my 4:13 I wanted, which was my "aggressive goal". Even though Ramon said that only 20% of the people who try get their aggressive goal, I knew I could do it. In fact, for some reason I had the number 4:11 stuck in my head (which I guess was my secret goal) and to emphasize that, I had the song "Come Original" in my head (I guess because it was by 311 :).
By the way, that's me in the purple in the center.The first mile felt a LITTLE hilly. It was also crowded. I was frantically looking for the clocks they keep at each mile to see if I was on pace. Well, they didn't actually have those clocks. Just little white signs with red writing marking off the miles. So I totally missed the first mile. But at the second mile I clocked a 19:25. According to my pace bracelet I should be at 19:27. Perfect!
My third mile was 9:06. Whoops. I told myself (out loud) "Em, slow down."
My fourth mile? 9:06. Whoops. Yes, I am good at keeping a consistent pace. This was sort of freaking me out. I tried to slow down and enjoy the scenery. It WAS very beautiful out...kind of foggy. At one point we could see the top of the Smithsonian Castle (I think) peaking out of the fog over the water. It was cool.
(Obviously this pic was taken by Bill, not me.)My fifth mile I was able to slow down a bit and logged a 9:37. This is when we started running into all of the wheel chair athletes. I don't know if it is just how the MCM was set up, or because I was further up than normal or what, but it seemed like there were a LOT of wheelchair athletes in the middle of the runners. We had to keep "making a hole" to let them through. It was a little strange. I mean, it was very inspirational to see them go through (those wheelchair athletes are truly TOUGH) but it was weird to keep weaving right and left during the race.
Sixth mile? 9:09. WTH??? I was REALLY concentrating on slowing down and I KNEW at this point I was screwed. I really needed to run at least my first 9 miles slow and here I was speeding through. I was so mad at myself. This is the mistake I made at my very first marathon and I definitely paid for it in the end. I did NOT want to have to walk this one at all, and at this rate I was headed for disaster.
I really yelled at myself this time. "SLOW DOWN."
Seventh mile? 10:06. Ok. Too much. I tried not to freak out about it. I also was having all sorts of issues with things visually psyching me out. Like the girl right in front of me. She had a shirt on that said "I'm Going to Beat Sarah Palin: 3:59:36". Or, the 4:00 pace group that JUST passed me. Somewhere around here was the big hill too. It looked huge. But you know what? Because of where it was in the race it really didn't bother me at all. In fact, I felt great at that point.
8th mile? 9:05. I was really freaking out at this point. I was not following Ramon's number one rule: BEHAVE. (It was even printed on his singlet in huge letters). So I needed to make a decision. I kept telling myself to slow down because I was going to screw myself halfway through and be in awful awful pain. But at the same time, if you haven't been able to slow down for 8 miles is it really productive to tell yourself that it's going to suck at the end if you don't slow down? Those first 9 miles are so important and I'd already blown 8 of them. So I tried to fake myself out. I told myself this:
Uh, Emily, you've been training harder than ever. Maybe you are just this fast. You will be fine. After all, you wanted a 4:11. You can do this. You are just this fast. That's why you can't slow down.
I don't think I really bought it. But I just kept telling myself that anyway.
Mile 9: 9:30. Much better. Much calmer. Good job, Em. :)
MCM Weekend: Saturday
Friday night I truly got the best sleep ever. Thank goodness that TNT booked rooms at the Marriott. They have something akin to Starwood's "Heavenly Bed" which I think helped a TON.
We had a nice little 20 minute group run at 8am. The team met in the lobby and I realized that we were now branded as the "New York Team." See, there were like 20 other TNT Teams in the hotel from all over the country. Next to the DC team, we were the largest. And the loudest. And that morning, Coach Ramon herded us all together by whistling really loud and yelling "YO! Let's GO." All the other teams looked at us like "Oh. There's New York." :) How stereotypical of us.
That afternoon we had a meeting/singlet decoration party. I was so glad that Gina brought cool stick-on letters from Michael's to put my name on my singlet. I am NOT good at writing in white-out or puffy paint and I wanted my singlet to look somewhat classy, so this helped immensely. Plus, Gina made cute little bags for all of her mentees with cool stuff in it. Aw. She is so great.
Everyone talked about why they were there, including Tasha, our honored teammate. See, our honored teammates are currently battling Leukemia or Lymphoma AND running our marathons with us. Pretty impressive. Plus, Tasha is one of the most positive people I know. Tasha is awesome, and I've found myself remembering her when my running gets tough. I mean, if Tasha can go through everything that she's gone through AND run a marathon I can make it through my miles when they get tough.
The coaches also gave us some last minute pointers and told us that it was important for us to have our names on our singlets so that they could call us by name when they came up to help us through our miles on the course. Apparantly in the past, the runners look at them like "who are YOU?" Since we DO have a very high coach to runner ratio (and some of the coaches are from Brooklyn, so I wouldn't know them by sight necessarily.)
We then made our way back to our rooms to get ready for the pasta dinner. Everyone from our team was instructed to go out and buy I Heart NY t-shirts to wear to this, which I thought was a really cool idea. Bill and I got ready and made our way downstairs. When we got through the hallway we had to walk through this huge barage of coaches all screaming and clapping and making noise.
The New York coaches were going especially crazy, but then again, they are usually pretty crazy.
