I'm a real runner now

As I mentioned on Monday, I signed up for a running coach/running program for the next few months. I wanted someone else to make up my training plan to see if I can get faster. I've been debating running the Philadelphia Half Marathon again and this plan has me running it.

I received my plan Tuesday with all it's bells and whistles. For me, it's going to be challenging. I've been running the last couple of years with two 30 minute weekday runs and one long run that alternates long week with step-back week. This plan has miles during the week and no real step back until close to the race. Eep. That's kinda scary.

The plan also have farklets and speed training. Stuff I usually skip. Not that I skip them on purpose, honest! It's just that a lot of the plans call for stuff that I'm not sure how to implement, so I don't do them... shuffle...shuffle... But this time it's right there in black and white. Guess I better get my butt on figuring out how they work.

The only thing that may trip me up is the week I go on vacation. The plan does not make any concessions for that. It may be a bit tough to make the mileages that week while on a boat. We shall see. Hubby says hit the treadmill, it'll be boring, but doable. He's right. It's doable, but my 5 mile time is just over an hour. How boring is that????

I'll keep ya posted on how the plan comes along and if I chose to sign up for the Philly Half Marathon.

Have you worked with a running coach? Have you had someone else come up with a training plan for you to follow? How did it work for you?

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Reflections on the Philly Half Marathon

Pro

1. It was my second half marathon!  Woohoo!  Very exciting to know I trained and completed two half marathons in one year!!

 2. This half marathon was in one of my favorite cities, Philadelphia.  I was so looking forward to running the streets and seeing all the cool sites. Philly has such a rich history and it was fabulous to see it while running.

3.  The first 9 miles flew by.  It was amazing.  I couldn't believe how quickly they went and how little effort it seemed to take.  I was shocked.  I was happy, but shocked.  Even the hills between miles 7 and 9 were fine.  I'm not a huge hill person, but they didn't seem impossible.

4. I PRed.  I ran basically the race time-wise I expected to run and PRed by 5 minutes.  I will say slight disappointment that my 10k estimated my finished to be 16 minutes faster than I actually ran, but eh.  It is what it is and I have a new PR.

5. The crowd support.  I'm not one for being excited about people cheering me on.  I run by myself in my training runs and crowds yelling for me usually turn me off, but the crowds in Philly were different.  They called my name, they cheered loudly, they had fun signs.  I even joked with some people and high-fived others.

Cons

1. The hill between miles 9 and 10.  Seriously.  The worst hill I've ever dealt with.  Worse than the hill between Mount Wolf and Manchester.  Without that hill this race would have been 100 times better!  And I would have had a better finish time!

2. The lack of directions at the start for the corrals.  It was chaotic and hard to find where I was supposed to line up.  Good thing I'm slow and I knew to just walk to the back.  The signs for the corrals were not as well marked as they could have been.

3. Lack of port-a-potties on the course itself.  The start and finish areas were packed with them, but once out on the course, it was hard to find.  I stopped about mile 5 to use one because I didn't know when the next one would be available.  Not good when you have 25,000 people running at the same time.

4. Post-finish line had several issues:

1. By the time I finished I was given a Marathon medal.  While sweet, I ran the half.  There should have been separate finish lines for the full and half so each race received the right medal.  And when I finished there were only three half medals left.  There were some pretty darn upset people I'm sure after me because there were more than 3 people on the course when I finished.
2. It was crowded with too many volunteers at the same spot - handing out water, handing out medals, directing traffic.  The water people should have been further along.  The congestion was incredible and I've never seen the like.  It was impossible to understand/see/know where to go.
3. With all the people handing out water, there were only two people handing out the blankets.  The ratio was a bit skewed.  It was almost impossible to get a blanket.
4. Food. Big fail.  I got in line, waited close to 5 minutes without getting close to the food, then got out of line because I felt sick.  The set up was completely wrong.  I just ran 13.1 miles (others ran 26.2) and we have to wait 10 or more minutes for a granola bar or banana?  Come on!  More areas where food is located, more space, and quicker lines.  
5. The photo station should be before the water, blankets, etc.  I got my photo taken and had to dump everything I had to get it shot.  
6. Overall, it seemed like once you crossed the finish line everything was just one big cluster you-know-what.  Too crowded, no organization, and too many people.

