pics are up!! aka the post in which gwen posts non-hid pics of herself

so karen, dave and i ran the harvard pilgrim 10k on the 4th of July.  mostly (ok, it was pretty much only) because you got to run thru the helmet and onto the field at gillette stadium, finishing on the 50 yd line.  since patriots tickets are soooo expensive, this was my first, and probably last time to gillette stadium, and definitely as close as i'm ever going to come to the field ever again.

the race itself was not fun.  it was like 80 degrees with 80% humidity when we started and i sounded like a wheezing vacuum by the 1 mile mark.  my splits were as non-progressive as can be (8:15, 8:30, 8:45, 9:00, 9:15, 8:45)  (hey, at least i picked it up at the end!) (total time: 55:48)  but the pics...oh the pics!!  i'm contributing it all to the compression sleeves, but i am preeeettty pleased with these pics, i must say.  

also!  make sure to check out karen's blog. she is less conceited than i, but will post a pic or two nonetheless, i'm sure.

seattle rock and roll marathon race report

ok, ok, i'll stop procrastinating and just write the damn thing.  ugh.

for a first marathon, everything went very smoothly and just as good as one could hope for.  we woke up early (3:30, i think?  my memory starts to go after a week), caught a cab from capitol hill to downtown where the shuttles were taking the runners to the start in tukwila, and didn't even have to wait in line.  (i heard that these shuttles got very crowded later on and a bunch of people arrived at the start late.  nothing like a little extra adrenaline!)  the weather was perfect too, 55 i think at start, 62 at finish. after about an hour of waiting around at the start, we got into our corrals (i was corral 9) and the race got underway. 

corral 9 only had to wait about 10 mins or so to get the start...and we were off!  i paced the first mile just as i'd planned, and then brought it down to 9 min/miles and stuck with it.  the first 10 miles were the prettiest of the course, right along lake washington.  this section had the most spectators by far and lots of interesting things to look at.  the miles went pretty fast.  at about mile 10, we split from the halfers and did the first out and back (out of 3) of the course, across the lake.  i was still feeling really good at this point!  we met back up with the halfers, went thru a long tunnel, and headed into downtown.  mile 16 started and we started the second and loooongest out and back.  this is where things started to go bad.  my legs started cramping and mentally i started struggling.  i tried to hang in for a few more miles before resigning myself to an 8 mile run/walk to the finish.  i ran/walked up and down what seemed like the longest hills of my life and told myself all i needed to do was finish.  mile 23 brought the third and final out and back (sadistic course, for sursies) and i tried to rally, but cried instead.  with only 1.5 miles to go, i was finally able to coax my legs into running again, and i slowly made it to the finish. oddly enough, i wasn't really even happy to be finished...i think i was just so emotionally exhausted that i was too tired to feel anything.  even now, a week later, i wonder if i could have done more and i'm just not sure.  part of me thinks i kind of gave up, and the other part remembers how much pain i was in.  i KNOW i have a better time in me and even during the race, i was already planning my redemption marathon!  here's my splits from the race so you can see how my story ties into my mile paces.  (mile 12 and 13 were in a tunnel).

 

and, my only good picture from the race.  i have no idea what mile this was at, but its pretty cool that the space needle is in the background!

 

so in sum:  

good first half

sucky second half

time: 4:30:55 

ready to run another one! 

a fast person has stolen my body....

and is running all over town with it!

i don't know what's gotten into me, but lately my runs can do no wrong.  one good run after another and i love it!!!

here are my splits from today's, what i call my "usual run".  its a reasonable hilly 4.6 mile loop around my neighborhood.  notice those 7's in there??  craaazy.  and for reference my previous best time on this loop was 39:50. 

this is so exciting!!!

weekend recap

this weekend turned out to be very productive on the running/exercise front!

i DID end up getting my 12 mile run in on friday. the weather was perfect (i have gotten VERY lucky this training cycle in terms of long run weather), my transition from work to bike path went perfectly and on-schedule, and i thought i had escaped any friday the 13th hi-jinks. then my garmin battery died. 5 mins into a 2 hour run. wah wah. so i had to guess how fast i was going, and try not to run faster than i should for optimal non-dying-at-the-end-ness. i failed and the last mile was pretty miserable. its just so odd, i really don't feel like i ran any faster than i did during my 16 miler, so a 12 miler should have been a cakewalk. i already didn't like this particular bike path, so now i really don't like it. :P take that minuteman!