We then sat at team tables to listen to the speakers...the first being John Bingham!!! The Penguin himself!!! I was so excited because I LOVE him. Since when I started marathoning I was not the fastest runner I really associated with his whole philosophy of having fun and finishing the race. It's funny too, because I always read his articles in Runner's World like "Wow. This is a really good article." and then I get to the end where he says "Waddle on, friends." and am like "Oh. Right. That's because John Bingham wrote it." :) So I was starstruck, which made me feel a little stupid. And I hung around afterwards to get a pic. Which made me feel REALLY stupid. But I'm glad I did. :)
He was also really funny, by the way.
We also had a really inspiring former marine talk to us. I was getting all pumped up.
Here are some things that are REALLY cool:
• When TNT started in 1988 the survival rate for Leukemia was 5%. Now it is 95%!!!
• Over the years, TNT has raised $950,000,000 to help battle blood cancers.
• The New York City TNT Team for the MCM raised $323,000 this year!
The whole evening was really cool and really inspiring. I was very pumped up and ready for the marathon!
Oh, and here is a cute pic of me and my running friends, Michelle, Donna, Gina and Tasha after the dinner.
We had a nice little 20 minute group run at 8am. The team met in the lobby and I realized that we were now branded as the "New York Team." See, there were like 20 other TNT Teams in the hotel from all over the country. Next to the DC team, we were the largest. And the loudest. And that morning, Coach Ramon herded us all together by whistling really loud and yelling "YO! Let's GO." All the other teams looked at us like "Oh. There's New York." :) How stereotypical of us.
That afternoon we had a meeting/singlet decoration party. I was so glad that Gina brought cool stick-on letters from Michael's to put my name on my singlet. I am NOT good at writing in white-out or puffy paint and I wanted my singlet to look somewhat classy, so this helped immensely. Plus, Gina made cute little bags for all of her mentees with cool stuff in it. Aw. She is so great.
Everyone talked about why they were there, including Tasha, our honored teammate. See, our honored teammates are currently battling Leukemia or Lymphoma AND running our marathons with us. Pretty impressive. Plus, Tasha is one of the most positive people I know. Tasha is awesome, and I've found myself remembering her when my running gets tough. I mean, if Tasha can go through everything that she's gone through AND run a marathon I can make it through my miles when they get tough.
The coaches also gave us some last minute pointers and told us that it was important for us to have our names on our singlets so that they could call us by name when they came up to help us through our miles on the course. Apparantly in the past, the runners look at them like "who are YOU?" Since we DO have a very high coach to runner ratio (and some of the coaches are from Brooklyn, so I wouldn't know them by sight necessarily.)
We then made our way back to our rooms to get ready for the pasta dinner. Everyone from our team was instructed to go out and buy I Heart NY t-shirts to wear to this, which I thought was a really cool idea. Bill and I got ready and made our way downstairs. When we got through the hallway we had to walk through this huge barage of coaches all screaming and clapping and making noise.
The New York coaches were going especially crazy, but then again, they are usually pretty crazy.We then sat at team tables to listen to the speakers...the first being John Bingham!!! The Penguin himself!!! I was so excited because I LOVE him. Since when I started marathoning I was not the fastest runner I really associated with his whole philosophy of having fun and finishing the race. It's funny too, because I always read his articles in Runner's World like "Wow. This is a really good article." and then I get to the end where he says "Waddle on, friends." and am like "Oh. Right. That's because John Bingham wrote it." :) So I was starstruck, which made me feel a little stupid. And I hung around afterwards to get a pic. Which made me feel REALLY stupid. But I'm glad I did. :)
He was also really funny, by the way.We also had a really inspiring former marine talk to us. I was getting all pumped up.
Here are some things that are REALLY cool:
• When TNT started in 1988 the survival rate for Leukemia was 5%. Now it is 95%!!!
• Over the years, TNT has raised $950,000,000 to help battle blood cancers.
• The New York City TNT Team for the MCM raised $323,000 this year!
The whole evening was really cool and really inspiring. I was very pumped up and ready for the marathon!
Oh, and here is a cute pic of me and my running friends, Michelle, Donna, Gina and Tasha after the dinner.
Marine Corps Marathon Expo
I have to say, I am so glad I did Team in Training. I had the BEST time at the Marine Corps Marathon. I even had a lot of fun BEFORE the marathon.
Bill and I got to DC on Friday. I was so excited because this meant that I could take my time at the expo. I ALWAYS love the expos and look for things there like cute t-shirts (like the one I got in Chicago from One More Mile that says "Marathon Ho.") The thing that is different about the Marine Corps Marathon is, well, there are lots of marines around. In fact, they basically run the whole thing (not as in "running a marathon" but more like hosting). So it was kind of weird to have them shouting orders at you from the get-go. "MARATHONERS ON THE LEFT, 10K ON THE RIGHT!" And when I picked up my shirt, one was holding it up and said "THIS IS A SMALL T-SHIRT, PRESHRUNK COTTON!" I didn't know how to respond to that so I was like "Ok...thanks?" And he handed it to me and said "GOOD LUCK IN THE MARATHON MA'AM!" It was making me antsy, which Bill thought was hilarious.
Luckily, through the magic technology of texting, we ran into Gina, who had gotten there like an hour before us. She was at the Crocs stand which made me groan because anyone who knows me knows I LOATHE Crocs. I mean, I have gone into tirades about them. Granted, I have said, if any time was okay to wear Crocs it would be after a marathon. But I like Gina, so I just gave her a little grief over them ;)
I usually have a hard time not going crazy and buying everything at the expo, but I wasn't finding much :( UNTIL we found a booth called Tres Ladies. I was drawn in by the shirt that said "1 bottle of wine = 546 calories" with that crossed out and "5 miles" scrawled over the top. Cute. And totally what I was looking for. Until I turned around and saw one that was more appropriately me. It said "I run...(with the elipses as hearts)...because I love cupcakes." And even better? With each shirt purchase you got a cupcake.
