"I thought you said this would be flat."

"I thought it would be! I looked at the map!"

- Actual conversation I overheard during mile 1 of the Mercy Heart Mini Marathon

Maybe they should have looked at the ELEVATION. :-)



Ask most runners/walkers in Cincinnati what the hardest race is and they'll tell you it's the Heart Mini. The course is almost all hills, it's an out and back, and the wind is in your face for the last five miles. Awesome! Yet we continue to do it, year over year. Masochists, we are.

Despite the wind, the rain, and the 40 degree temperatures, I really enjoyed the race. Highlights o' the day include:

- I set a PR! I had no idea what this race would bring given my dismal performance last week, but I finished in 1:20:12, about an 8:38 pace per mile. This is two and a half minutes faster than last year's time AND I ran a negative split with my last few miles ranging from 8:12 to 7:52.

- I got to run with my friend Meg from the Half group. We only see each other at races so I was pumped to tackle this course together.

- Actually I saw a ton of old friends today - it was almost like a homecoming. I got to catch up with my coaches from last year, some buddies from the Fall group, and my friend Karen who I have been talking to on Facebook but haven't seen since high school! Karen and I finished together - totally random but very cool.

Overall, I think I was better prepared this year. Not sure if that's due to Coach Joe Fung's workout plan or if I'm just in better shape? What's funny is that I run Torrence (the beastly hill in mile 6) at least twice a week and I actually thought it was the hardest part of today's run. Sucker!

Also, I normally hate out and back courses but Meg pointed out that we could focus on the runners coming towards us for distraction. It worked! I had a great time cheering for all the Running Spot elites and my dad and my cousin Holly (who totally didn't see me :-)

At any rate, I have slightly more motivation now to keep going with the marathon training. I needed a good run...

Rituals

One of the more interesting things about running are the rituals that seem to come with it. There is a big race here in Cincy tomorrow and a bunch of us from the Spot are hoping to run, so there's been some discussion over racing rituals (actually most of us do this stuff before/after any big run). One of my friends, who shall remain nameless, drinks Ensure for dinner the night before a race (I've heard rumors he also drinks it in the middle of the night :-). Another guy in my group always has chocolate milk waiting in his car after the run (how does he keep it cold??). My NY friend eats pound cake before races (at least she used to). And I of course have a few of my own weird habits...

- The day before a half marathon or longer race, I eat a 6-inch Subway ham sandwich with Baked Lays for lunch. I'm usually too wound up to eat much dinner, but it almost always involves mashed potatoes in some form or fashion.

- I drink 16-20 oz of Gatorade the night before the race and the same amount the next morning (for races only). It's always Orange Gatorade.

- I wake up four hours before I actually have to be out of bed and freak out about the run/race. I usually fall back asleep just before the alarm goes off. Once I'm up, I pace around my apartment like a cat, watching the local weather channel and trying to calm down.

- 1-2 hours before I run, I eat plain Quaker oatmeal (the mess from the canister, not the sugary packets). Occasionally I chase it with a shot of honey.

- During the run I take a Gu every six miles. It gives me something to look forward to...way easier to to say "Only six miles till my next Gu!" than "Oh snap. I have to run 20 more miles."

- Post run, I eat two scrambled eggs with a stupid amount of cheddar cheese. Note: I do not like eggs and can't eat them unless it's training season. I don't know why.

- I usually enjoy a chocolate whey protein drink and/or a strawberry banana smoothie with my eggs.

- If I have a really horrendous run and don't want to eat at all afterwards, I snack on strawberry-flavored Bagelfuls. They're the only thing I can keep down sometimes.

These rituals also hold true if I'm doing a long bike ride, although after road biking I crave ravioli and red Powerade...

Divine intervention/inspiration

In case it wasn't obvious from my last post, Sunday was one of the most grueling runs in my "career" as a distance runner. Two days later and my legs are still sore, I'm just now starting to feel rehydrated, and despite the fact that the mental pain of the run is fading, I'm still thinking of clever excuses to avoid tomorrow night's speed workout. Clearly I need something to build me up, buttercup. Fast.