 Overall Impression

Overall, I really enjoyed the race.  I loved the first 9 miles and I think miles 11 through 13.1 would have been more enjoyable had there not been a 90 degree angle hill I had to go up from miles 9 to 10.  I felt as I ran through Old City, along Delaware Avenue, and up Chestnut Street that this really was an amazing race.  One I would recommend to anyone.  Now, I would recommend it, with the caveat that you have to do hill training.  They say this course is flat and for the most part it is, but miles 7 through 10 have elevation and that mile between 9 and 10 is just killer.

But, if you want to see the best of Philadelphia, go for it!  It's a wonderful way to see the city, get your run on, and have a fun Sunday morning.  

And as much as I am complaining about mile 9 to 10, I'm still happy I PRed.  I'm still happy I ran it.  I'm still happy I felt practically normal come Monday.  I obviously trained better this time around than last.  
 So thank you to everyone who organized and volunteered.  Thank you to the police, fire fighters, and EMTs at the race.  Thank you to all the friends and family who cheered not only their loved ones, but everyone who ran by them.  Thank you to all those who hung signs on the side of the road and those who carried them as they cheered.  And thank you to all my friends and family who believed I could run a half marathon even when I didn't!

Philadelphia Marathon - Part 2

Race morning!  Hubby got up much earlier than I, about 4:15 a.m.  I on the other hand managed to get up about 5:15 a.m. and get ready in time to meet our lovely friend Maryrose in the lobby.  She decided to come cheer us on, which is beyond amazing!  She was up at 4:30 a.m., drove into Philly from New Jersey, parked her car, and in the cold waited for us to finish our really long races.  There are very few friends who are that cool.

About 6:00 a.m. the three of us headed off in the dark to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and the Art Museum - the start area of the race.  It's always interesting walking in the dark through Philadelphia so early in the morning to the race.  The streets are quiet until you get close to the Parkway, then you hear footsteps and laughing and chattering.  It's thousands of people coming together for the same purpose, all with their own goals, ambitions, stories, fears, and hopes.  It is pretty amazing.

The three of us wandered around, then decided on a meeting place.  So while Brian and I went off to find our corrals, Maryrose set up her chair under the Morocco flag and settled in.  We walked towards the Art Museum knowing that somewhere up ahead would be our start areas.  We took one quick photo before the race and then Brian walked me to my corral.  :-)

The Blue Corral was alllllll the way in the back so B walked me there, then made his way up to the Orange corral.  It worked out fine.  I had the chance to chat with a couple of lovely ladies from New York who were down for the race.  They decided to make it fun and stayed at the Four Seasons.  We chatted about races and stuff we had heard about this race as it was the first time we all had done it.

Then we started moving forward towards the start line.  It took us a while to make it to the start line and on the way there I met a nice older gentleman, also from NY.  We had a nice conversation about running the race and enjoying it.  Not stressing about time.  Not stressing about meeting expectations or not meeting expectations.  He was a really nice guy and we had a couple nice laughs as we walked to the start.

Now, the last two years the runners were sent off to Rocky and I anticipated that again this year.  I was wrong.  This year when the Corrals were sent off the music was the Olympic theme song played by a marching band.  I must admit, it was pretty cool.  :-)

And we're off!

I will admit, I love Philly.  It is one of my favorite cities.  I had a feeling I would like this race just because I like this particular city.  And I wasn't wrong.  Running through a city I really love and being able to understand what B talked about was exciting. 

The rest of this will not be a mile by mile description of the race because I had a hard time realizing the miles were going by.  My Garmin is set to beep every half a mile and when it would go off I was shocked every time.  I honestly couldn't believe every half mile was going by so fast!  My first half mile was 6:06.  WHAT?!?  My first mile was about 12:28.  Huh???  At Princess my first mile was about 15 minutes.  (Basically because Princess is a bottleneck at the beginning, it's too tight.  Hard to get moving around so many people.) Which shocked me no end.  My 1.5 mile time was about 19:36 and my two mile time was 26:44.  These are not race times for me.  These are me busting my butt around the neighborhood times for me.  But, I was running with no problems. No issues. No pain. I was floored.  And I was enjoying it.  Here are some photos!

This is as close as I got to Independence Hall.  I thought we ran directly in front of it. Nope. Across the BIIIIGGG lawn.  At least I saw it.  To my left was the National Constitution Center, which is also a cool place to go.

 Juggling guy.  I really dislike him.  And he kept dropping the balls!  Way to put other runners in jeopardy all so you can do something stupid.

Leaving Old City and moving onto Delaware Avenue, along the Delaware River.  The bridge up ahead is the Benjamin Franklin Bridge linking Philadelphia and Camden, NJ.