We also got taste tests of GUs (I love the new High Octane Orange Vanilla. Best...GU...Ever), our blood pressure taken, free first aid kits with bandaids (including tiny tiny ones that are too tiny to fit on your pinky, for who knows what? Gina said they were for your Barbie), beer (for Bill only), Granola, oh and...
Well...
I DID forget my sandles. And I HAVE been looking for those sandles that they had in the 90s with those little massaging nubbies on them. And really, Gina's Crocs didn't really look like Crocs.
So mine are pink (of course) and brown and flipflops that DON'T look like Crocs.
Grrrr.
We spent 3 hours at the expo.
Then, the three of us grabbed pasta for dinner at this restaurant not too far from our hotel. We are FLOORED by the prices in DC by the way!!! We felt like we were actually saving money by going on vacation :)
Bill and I got to DC on Friday. I was so excited because this meant that I could take my time at the expo. I ALWAYS love the expos and look for things there like cute t-shirts (like the one I got in Chicago from One More Mile that says "Marathon Ho.") The thing that is different about the Marine Corps Marathon is, well, there are lots of marines around. In fact, they basically run the whole thing (not as in "running a marathon" but more like hosting). So it was kind of weird to have them shouting orders at you from the get-go. "MARATHONERS ON THE LEFT, 10K ON THE RIGHT!" And when I picked up my shirt, one was holding it up and said "THIS IS A SMALL T-SHIRT, PRESHRUNK COTTON!" I didn't know how to respond to that so I was like "Ok...thanks?" And he handed it to me and said "GOOD LUCK IN THE MARATHON MA'AM!" It was making me antsy, which Bill thought was hilarious.
Luckily, through the magic technology of texting, we ran into Gina, who had gotten there like an hour before us. She was at the Crocs stand which made me groan because anyone who knows me knows I LOATHE Crocs. I mean, I have gone into tirades about them. Granted, I have said, if any time was okay to wear Crocs it would be after a marathon. But I like Gina, so I just gave her a little grief over them ;)
I usually have a hard time not going crazy and buying everything at the expo, but I wasn't finding much :( UNTIL we found a booth called Tres Ladies. I was drawn in by the shirt that said "1 bottle of wine = 546 calories" with that crossed out and "5 miles" scrawled over the top. Cute. And totally what I was looking for. Until I turned around and saw one that was more appropriately me. It said "I run...(with the elipses as hearts)...because I love cupcakes." And even better? With each shirt purchase you got a cupcake.
We also got taste tests of GUs (I love the new High Octane Orange Vanilla. Best...GU...Ever), our blood pressure taken, free first aid kits with bandaids (including tiny tiny ones that are too tiny to fit on your pinky, for who knows what? Gina said they were for your Barbie), beer (for Bill only), Granola, oh and...
Well...
I DID forget my sandles. And I HAVE been looking for those sandles that they had in the 90s with those little massaging nubbies on them. And really, Gina's Crocs didn't really look like Crocs.
So mine are pink (of course) and brown and flipflops that DON'T look like Crocs.
Grrrr.
We spent 3 hours at the expo.
Then, the three of us grabbed pasta for dinner at this restaurant not too far from our hotel. We are FLOORED by the prices in DC by the way!!! We felt like we were actually saving money by going on vacation :)
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Last Post!
Well, last post before the marathon, that is.
I have basically been doing a whole bunch of nothing runningwise, which I guess is good since I AM on taper. I have also been consuming a LOT of carbs. You know, I would have thought that I already ate a lot of carbs during the day, but making 70% of your diet carbs is actually pretty hard. Not to mention that I feel extremely lethargic and like a big tub of lard. It's hard to believe that I used to eat like this all the time. I was going so crazy yesterday that I decided to have a salad yesterday for lunch instead of something so carb-rich like I had been doing all week. I felt like I was cheating, but I was like "PLEASE! All I want is a SALAD!" (I did get croutons on it.)
I had a nice, enjoyable run on Tuesday after Ramon's Course Click, where he described in detail what we would be doing the entire day of the marathon, all of the ins and outs of the course and what our strategy should be if we were going for a time. If that wasn't enough, he sent us an email so long that I couldn't print it out. I had to paste the text into a document. It was 14 PAGES LONG!!!! But I love that kind of detail. It gives me something to focus on instead of freaking out about little crazy things.
And? Guess who is the guest speaker at the TNT pasta dinner? John Bingham!!! The Penguin, himself! I am so pumped.
Looks like weather.com is predicting that Sunday will be sunny and in between 49-65F. PERFECT. I am READY TO GO.
Oh yeah. And did I tell you my goal? It's to beat Oprah's time. She ran the Marine Corps Marathon in 1994 with a 4:29.40.
I have basically been doing a whole bunch of nothing runningwise, which I guess is good since I AM on taper. I have also been consuming a LOT of carbs. You know, I would have thought that I already ate a lot of carbs during the day, but making 70% of your diet carbs is actually pretty hard. Not to mention that I feel extremely lethargic and like a big tub of lard. It's hard to believe that I used to eat like this all the time. I was going so crazy yesterday that I decided to have a salad yesterday for lunch instead of something so carb-rich like I had been doing all week. I felt like I was cheating, but I was like "PLEASE! All I want is a SALAD!" (I did get croutons on it.)