Well, ask and you shall receive. I found the inspiration I was looking for tonight in a nondescript white envelope that I almost threw away. Inside the envelope was my COLUMBUS MARATHON FINISHER'S CERTIFICATE. Five months late but really, it couldn't have come at a more appropriate time. What better to remind me that I can overcome a bad run than a certificate that points out:

- I FINISHED A MARATHON
- I ran a kick @ss pace in said marathon
- I placed reasonably well in the overall race AND my division

Maybe I'm a little too proud of this stuff but whatever! This little piece of paper has encouraged me not to throw my running shoes out the window just yet and brave whatever Coach Fung tosses at us tomorrow (which I'm sure will be a real treat given that we're running from Newport. Road intervals, anyone? :-)

I get by with a little help from my friends

Having slept through yesterday's group workout, I decided to tackle the dreaded 20-miler solo. However, when my running buddy Tisha heard this, she volunteered to do part of the route with me and recruited our other running buddy, Cole, to do a leg as well. Thank goodness for my friends! I never would have made it through the run today alone. Today was also my first run with the Spy belt. Normally I make fun of people who run with everything but the kitchen sink (I had my water bottle too), but I needed my phone to coordinate "hand-offs" with my buddies. :-) I don't hate the belt as much as I thought I would, although I felt like a dork and a half.

The run started off ok. Cole and I dropped his car off downtown so that he could do a full six miles with me and not have to circle back. (Keep in mind that both he and Tisha ran 20 yesterday with the group). I did the double-secret add-on in Hyde Park, stupidly choosing a loop that involved Handasyde hill (the killer hill from the Hyde Park Blast). After 3 miles or so on my own, Cole met me at the coffee shop in O'Bryonville and we went through Walnut Hills, Eden Park, then on to downtown where we did the ever-scenic route around Linn Street to the Clay Wade Bailey bridge. Highlights of this section of the run include:

- Almost getting hit by some j-hole running a red light :-)
- Some dude getting arrested at 7th and Plum Street downtown
- The dogwood trees in Eden Park...Spring has sprung fo shizzle

Cole left me at the bridge and I proceeded into Kentucky, through Covington, Newport, then back across Purple People to Cincy. (Head Running Spot Coach wanted us run the Pig course backward, so we wouldn't get bored with running the same route every week.) I have to say that running the route in this direction made the bridges much easier...almost felt like cheating. By the time I got to Eastern Avenue though, my tummy was grumpy, my legs were tight, and I had "Help I'm Alive" by Metric stuck in my head. Not exactly motivating. To make matters worse, there were no Porta Potties at Schmidt field anymore. Hiss, growl.

Thankfully my rendezvous point with Tish was just around the corner and she had a lovely thermos of Gatorade waiting for me. This perked me up a little, enough to get me up the Delta hill to the UDF. Ha. We were supposed to keep going up Delta to Erie, but what I really wanted to do was have Tisha go back and get the car while I laid on the sidewalk. I compromised and agreed to run up Linwood, which seemed like a faster route back to Chez Ives. I was very, very surly (and pretty horrible looking), however Tisha kept me entertained with stories from yesterday's run and last week's pub crawl. Apparently one of our coaches showed up on St. Patty's Day in really tight holiday boxers. Ha ha ha, ew.

Somehow we made it back home...thanks to my patient coach. It takes really, really good friends to accompany someone on a long run, especially when that someone is me. I can be a bit of a handful sometimes. :-P

Even with my punking out at the end, I still managed to get in 20.3 miles. Average pace was 9:29, and since I was doing 10-11 minute miles (or slower) on the last stretch, I must have been hauling it for the first 16?

Not sure what my problem was today but I really think it's good to have excrutiatingly painful workouts now and then. The first 20-miler of the season is never great for me anyway, and learning to run through the pain is good training. Right???

Proud...

...not of myself...I got up to run this morning and went right back to bed...and slept the rest of the day. (And no, I wasn't drinking last night, I'm just ZAPPED).

What I'm proud of are all the people training for the Pig in some form or fashion. My friend Emily, who is the original long distance runner and is training for her FIFTH marathon. My dad, who is 53 and doing his fourth marathon (although I think he's doing St. Louis this year...). My cousin Holly, who walks faster than most people run, is training for the full 26.2 for the first time. My friend Karen is also training for the full. My friend Virginia wants to run her first 5K. My friends Jule and Susie are training for the half (which is all uphill!)...it's Susie's first half and I'm having a blast hearing about her giant blisters and other "discomforts". And I love that we talk about these things as though they are badges of honor and not grotesque. Running is SUCH a sexy sport...just read this month's issue of Runner's World - one of the quotes is something like "You're not a real runner until you've pooped your pants." Ha ha.

In all seriousness, nothing makes me happier than watching people fall in love with the beautiful, wonderful thing that is running. :-)

Tenuousness

I'm stretched a little thin these days. I'm carrying six active clients at work, trying to keep up with my marathon training, and attempting to have somewhat of a social life. Work seems to trump everything else...tonight I'm sitting in focus groups instead of doing a hill workout with my running buddies. Sigh.