 

 Eagles drum line!  At the corner onto Delaware Avenue was the Philadelphia Eagles drum line.  We could hear them all the way up the street and I thought they were a local high school or college's band. Nope.  It was pretty awesome. :-)

 

It's hard to tell, but in the background is the restaurant Moshulu.  One day I will eat there.  

 

One of the two signs I really liked.  The other one was on the next post, but I didn't have the camera ready to go.  It said, "How many beers did we drink before we thought this was a good idea?"  LOL!

 

 Another famous area of Philly, South Street.  I haven't been here in years!  It was neat to see it without the hoardes of people.

Pancakes!  The woman with the pancake was not happy.  I ran past wondering why she was standing there holding brochures.  It's not like I was going to take an IHOP brochure and keep going.  But, he did make me smile as I ran past City Hall.

 

 The elevation for the race said there were hills from miles 7 through 10.  The hills weren't that bad from miles 7 through 9.  I'm not a huge fan of hills, but I really wasn't all that thrown by these.  I was feeling good, running strong, and almost laughing at them.  This hill lead us to the Philadelphia Zoo.

 

And then this happened...

Just past the Zoo was this hill.  It was the worst hill ever.  Remember the hill from my 12.5 mile run a couple weeks ago?  HA!  Child's play. This was monsterous.  It was about a mile long, all uphill, and steep.  Every time it curved and we thought we were done, nope.  Upwards some more.  I met two new friends on the hill and we discussed how awful it was.  Who said Philly was flat???

Let me interject here.  Until mile 9 I honestly felt that Philly trumped Princess.  No doubt, hands down.  For most of Princess you are running on access roads and while there are lots of characters around, it's so quiet and dare I say it, boring.  I didn't realize it until I ran Philly.  There were people all over the place - police officers helping keep us from getting run over (huge THANK YOU to all the Philly police who came out to keep us safe!), cheer leaders, family, friends, random people, and people going about their lives looking at us like we were crazy.  I'm not normally one for spectators, but man!  They sure bring it at Philly!  If someone asked me which to run while on the course between miles 1 and 9, I would not hesitate to say Philly.

Then that there hill reared it's ugly head.  Princess had a couple small hills and then one large one at the end, well basically an entrance ramp you ran up to cross the highway into Epcot parking lot.  This hill was 100 times worse.  When I reached the top, I was done.  I knew it.  The hill killed all momentum.  It sucked because I had 3 more miles to go.  Ugh.

But, I pushed on.  Running, but walking more than I wished.  I wasn't going to give up.  There wasn't that much more to go.  And I kept going.  

Pretty trees along the course.  I will say, the last few miles were pretty with the leaves changing.

 

 This sign was evil.  I saw it several times as I got closer to the finish line.  I kept thinking it meant I was closer, but there were no mile markers.  But, I reminded myself that I didn't have to abide by this sign...

 

 

The last mile involved more walking than I would have liked, but that's the way it works.  But, I kept moving forward and eventually hit the part of the course that allowed the Half Marathoners go the finish line, while the Marathoners kept going.  As I headed up the hill (evil Philly organizers, evil), a random woman yelled out, "Run strong Christina (my name is on my bib)! Hills are our friend!"  Oh hell no lady!  And I told her so.  LOL!  She kept insisting they build character.  I'm character enough thank you.  ;-)

As I came around Eakin's Oval (in front of the Art Museum) a gentleman on the side said I was already finished.  I yelled over no one had put a medal around my neck yet.  He laughed and said I had about 30 seconds to go.  He wasn't too far off.  I rounded the corner and there was the holy grail...I mean finish line.  Finally!

I crossed the finish line and felt relief.  It was a bit chaotic, but I got my water bottle (thank you Wawa though my water had a nice plastic taste to it.) and what I thought was my medal.  Turned out they gave me a Marathon medal. Uh no.  So, I had to go back and try to find my medal.  Turns out I was able to trade it for the half, but there were only three more after mine.  I'm so sorry everyone who finished the half after me!  I hope you get your medal soon!!

I turned back and got my photo in front of the Philadelphia Marathon backdrop, tried to get food but the line was WAY too long and just went to find Maryrose.  It wasn't worth fighting and to be honest, my stomach hurt.  Not as bad as run 12.5, but it wasn't happy.

And that's my tale.  My Garmin time was 3:16:48, my official time was 3:16:43.  LOL!  Not bad Garmie!

I'm not the only one who ran.  Check out hubby's tale at Earn Your Donuts.

The rest of the day?  Maryrose joined B and I at Little Pete's diner for breakfast - pancakes and a corn muffin.  Yum!  