I had a nice, enjoyable run on Tuesday after Ramon's Course Click, where he described in detail what we would be doing the entire day of the marathon, all of the ins and outs of the course and what our strategy should be if we were going for a time. If that wasn't enough, he sent us an email so long that I couldn't print it out. I had to paste the text into a document. It was 14 PAGES LONG!!!! But I love that kind of detail. It gives me something to focus on instead of freaking out about little crazy things.
And? Guess who is the guest speaker at the TNT pasta dinner? John Bingham!!! The Penguin, himself! I am so pumped.
Looks like weather.com is predicting that Sunday will be sunny and in between 49-65F. PERFECT. I am READY TO GO.
Oh yeah. And did I tell you my goal? It's to beat Oprah's time. She ran the Marine Corps Marathon in 1994 with a 4:29.40.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
I Couldn't Make This Up
I have been sooooo careful this season...not falling on the slippery rocks on our trail runs, not losing my footing on all of the trails, avoiding all of the little ditches on the bridal path. So what happens to me today?
A cabinet falls on my feet. Both of them.
It was one of those things that happens in slow motion. I was trying to get some magazines out of the drawers where we store them for a brainstorming session. I couldn't get the middle drawer open because something was preventing the top drawer from closing all the way. I tried opening the middle drawer while simultaneously holding the top drawer closed and the whole thing just toppled over. It pretty much drew the entire 6th floor over, but no one realized that the thing was still on my feet. I was like "Ow. Ow. Ow." And a bunch of people pulled it off.
It skinned the tops of my feet and my ankles, but besides that, I think little damage was done. It doesn't feel broken or anything and I can walk just fine. I am icing and elevating all day now.
It would just figure.
The jury's still out on whether or not to run tonight with the group. We have course click before practice, where the coaches go through the entire course and a bunch of last minute stuff, then a 40 minute run. I am going to see how I feel.
A cabinet falls on my feet. Both of them.
It was one of those things that happens in slow motion. I was trying to get some magazines out of the drawers where we store them for a brainstorming session. I couldn't get the middle drawer open because something was preventing the top drawer from closing all the way. I tried opening the middle drawer while simultaneously holding the top drawer closed and the whole thing just toppled over. It pretty much drew the entire 6th floor over, but no one realized that the thing was still on my feet. I was like "Ow. Ow. Ow." And a bunch of people pulled it off.
It skinned the tops of my feet and my ankles, but besides that, I think little damage was done. It doesn't feel broken or anything and I can walk just fine. I am icing and elevating all day now.
It would just figure.
The jury's still out on whether or not to run tonight with the group. We have course click before practice, where the coaches go through the entire course and a bunch of last minute stuff, then a 40 minute run. I am going to see how I feel.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Sneaking in Mileage
OK, well I hesitate to even write this post because I know that my mentor-friend, Gina will yell at me :)
Let me start here: Saturday we had our last "long run" which was only 5.5 miles. It was almost accidentally less because Michelle and I misheard Coach Christine and only did one bridal-path loop. We got back super early and no one else was back yet. We were confused and then figured it out when Coach Christine came back and was like "Wow. You guys must have run really fast." We had shortchanged ourselves 1.7 miles, so we just did a lower loop of the park and made up the difference.
Now here comes the bad part. ;)
This week I am supposed to be relaxing at all costs. No extra workouts, no running around, etc. In fact, my big plans for the weekend included some light cleaning, a haircut and getting a few things I still needed for the marathon trip. One of those things included a book. I am a sucker for a coupon and I had one for Borders. The closest one to my place is at Columbus Circle and since it was such a beautiful day and the train was skipping our stop anyway this weekend, so I convinced Bill that we should walk. Columbus Circle is about 40 blocks/2 miles away. I was totally enjoying the walk/weather until I was like "Oh crap. Bill! I think I'm trying to sneak extra mileage in by walking this far! Gina is so going to yell at me." To which he answered "As she should." I totally didn't mean to. But since my muscles are in recovery I could definitely feel it. To make up for it, when we went to the next store we took the bus. When I thought about walking back to the grocery store Bill said "Emily! No!" I was like "Whatever." And then he told me Gina would yell at me. And so we didn't walk.
He thought this was really funny, how I was being motivated to be good by the fact that Gina might yell at me. It is especially funny because I could never really see Gina yelling at anyone. But I could see her saying "Emily Mason! You are supposed to be RESTING!" and I guess that was motivation enough.
I am finding it really hard to be sedentary though. Not only do I have a ton of energy, but I think running destresses me, so I've been in a pretty crabby mood lately. But despite all of that, I was good for the rest of the weekend. And I AM enjoying the fact that 60-70% of my caloric intake should be carbs this week.
Yum. Carbs.
Let me start here: Saturday we had our last "long run" which was only 5.5 miles. It was almost accidentally less because Michelle and I misheard Coach Christine and only did one bridal-path loop. We got back super early and no one else was back yet. We were confused and then figured it out when Coach Christine came back and was like "Wow. You guys must have run really fast." We had shortchanged ourselves 1.7 miles, so we just did a lower loop of the park and made up the difference.