I suspected the time would come when I would have to start doing my training runs in the morning and that time is officially here. I knew I had these focus groups tonight and I knew that last night was St. Patty's Day (BTW I never, never want to shoot Jameson's again. Ever.), so I figured I better get a workout done Tuesday AM if I wanted to salvage my mileage for the week. I was especially proud of myself yesterday because...

- I got up at 6:33 am to do a 5.5 mile hill run before work. 6:33!! It was still dark!
- I held a 9:02 pace on Torrence, Grandin and the Rookwood loop.

It was actually a pretty amazing morning. I had the road to myself, the birds (a scary amount of birds, truth be told) were chirping in full force, and I had a Neil Young song in my head. All was right with the world, if only for 49 minutes. ;-)

Happy Happy Joy Joy

Today's run was fantastic. The double-secret group had an 18-miler, thus beginning our series of four long runs before the April taper. I haven't run with the group in two weeks, so I was excited to catch up with everyone and be back in the pack. :-)

I'm drained...physically and emotionally, but here are a few things that made this morning fun:

- The 6:29 am WAKE UP text from Cole (the 9-minute mile kids get these every Saturday)

- The half-eaten grilled cheese I found on my coffee table when I got up today...remnants of last night's Irish car bomb recovery plan (hey, who can turn down free shots??)

- Running with my buddy Tisha. We haven't run together in at least a month so this made me very happy.

- The sudden burst of speed I got when I hit Delta. I had been running at the back of the bus so to speak (only one guy was left behind me) and I pulled ahead and caught Coach Steve and the rest of the four-hour crew.

- Cherry Jolly Ranchers. They had these at the water stop before Gilbert/Eden Park and I discovered I really like the distraction of eating hard candy while wheezing up hills.

- The St. Paddy's day parade. We ran right through their staging area and everyone was staring at us like we were crazy. :0

- The camaraderie of my group in general. We cheer each other on, make fun of each other, and Coach Steve even stopped while I tied my shoe. After the run we all stood around the lobby of Crossroads (our start and end point) drinking free hot tea, stretching, and being goofy. Good times.

- The swag. I finally got to pick up my "perks" this morning and scored an awesome running shirt, a pair of my favorite running socks, and a gift card for a Road ID. Maybe I'll finally break down and order one of those things...

My least favorite part of the day was the obligatory ice bath, although the ski hat, flannel shirt, and watching the Office online made things much more tolerable. :-)

Pace was an 8:58 minute mile (average). I've slowed down a bit, but not freaking out about this. Yet. I am kind of concerned that there is so much time (10-20 minutes) between our double-secret add-on mileage and the base mileage with the rest of group A. Trying to figure out a plan to close the gap...may have to start doing the add-on at the end...

Vanity Smurf

I've reached a new level of narcissism this evening. Last weekend, my friend, who is also training for the Pig, mentioned that she and her husband had recently measured their calves (these muscles get absurdly huge during marathon training). I can't remember why they were doing this but regardless, I'd forgotten about it... until tonight. Suddenly struck by a strange urge to see how big MY calf muscles were, I crept into the living room, stole the tape measure from my knitting bag, and went into the bathroom to check things out.

13.5" at the largest point.

I have no idea if that is large, small, normal, etc.. I'm kind of embarrassed that I did this, but probably not as much as I should be. :-S

In other news, I have my mileage for the week almost back on track, thanks to a four-mile run tonight. AND both of my runs this week were in the daylight. Dig.

Sabbatical=Over

I've spent the last 10 days on a somewhat inadvertent break from running. Last week was crazy busy at work and I ended up taking a last-minute client trip to PA Wednesday-Thursday - no time for running. Then I was in NYC Friday-Sunday for vacation; however, I was planning to do a 12-miler in Central Park with my NY running buddy. Long story short, I drank way too much over the weekend AND came down with a cold, hence, no running. Monday night I had to travel to Columbus, where it was blustery, rainy, and I was staying in strip mall-suburbia hell. No running there either.

Tonight I figured enough was enough, so I marched out of work promptly at 5:15 and got in a lovely 5.6 mile run. Between all of my time off and my disagreeable respiratory system, I was curious to see how I'd feel once I was on the road. Actually, I felt better running today than I have felt in a LONG time. The weather was perfect, I was able to breathe, and I managed to keep my pace below 8:25 min per mile. Decent. Also, I saw a half-eaten corn dog while I was out. It was at the corner of Woodburn and Madison if you really must know.

I'm debating what to do training-wise the rest of the week. I don't think my body is up for a Coach JF speed work out just yet, so I might run a few easy miles solo to get myself back on track. We have an 18-miler this Saturday, although, I'm not as psyched out about this as I usually am. Maybe it's the cold medicine.