My First Marathon (x2)

The Sam Costa half marathon is one of the oldest half marathons in the state, arguably the oldest. Indy Runners is the steward of the race and it has been in Carmel for a number of years.  The course is rolling and winding.  A downhill start makes it almost impossible to not go out too fast and an uphill finish makes it nearly impossible to close hard.  This was my 7th time running the race.  I used to be one of the last finishers before the 3:00 time limit. While it's a tough course, I have also had some success.  The first time I broke 2:40 it was on this course.  The weather is often pretty favorable for me - 30s to low 40s with clouds and a threat of rain, but no actual rain.  I missed the race last year because it was during RRCA convention and I ran the Dallas Rock & Roll half instead, breaking 2:30 for the first time.  In May (2016) I ran the Mini just under 2:30 and then I ran Monumental half at 2:28:52.  This year for Costa it ...

I live in Indiana and the whole state is basketball cray cray.  I used to do a bracket and one year I was even successful, but without a school in the tournament it gets tedious...and I'm just not that big of a college hoops fan.  I like Brackets for Good, but helping your "team" win gets spendy fast...but then I saw the race bracket... https://raceraves.com/march-madness-lunatic-style/?utm_source=FB&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=MM-Midwest+Region I sent it to coach for amusement and his response was that it was a good place to start for planning a race year, except it obviously omitted his race 😝.  I sent back the ones that were on my *someday* list from the bracket and then a few others...but noted that his favorite race (Peachtree 10K) was probably too hot for me to run well - I am just not an Atlanta in July kinda girl, and that I would never qualify for Boston so those two just aren't on my list... And of course because the Peachtree lotto is open rig...

I hadn't raced since Drumstick Dash.  I know, you're saying...that's the end of November, what's the problem?!?!?  But I am used to racing much more often.  Today I ran the Corktown Races 5K in Detroit. It was COLD this morning.  Maybe not as bad as yesterday, but maybe...the first mile of warmup was sooooo cold, especially since I decided to warm up in what I was racing in...so no jacket, no second pair of gloves, no long tights (stuck with capris).  Picture with Kristy before I headed out for warmup. My fingers were frozen.  But by the time I finished the second set of striders in the second mile I was ok.  I was fine when I finished warmup.  Then it was a bit longer than ideal in the corral before the race started.  I started near the front of wave 3 (green) and still felt like I was starting with some people who didn't look like they were ready to race.  Some were supposed to be in wave 4 (white) and were starting at the front ...

Here's the rundown of block 4... You already know about the 4225 (that's 2.4 miles) swim test, from http://myfirstmarathontimes2.blogspot.com/2017/02/swim-baseline-test.html.  After that test I had to ditch that suit...it was just getting too thin in places.  Wednesday I ended up ditching another suit for the same reasons.  Good thing I have 4 or 5...well, had.  Oh chlorine... Tuesday I felt beat up all day.  Like my everything hurt and I'm dying beat up.  I went to the run, talked to coach, and we decided either I would have it or not, but I would know pretty early.  I stuck with my planned ladder  (1-5-1) rather than the group ladder (some complicated thing involving math).  It was pretty solid and my one minutes were solidly in the single digits for pace.  Now if only all of them were.  But that wasn't happening Tuesday. Wednesday I did my usual morning TRX and then I hit the pool before work instead of after.  It...