Now here comes the bad part. ;)
This week I am supposed to be relaxing at all costs. No extra workouts, no running around, etc. In fact, my big plans for the weekend included some light cleaning, a haircut and getting a few things I still needed for the marathon trip. One of those things included a book. I am a sucker for a coupon and I had one for Borders. The closest one to my place is at Columbus Circle and since it was such a beautiful day and the train was skipping our stop anyway this weekend, so I convinced Bill that we should walk. Columbus Circle is about 40 blocks/2 miles away. I was totally enjoying the walk/weather until I was like "Oh crap. Bill! I think I'm trying to sneak extra mileage in by walking this far! Gina is so going to yell at me." To which he answered "As she should." I totally didn't mean to. But since my muscles are in recovery I could definitely feel it. To make up for it, when we went to the next store we took the bus. When I thought about walking back to the grocery store Bill said "Emily! No!" I was like "Whatever." And then he told me Gina would yell at me. And so we didn't walk.
He thought this was really funny, how I was being motivated to be good by the fact that Gina might yell at me. It is especially funny because I could never really see Gina yelling at anyone. But I could see her saying "Emily Mason! You are supposed to be RESTING!" and I guess that was motivation enough.
I am finding it really hard to be sedentary though. Not only do I have a ton of energy, but I think running destresses me, so I've been in a pretty crabby mood lately. But despite all of that, I was good for the rest of the weekend. And I AM enjoying the fact that 60-70% of my caloric intake should be carbs this week.
Yum. Carbs.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Doubt
So, last night we had another speed work exercise.
You know how people say that during taper you get antsy because you aren't running enough? I think the people on my team are just getting antsy, period. We had to wait around (in the dark...I hate how it gets dark so early now) for the coaches to send us out on our workout and everyone was getting annoyed. Everyone was like "Come on, let's go. I don't even want to be here. Let's get this over with." I mean, it HAS been a long season. Bill thinks we are all just anxious to run the marathon and it's so close that it's just making us all crazy and annoyed.
Anyway, last night we had to do three lower loops of the park. Each loop is 1.7 miles. Within those miles we were supposed to time ourselves for one mile to make sure we were keeping pace. Ramon's point was that on Tuesday we do speed work, on Saturdays we run easy, and our marathon pace should be somewhere in between. We need to learn what that feels like. So, the task was that our first mile should be marathon pace, our second should be half marathon pace and our third should be our fastest mile, which should be faster than half marathon pace by at least 45 seconds.
Ugh. I was just not feeling like I could do that.
Besides, I have a REALLY hard time switching between paces. I doubted that I knew what each of those paces felt like (well, except the last which was basically a long-distance sprint...that just feels like me dying.) I find pacing the hardest part of running. It takes so much concentration.
The first loop was hard on my legs. I felt so tight from sitting around all day and my calves were screaming at me. I was also a bit distracted from worrying about pace because the whole time I was talking to the girl I met at the very first practice. She was pretty nervous because she just got back from her honeymoon and took 12 days off of running. I didn't mind chatting with her but I was very nervous that I wouldn't be on pace. I logged a 9:50 for my mile though which was PERFECT.
I thought about stopping in the middle to stretch out my legs but figured that it would all work itself out. I picked up to half marathon pace and my calves were screaming at me. As I hit the hills at the bottom of the east side I promised myself I would stop at the end of that loop to stretch. I logged a 9:10. PERFECT.
I did stop to stretch and then took off again. Stretching REALLY REALLY helped. But I did not feel like I could do a sprint after that. I was pretty tired. I knew that I had to do it though, otherwise I would be worrying that maybe 9:50 for a marathon really wasn't my pace, which just opens up a whole other can of worms. So I picked it up a lot. And actually? It felt really good. I was breathing heavy and could tell I was going to be tired at the end of the workout (which Ramon said we should) but I felt great. So great that I started worrying that I wasn't making the correct time (which should be an 8:25). I decided not to look at my watch to psych myself out, until I finished.
My last mile? 8:17!!!!!!!!!
NO FREAKIN' WAY.
I was so happy.
So I guess I learned from this that I need to stop freaking out about everything and doubting myself. I've done the training, I know how to pace and I know what my marathon pace should be.
But I also know myself. And I know that I will still freak out about it for the next week and a half. Poor Bill. :)
You know how people say that during taper you get antsy because you aren't running enough? I think the people on my team are just getting antsy, period. We had to wait around (in the dark...I hate how it gets dark so early now) for the coaches to send us out on our workout and everyone was getting annoyed. Everyone was like "Come on, let's go. I don't even want to be here. Let's get this over with." I mean, it HAS been a long season. Bill thinks we are all just anxious to run the marathon and it's so close that it's just making us all crazy and annoyed.
Anyway, last night we had to do three lower loops of the park. Each loop is 1.7 miles. Within those miles we were supposed to time ourselves for one mile to make sure we were keeping pace. Ramon's point was that on Tuesday we do speed work, on Saturdays we run easy, and our marathon pace should be somewhere in between. We need to learn what that feels like. So, the task was that our first mile should be marathon pace, our second should be half marathon pace and our third should be our fastest mile, which should be faster than half marathon pace by at least 45 seconds.
Ugh. I was just not feeling like I could do that.
Besides, I have a REALLY hard time switching between paces. I doubted that I knew what each of those paces felt like (well, except the last which was basically a long-distance sprint...that just feels like me dying.) I find pacing the hardest part of running. It takes so much concentration.
The first loop was hard on my legs. I felt so tight from sitting around all day and my calves were screaming at me. I was also a bit distracted from worrying about pace because the whole time I was talking to the girl I met at the very first practice. She was pretty nervous because she just got back from her honeymoon and took 12 days off of running. I didn't mind chatting with her but I was very nervous that I wouldn't be on pace. I logged a 9:50 for my mile though which was PERFECT.