(i get childish and cranky in the afternoon (at work))

saturday - did pilates in the city (how posh) :) with the sis and friends. i am woefully inflexible, but this class was pretty good and i am still feeling it in my lower abs and butt-tocks 2 days later!

and on sunday, the impromptu 5k went mah-voulously. both sis and i PRed!! my time was 24:39 (7:56 pace) and hers was 30:08 (9:43 pace) we were so excited, we went right out and signed up for another 5k AND 5 mile combo on memorial day weekend. (you get a COMMEMORATIVE cup for doing both...swank!) any peeps in the 01844 should join us! its sure to be good times!

http://www.coolrunning.com/major/11/sonsofitaly/

i shall leave you with my outfit from 5k sunday. nothing too fancy. long sleeve tee (brooks), tights (lulu) and shoes (asics). i've got a whole bunch of running outfits i'm just dying to share. maybe this week, i'll do a "days of the week" running montage. kind of like "days of the week" underwear, but less exposed. :)

wallis sands half marathon - race report

since i don't blog as much as i should, i never actually included a post about my goals for this race. let me start with those.

i actually had a few levels of goals for this race:

a) run a smart race/don't die and/or finish in under 2 hours - this was my bare minimum goal
b) beat my previous best time (1:54:15) from the last race i ran, 2 years ago, right before i fell of the running wagon
c) better than 1:50:00 -this was def a stretch goal

the conditions on race day were pretty much perfect. very light wind, temperature was 50 at the start and 57 at the finish, flat course, and beautiful scenery -along the ocean for about 4 miles total

my plan was to run the first mile in 9, the second in 8:45 and then the rest at or under 8:30. i did pretty well with this plan (alright, re-looking at my splits, i may have been a bit fast) , right until the 9 mile mark or so, and then the wheels just fell off.

Mile Split time Split pace Elev. chg.
1 8:46 8:47 +3
2 8:29 8:29 +2
3 8:18 8:18 +16
4 8:13 8:14 +231 (wow, faster mile, biggest hill. hmmmm)
5 8:23 8:24 -167
6 8:19 8:19 -10
7 8:40 8:41 -8
8 8:37 8:37 -18
9 8:45 8:46 -10
10 9:00 9:01 -29
11 9:27 9:28 +17 (stopped to drink some gatorade)
12 9:17 9:18 +27
13 9:09 9:09 -66
0.1 0:50 8:25 +32

total time 1:54:55

in hindsight, i'm sure i just went out too fast, but i'm not actually upset that i did because it gave me the chance to try; to get to my goal pace and see how long i actually could hold it for. i'm really proud that i ran as fast as i did for as long as i did and it gives me a very attainable goal for the future: work on my stamina for miles 10-13 and hold that pace! i totally think i can do that.

so lets see. i sort of met goal A. i was pretty darn close to goal B. and goal C, well, ya know.

and oh, this race also reminded me that i need to work on my positive talk. if kara's mantra is "fighter" and mine is "i wanna die, just let it be over", then i can see why i'm not a world class athlete. :)

--hope to post pics soon. the race website is being soooo slow in posting them

march-ing along *groan*

stats for march: total miles: 109.1 miles, longest run: 10 miles.

right now i am logging my runs in a few different places. I use runkeeper cause I started with that one when I began my marathon training. Its also where the sis and bro-in-law log their runs so it is fun to see how everyone is doing. I also started using the software that came with my garmin as well as a free downloadable software that I heard good things about, but I only use those 2 for outside runs with my garmin so they aren’t very complete. I also have a spreadsheet I keep that is very simple; date and number of miles.

needless to say, I am looking forward to paring this process down. I think I’ll prob end up with the free sw and I’ll just manually enter my treadmill runs (or get a garmin footpod). the good thing about that option is that when I do a monthly stats, I’ll be able to give a total time and thus and average pace. I’m curious about what that might end up being.

