My First Marathon (x2)

I wanted to do a recap of my last race weekend of 2014...too long for a FB post, so blog it is...and this is my only blog for now, so it will live here. Day 1: Donut 5 K Holiday Run I didn't plan on running this. I planned on running the Huff 50K. When I didn't finish Chicago and decided to make Monumental a full marathon I knew I needed to run another half marathon before Sam Costa in March...I want Sam Costa to be my 40th half marathon. It meant I was running Santa Hustle since I don't do the winter night trail race as I would die from my own klutziness (suicide mission). That ruled out the Huff since Santa Hustle was the day after and I didn't want to risk a half DNF. The 5K's of Christmas/Donut Holiday Run was the Road Runners Club of America (RRCA) 5K Indiana championship race and as state rep I should be there anyway...so I ran it. And if I was going to run a 5K I might as well go for the PR, right? Coach Matt Ebersole cleared going for the PR and I pl...

This blog is ending. It was kind of hit or miss to begin with, but that's not why it is ending. It is ending because I finally finished the Monumental marathon in the time limit yesterday. After Howl at the Moon in August the rest of the past few months has been filled with training runs and a few races. I ran the Ripple Effect 4 miler in September with PR. In late September I did the 20 mile Run the Monon for the first time. It was still pretty warm then and I struggled through it, but it was under 5 hours, which gave me hope for the marathon. I did a miserable 16 mile run by myself on a Sunday at the beginning of October because I was working in South Bend on the Saturday. It was raining the whole time. Felt slow and awful. I ran part of the Monumental course and discovered that it wasn't as hilly as I thought it was...or the hill training was paying off. After that I got to race a few times. I did the Highway Half on the new bypass in Kokomo. Ran 2:56 and some c...

The bast two weekends I have been racing instead of doing regular training runs. Tri Indy This was one of my A races for this year. I really wanted to finish an Olympic Distance triathlon. It was a great day for it. the swim went well, with the time matching my pool training times. I had a few moments of panic, as I usually do in murky water, then I was fine. The plant life on the bottom of the canal was pretty tall this year so I kept "catching" plants or having them freak me out a bit, but it was mostly funny. I was able to swim the whole thing freestyle, the first time I have done 1,500m in "open water" without sidestroke. The bike was pretty good, mostly because I had trained on the course and knew what to expect. I was MUCH faster than I expected though, averaging 15.6 mph. The volunteers seemed to be saying I was the last person out on the bike course (I wish they wouldn't do that, it's demoralizing), but I am not completely sure about that. ...

SO instead of running 12 miles with Indy Runners today I ran half of the Original 42K relay. But not as a relay, just straight 21.7K (21.1K officially). After I found out I was going to be running it myself I thought I would just use it as a regular training run and do it at training pace. Right... Even though I was a LONG way behind everyone else from the start, I went out WAY to fast...like a minute per kilometer. I backed off, but even so I ran all of the splits (except the last two which were about my intended pace) too fast. But other than the humidity, I felt pretty good and I liked the course. Once the sun came out it was a little warm in spots, but the breeze and the shade helped. The last lap I felt pretty spent so I power walked most of it. The course was a little different than what I was expecting. It was ungroomed gravel to a multi-use paved path. The path went around River Road park and then to the back side of a subdivision, out to 126th Street and then folded ...

So this was a tough week for running, but before we get there... I won the weight loss group for 6/15-7/15. Yeah, it was only 4 pounds, but it is on percentage lost and I won. Waiting for my payout check so I can get a new pair of running shoes :). Back to running. It was hot this week. Yes, it's July and it's supposed to be hot. But it was hot. I ran the 5.88K loop on Tuesday faster than I have run it yet, despite the heat. Wednesday I punked out and ran on the treadmill at the Bike Hub Y, but I forgot how horribly it is to do 5 miles on a treadmill. Thursday I ran just over 5K with the downtown Runner's Forum Thirsty Thursday crew. Hot. Faster than I have run in a while because I felt like I was keeping people from beer and some people kept coming back for me. But hot. Friday I ran downtown by myself, right around 5K. Figured if I didn't run before I got to my car it wasn't going to happen. Really slow, but it was supposed to be an "easy"...

Such nice weather today. A little humid at the start but as the temperature went up we lost some of it. Was having a bit of a problem breathing when it was super humid. Today was 10 miles - the Williams Creek loop plus a 2 mile out and back on the Monon. Pam Brewer was ahead of me for a while and then behind me, but then when I knew she was doing the Williams Creek loop too we settled in together. The loop is nice, but has some rolling hills so it is a tougher run than the Monon. This is good for me. We run from Broad Ripple to 86th Street on the Monon, then head west on 86th Street. A lot of the trees need to be trimmed because they overhang the sidewalk too much. Turn left at Pennsylvania and then the hills begin. One tough one that I didn't used to be able to run. I can run it now, but it really stresses my breathing. Takes a while to recover once the road flattens back out. Downhill is fun! Probably didn't handle nutrition as well as I should have. Did wate...

Today was another 8 mile run in the training program. There was this new guy there early on. When we asked what distance he was training for he said "marathon, has anyone heard of a half-marathoner?" - I just raised my arms in the air and said "27 half marathon finishes baby." He seemed pretty impressed by that and moved on. While I have finished a marathon and am training for the full at Monumental, I still consider myself a "half-marathoner" - and there are LOTS of us. This week we were using the Central Canal Tow Path instead of the Monon. Nice change of scenery except for the goose gauntlets along the way. The tow path has a lot of geese, especially near Broad Ripple, and they like to congregate on the trail. The generally hiss at you if you get too close. It's not a good experience for people with "bird issues." Also lots of bird poop which always sets of "histoplasmosis" in my head. I was able to maintain paces in t...