I thought about stopping in the middle to stretch out my legs but figured that it would all work itself out. I picked up to half marathon pace and my calves were screaming at me. As I hit the hills at the bottom of the east side I promised myself I would stop at the end of that loop to stretch. I logged a 9:10. PERFECT.
I did stop to stretch and then took off again. Stretching REALLY REALLY helped. But I did not feel like I could do a sprint after that. I was pretty tired. I knew that I had to do it though, otherwise I would be worrying that maybe 9:50 for a marathon really wasn't my pace, which just opens up a whole other can of worms. So I picked it up a lot. And actually? It felt really good. I was breathing heavy and could tell I was going to be tired at the end of the workout (which Ramon said we should) but I felt great. So great that I started worrying that I wasn't making the correct time (which should be an 8:25). I decided not to look at my watch to psych myself out, until I finished.
My last mile? 8:17!!!!!!!!!
NO FREAKIN' WAY.
I was so happy.
So I guess I learned from this that I need to stop freaking out about everything and doubting myself. I've done the training, I know how to pace and I know what my marathon pace should be.
But I also know myself. And I know that I will still freak out about it for the next week and a half. Poor Bill. :)
Monday, October 13, 2008
Psych Out
I have come to the conclusion that I psych myself out during my races. This should come as no surprise, because when I used to swim I would do the same thing...I would have a great practice and then choke at the swim meet.
I say this because this weekend I ran the Staten Island Half Marathon. Basically, my group had to do a 12-13 mile run this weekend and Coach Ramon gave us the option of running it in the park or running the Staten Island Half as a training run...meaning that we would actually race it but run it just like any other weekend long mileage run. I chose the SIH because I am SOOOOOOO tired of running in Central Park. I welcomed the change of scenery and (here is the stupid reason) I think all of the shirts from the Grand Prix Half Marathons have been kind of cool. I have the Queens one, and I wanted the SI one.
I think not racing a race is pretty hard to do. I mean, there you are, surrounded by people who ARE racing it and there's all kinds of excitement in the air. It's easy to get caught up in it. It's also difficult because they corral you by pace and my pace is listed as 8:15 (even though that was for a MUCH shorter race). Anyway, I decided to just take it out as a fun run and not worry about it and pay more attention to my breathing than my time (hard to do with a huge clock glaring at you every mile. I discussed my inability to go slow in races before the race with Eric, one of the mentors. I told him I was shooting for 10 minute miles and he said I should just go my regular Saturday pace: 9:30. I thought that was probably a good idea.
My first mile I logged a 9:15.
Mile 2 - 8:54
Mile 3 - 9:02
Mile 4 - 9:17
I have to admit, I wasn't "holding back" like I usually do during races. I felt a little blah and tired. But then, now that I think about it, that was probably okay, because that's how I usually feel for the first few miles of a long run. And I don't focus on "holding back" on those, but on keeping a nice consistent pace.
Mile 5 - 10:04 (this was because I walked through the water stop and ate a Gu. I decided not to try the running/drinking thing this time, because I waste more time recovering from my choking.)
Mile 6 - 9:08
Mile 7 - 9:09 (the Gu must have kicked in by now because I was feeling AWESOME)
Mile 8 - 10:01 (slowed down by another water stop)
Mile 9 - 9:14 (and that was stopping for water AND a Gu)
Mile 10 - 8:53
Mile 11 - 9:16
This mile had a big hill, which kind of sucked since we were so close to the end. To make it worse, this lady next to me was like, mooing or something...really loudly. She was obviously having issues getting up the hill. But even after the hill she kept mooing. I find it really frustrating to be running by people like this because they also psych me out. Because there I am, trying to do my own thing mentally to get me up the hill and even if I am making it through the hill sucessfully it is like their loud breathing etc reminds me that I am on a really tough hill and that I should be struggling too. I tried to get away from her as fast as I could.
Mile 12 - 9:36
It was somewhere in the middle of mile 12 that I decided to look at my total time. I realized that I was super close to a sub 2:00 time. I would basically have to finish my last mile in 7 minutes (ha!). I knew this wasn't possible , but wanted to speed up anyway.
Mile 13 - 8:28
Whoo hoo!
I finished strong, with a 2:01:13 overall (grrrr. If only I had been .13 seconds faster!).
But you know, if I would have been racing that, I probably would have gone slower. I've got to get in the mental game for this marathon.
Oh and one funny little story...
To get to Staten Island, you have to go all the way to the bottom of Manhattan and take the ferry. On the 1 train you actually have to be in the front 5 cars to get off at the last stop. Well, usually the only people that go down that far in Manhattan are tourists (it is by the Statue of Liberty) and residents of Staten Island. Add in a 7:30 am time on a Sunday (most NYers sleep until noon) and all you have is tourists. So when the 1 train was packed with runners like it was rush hour (standing room only, shoulder to shoulder) I think we really really really confused the tourists. They looked VERY overwhelmed. Especially when the huge hall to take the ferry was overcrowded with thousands of runners. I felt sorry for them. But I felt especially sorry for the ones who took the ferry back after the race with all of us runners. I'm sure it was a rather stinky ride.
I say this because this weekend I ran the Staten Island Half Marathon. Basically, my group had to do a 12-13 mile run this weekend and Coach Ramon gave us the option of running it in the park or running the Staten Island Half as a training run...meaning that we would actually race it but run it just like any other weekend long mileage run. I chose the SIH because I am SOOOOOOO tired of running in Central Park. I welcomed the change of scenery and (here is the stupid reason) I think all of the shirts from the Grand Prix Half Marathons have been kind of cool. I have the Queens one, and I wanted the SI one.