sister and I went to the nashua rail trail for our 12 mile run this past sunday. it was refreshing to run on a flat surface…almost made the run seem “easy”. here is my ensemble from the run. Lululemon run:inspire tights in sprinkler, nike shorts, and nike jacket that was FREE with coke points.

is it wrong that I have over $300 in free nike and adidas clothes that I got with coke points? at least its diet coke!

training well underway

i realize its been quite awhile since i posted my running stats for the week, and i know you all are just dying to know how many miles i've been running, so here you go:

weekly mileage FW14/15/16

3/30: 4.0 miles - knee was really hurting, had to walk a bit
4/4: 5K race
total: 7.2 miles
4/6: 6.0 miles - wore brace, not too bad
4/8: 4.5 miles - wore brace, no pain!
4/10: 4.2 miles - no brace, no pain! things are looking up!
4/12: 7.5 miles
total: 22.2 miles
4/14: 4.0 miles
4/16: 4.0 miles
4/19: 10.0 miles - on bike path. sooo tired of treadmill hell, can't go baaaack
total: 18 miles

i've been running less these last few weeks to take it easy on my knee, and you know what? i think its working! the last week has been pretty much pain free and i haven't even used the brace for the last 4 runs or so.

also, i won't lie. that 10 mile run this past weekend was not easy. the only saving grace was that it was super nice outside and i was too busy being enamored with all the signs of spring and people watching that i didn't even notice the pain (or boredom) until the last three miles. speaking of boredom, i sometimes wonder if that is my main problem. i think my body is capable of anything, and technically, i have the build for longer distance running, but its my brain that can't hack it. body of a marathoner, mind of a sprinter. ug.

5 weeks left till the half. anyone else getting excited??

25:36

that's my time from the 5k yesterday. not too bad, considering it was:
a. 38 degrees
b. raining
c. a hilly course
d. run with a knee brace on

i'm still disappointed tho; i know i can do much better than that, since i do on a regular basis. ohs well. there's another 5k coming up in two weeks. i'm gonna break that 25 minute mark if it kills me!

Runner's Knee?

is that an actual thing? seems like it should be, if its not. but no matter, i've got it whatever its called and its starting to worry me. i first noticed my knee feeling a bit funny a few weeks ago, but it wasn't anything major and i thought i'd just tweaked it or something. but the feeling persisted, and finally yesterday, it brought my workout to a screeching halt. i had to do what pains me most in a run...walk. and its not feeling any better today. uh oh. i guess i'll try and stay off of it for the next few days, especially since i'm doing a 5k this saturday. this can't be good.....

weekly mileage FW13

3/23: 5.2 miles
3/24: 5.2 miles
3/25: break
3/26: 5 miles
3/27: 5 miles
3/28: break - meant to go outside and run, but had higher priority items, ahem, shopping
3/29: 7.5 miles - knee didn't hurt on this one...hmmmm

weekly total: 27.9 miles

the week in running 2

weekly mileage FW12

3/16: break
3/17: tummy distress part one: 4 miles
3/18: tummy distress part deux, ok, now its getting old. cut the workout short: 3.5 miles
3/19: left work early. running break
3/20: 5.7 miles
3/21: 4.9 miles on karen's tready
3/22: 4.9 miles - 1% incline

weekly total: 23 miles

i just loved running on karen's treadmill in the mornings when i woke up. i'm always up before everyone else anyhow, so it was the perfect time to get a nice run in before the day caught up with me. i think i'm going to stalk one on craigslist now...

the week in running

meant to post this earlier in the week, but was lazy and/or forgot.

weekly mileage FW11

3/9: 5 miles
3/10: intervals: 4.6 miles
3/11: 4.5 miles
3/12: much needed break
3/13: 5 miles
3/14: 6.3 miles outside on those dratted hills again
3/15: tres tired from the day before: 3.5 miles

weekly total: 28.9 miles

so i've committed to the run to remember in boston on memorial day. hopefully i don't fall off the wagon in vegas like i always do.
depending on how that goes, i may join liz in san antonio in november for another half.

8 Mile(s)

the weather here is sooo nice today, 50+ degrees, sunny, all the snow is melting. i'm loving it!

so to celebrate, i went for my first outside, long run of the season.

i was so excited to get out that i forgot i've only been training on a treadmill for the last 4 months.

hills: 1, gwen: 0