I think not racing a race is pretty hard to do. I mean, there you are, surrounded by people who ARE racing it and there's all kinds of excitement in the air. It's easy to get caught up in it. It's also difficult because they corral you by pace and my pace is listed as 8:15 (even though that was for a MUCH shorter race). Anyway, I decided to just take it out as a fun run and not worry about it and pay more attention to my breathing than my time (hard to do with a huge clock glaring at you every mile. I discussed my inability to go slow in races before the race with Eric, one of the mentors. I told him I was shooting for 10 minute miles and he said I should just go my regular Saturday pace: 9:30. I thought that was probably a good idea.
My first mile I logged a 9:15.
Mile 2 - 8:54
Mile 3 - 9:02
Mile 4 - 9:17
I have to admit, I wasn't "holding back" like I usually do during races. I felt a little blah and tired. But then, now that I think about it, that was probably okay, because that's how I usually feel for the first few miles of a long run. And I don't focus on "holding back" on those, but on keeping a nice consistent pace.
Mile 5 - 10:04 (this was because I walked through the water stop and ate a Gu. I decided not to try the running/drinking thing this time, because I waste more time recovering from my choking.)
Mile 6 - 9:08
Mile 7 - 9:09 (the Gu must have kicked in by now because I was feeling AWESOME)
Mile 8 - 10:01 (slowed down by another water stop)
Mile 9 - 9:14 (and that was stopping for water AND a Gu)
Mile 10 - 8:53
Mile 11 - 9:16
This mile had a big hill, which kind of sucked since we were so close to the end. To make it worse, this lady next to me was like, mooing or something...really loudly. She was obviously having issues getting up the hill. But even after the hill she kept mooing. I find it really frustrating to be running by people like this because they also psych me out. Because there I am, trying to do my own thing mentally to get me up the hill and even if I am making it through the hill sucessfully it is like their loud breathing etc reminds me that I am on a really tough hill and that I should be struggling too. I tried to get away from her as fast as I could.
Mile 12 - 9:36
It was somewhere in the middle of mile 12 that I decided to look at my total time. I realized that I was super close to a sub 2:00 time. I would basically have to finish my last mile in 7 minutes (ha!). I knew this wasn't possible , but wanted to speed up anyway.
Mile 13 - 8:28
Whoo hoo!
I finished strong, with a 2:01:13 overall (grrrr. If only I had been .13 seconds faster!).
But you know, if I would have been racing that, I probably would have gone slower. I've got to get in the mental game for this marathon.
Oh and one funny little story...
To get to Staten Island, you have to go all the way to the bottom of Manhattan and take the ferry. On the 1 train you actually have to be in the front 5 cars to get off at the last stop. Well, usually the only people that go down that far in Manhattan are tourists (it is by the Statue of Liberty) and residents of Staten Island. Add in a 7:30 am time on a Sunday (most NYers sleep until noon) and all you have is tourists. So when the 1 train was packed with runners like it was rush hour (standing room only, shoulder to shoulder) I think we really really really confused the tourists. They looked VERY overwhelmed. Especially when the huge hall to take the ferry was overcrowded with thousands of runners. I felt sorry for them. But I felt especially sorry for the ones who took the ferry back after the race with all of us runners. I'm sure it was a rather stinky ride.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Taper
Well, I am now officially into taper. Hurrah!
Last nights workout was cake compared to other workouts. We still had to do intervals, but instead of doing like 14 of them mixed in with ten million hills, we did three of them, with one big hill.
We started at W90th in the park, ran easy up to 102nd and then started our first push. We crossed the park, ran down to 86th and turned around for an easy run back to 97th. This next part was the hard part. Not only were we pushing, but we were pushing Harlem Hill into Lasker Pool Hill (the toughest hills in Central Park) all the way back to W102nd. From there we ran easy to 97th and then pushed it back to 90th.
Taper is weird for me, because even though you are supposed to feel like you have a lot of energy, I often feel the opposite. Like last night, even though our workout was easy my legs were feeling tired. They were mostly feeling tired on the recovery parts of the run. I'm thinking though, that this may be because it was really my first taper run. I mean, I'm probably still tired from the rest of the season. At least I hope that's it.
I've also been pushing really hard to fundraise my last $1000 for Team in Training. Yesterday I had a pretty successful bakesale at work and today is my last day to turn in donations before I get charged for the final amount. Soooooo...if you'd like to help me out, you can click on the link to the right :)
I cannot believe that this marathon season is almost over! But I'm not too worried. After all, I'll begin training for the next one in December, which really isn't THAT far away. :)
Last nights workout was cake compared to other workouts. We still had to do intervals, but instead of doing like 14 of them mixed in with ten million hills, we did three of them, with one big hill.
We started at W90th in the park, ran easy up to 102nd and then started our first push. We crossed the park, ran down to 86th and turned around for an easy run back to 97th. This next part was the hard part. Not only were we pushing, but we were pushing Harlem Hill into Lasker Pool Hill (the toughest hills in Central Park) all the way back to W102nd. From there we ran easy to 97th and then pushed it back to 90th.
Taper is weird for me, because even though you are supposed to feel like you have a lot of energy, I often feel the opposite. Like last night, even though our workout was easy my legs were feeling tired. They were mostly feeling tired on the recovery parts of the run. I'm thinking though, that this may be because it was really my first taper run. I mean, I'm probably still tired from the rest of the season. At least I hope that's it.
I've also been pushing really hard to fundraise my last $1000 for Team in Training. Yesterday I had a pretty successful bakesale at work and today is my last day to turn in donations before I get charged for the final amount. Soooooo...if you'd like to help me out, you can click on the link to the right :)
I cannot believe that this marathon season is almost over! But I'm not too worried. After all, I'll begin training for the next one in December, which really isn't THAT far away. :)
Sunday, October 5, 2008
It's the Final Countdown
Yesterday I had my last 20 mile run. I had never actually done more than one 20 mile run during a training season, so I didn't know about this. But I also figured that it was probably good for me.
It was also fun, because we had another fieldtrip run. This one was in Piscataway, New Jersey. We had to carpool and everything. My mentor Gina, was the brave one, and drove us all there.
The weather was perfect. A little cold and a little overcast in the morning, but by the end of the run it was sunny. It was kind of weird because the whole thing was a trail run. At the very beginning (not even a half mile into the run) we were already stopping to walk because there was water running over the mossy rocks and they were VERY slippery. The trail itself was made of tiny rocks as well, so I was just waiting to wipe out and not be able to run the marathon.
I made sure I started out with the 10-minute group so that I would hold back. I felt REALLY good at the pace I was going, until some girl with a GPS started shouting out our pace like every thirty seconds. "Now we're at 9:15. Well, NOW were going 9:30 so that's good. Wait. Now we're going 10:15, we need to speed up." Luckily, her running partner told her that if we were going too slowly for her that she could just go ahead. Problem solved. I did NOT need to be worrying about my pace for an entire 20 miles.
I was feeling really great until about the 9 mile mark. This is when I was having some real stomach issues so I decided to stop (if you think this is just TMI go ahead and skip to the next paragraph). Unfortunately there were no good places to stop on the trail. I slid down a humongous hill filled with prickly bushes (OUCH) and then spent the next few minutes pulling them out of my skin and off of my pants. When I started running again it sort of felt like one had lodged itself into my shoe and was poking my big toe. But after a few seconds I didn't feel it, so I figured it all must have been in my head.
Since I let my group go I was running by myself, which kind of stinks. There were no distinguishing marks on the trail to tell us when to turn around, so one of the coaches said he would make some sort of mark to tell us. I knew we were close because I saw other runners turning back. I just kept running. Until a bunch of girls behind me were screaming "You've gone too far! Turn back!" Whoops. A 20 miler is not exactly a run where you want to go too far.
All the way back I was not feeling so good so I had to keep stopping. This was not good because every time I stopped I could feel my muscles and how tight they were. So when I got to the 4 mile mark (four miles left) I was so glad.
Unfortunately, it was THE longest four miles ever.
But despite everything, I still finished at 3:25, which I didn't consider too bad. Especially since I was SO tired. I will be interested to see how this marathon goes compared with my others. I have definitely trained much harder than normal. I think based on my two twenty mile runs I am going to go for a 4:22.
And now, I'm onto my taper! Hurrah!
P.S. I DID have a sticker lodged into my toe. Now it is under one of my three blisters. Ouch.
It was also fun, because we had another fieldtrip run. This one was in Piscataway, New Jersey. We had to carpool and everything. My mentor Gina, was the brave one, and drove us all there.
The weather was perfect. A little cold and a little overcast in the morning, but by the end of the run it was sunny. It was kind of weird because the whole thing was a trail run. At the very beginning (not even a half mile into the run) we were already stopping to walk because there was water running over the mossy rocks and they were VERY slippery. The trail itself was made of tiny rocks as well, so I was just waiting to wipe out and not be able to run the marathon.
I made sure I started out with the 10-minute group so that I would hold back. I felt REALLY good at the pace I was going, until some girl with a GPS started shouting out our pace like every thirty seconds. "Now we're at 9:15. Well, NOW were going 9:30 so that's good. Wait. Now we're going 10:15, we need to speed up." Luckily, her running partner told her that if we were going too slowly for her that she could just go ahead. Problem solved. I did NOT need to be worrying about my pace for an entire 20 miles.
I was feeling really great until about the 9 mile mark. This is when I was having some real stomach issues so I decided to stop (if you think this is just TMI go ahead and skip to the next paragraph). Unfortunately there were no good places to stop on the trail. I slid down a humongous hill filled with prickly bushes (OUCH) and then spent the next few minutes pulling them out of my skin and off of my pants. When I started running again it sort of felt like one had lodged itself into my shoe and was poking my big toe. But after a few seconds I didn't feel it, so I figured it all must have been in my head.
Since I let my group go I was running by myself, which kind of stinks. There were no distinguishing marks on the trail to tell us when to turn around, so one of the coaches said he would make some sort of mark to tell us. I knew we were close because I saw other runners turning back. I just kept running. Until a bunch of girls behind me were screaming "You've gone too far! Turn back!" Whoops. A 20 miler is not exactly a run where you want to go too far.
All the way back I was not feeling so good so I had to keep stopping. This was not good because every time I stopped I could feel my muscles and how tight they were. So when I got to the 4 mile mark (four miles left) I was so glad.
Unfortunately, it was THE longest four miles ever.
But despite everything, I still finished at 3:25, which I didn't consider too bad. Especially since I was SO tired. I will be interested to see how this marathon goes compared with my others. I have definitely trained much harder than normal. I think based on my two twenty mile runs I am going to go for a 4:22.
And now, I'm onto my taper! Hurrah!
P.S. I DID have a sticker lodged into my toe. Now it is under one of my three blisters. Ouch.
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