 

 

We headed back to the hotel and took this goofy photo...

Maryrose was tired and headed home shortly after we got back to the hotel.  She was up early, braved the cold for hours, and cheered us on.  She totally deserved her nap!  We showered and took a small nap before heading back to the restaurant behind us in the above photo - the Midtown Continental.  We had our celebratory cheesesteak eggrolls

  My favorite drink, Champaign-O-Rama

And a tasty dessert of macaroons

L-R: Coconut macaroon (with lemon), Pumpkin macaroon (awesome!), chocolate macaroon (good), pistachio macaroon (oh so tasty!)

We headed back to the hotel after dinner.  We were sleepy.  We tried to stay up to watch the Eagles/Giants game, but running a big race in the morning?  Makes ya sleepy.  We ended up sleeping most of the game, but the Eagles won out, which is what matters.  :-)

Tomorrow: Reflections on the Philadelphia Half Marathon

Philadelphia Half Marathon - Part 1

Hello!  I'm back!  After spending the last couple of days in the City of Brotherly Love for the Philadelphia Half Marathon, I am back to share it with you!  This is the first of several posts - Pre-race, Race Day, and Lessons Learned.  So, bare with me as I break this race down in multiple posts.  Here we go!

Saturday morning we got up and dropped Higgy and Pooka off at the kennel.  With their medical issues they cannot just stay home by themselves.

We headed home and grabbed our bags to head to Philly.  We made good time and parked in the garage.  From the garage we headed right to the Expo at the Convention Center.

Once inside, we checked in to get our bibs and goodies.  Then we took our photos next to the race course.  We started this in Florida and decided to do it again.  :-)  I also took a photo of where the corrals would be the next morning.  It was helpful to know how far back I really was!

See the blue?  That was me.  Aaaaaaaalllllllll the way in the back.

Then it was off to buy stuff.  LOL!  I really didn't have high hopes because I knew there wasn't much that was labeled "half marathon."  I got one item (other than the shirt that came with my registration).

It was pricey, but it was the only thing I got so I justified it that way.

After we finished picking out our goodies, we  met up with some lovely blogger ladies who were also racing the next day.  It was so fun to meet other runners and hear all about their running adventures both at other races and what their goals were for the race.

We chatted for a while, then everyone headed off for their last minute prep for the race.  We headed off to the Expo to see what was being offered.  I picked up one other item from the Expo, this one prepping for the Yeungling Shamrock Half Marathon in March.

I bought two of these Sweaty Bands in Green Metallic to match the St. Patrick's Day theme.  I would have purchased one, but they were thinner than I wanted, so I figured two would work.  And to the lovely lady at the booth Saturday afternoon who was running the Philly Half, I hope you had a great race!

We also picked up Yeungling Shamrock Race plastic cups.  :-)  We had a lovely time chatting with the lady at the booth.  She is also running the Shamrock Half that weekend.  It was so nice to chat with others who are running the half, whether it is Philly or Shamrock.

We didn't stay too long at the Expo, then headed to Reading Terminal Market next door for the best cookies at Famous 4th Street Cookie Company.  They are amazing and don't take my word for it

Seriously.  If you can't trust Cookie Monster, who can you trust?  I got my one cookie, which is what I get when we come to the Philadelphia Marathon weekend.  I get a peanut butter cookie.  Yum!

Once cookies were eaten, we headed back to the car to grab our stuff and check into the hotel.  We stayed at the Crown Plaza at 19th and Market.  We've stayed there before and it's a good location both for the race and within the city.  We "unpacked" and got our clothes all set for the next morning.

Then it was carb loading dinner.  Yum!  We headed to

We totally forgot to take food pictures, so you'll just have to make due with descriptions of our meal.  LOL!  We started off with

BRUSCHETTA
Assortment of grilled Italian Breads:
Tomato, Basil and Herbed Goat Cheese   /   Grilled Portabella Mushroom and Aged Provolone
Caponata  /  Pepperonata and Gorgonzola Cheese

Our meals were tasty.  Hubby ordered gnocchi with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese.  This actually isn't on the menu, but we asked and they were nice enough to put it together for us.

I ordered the 

Agnolotti Melanzane  pasta filled with roasted baby eggplant, caramelized onions, toasted pine nuts and mascarpone cheese in a shrimp and tomato basil sauce

Mine was also yummy, though for some reason I swore it was linguine noodles.  It was good and that's all that matters!

After dinner, we made a quick stop at the CVS as I forgot a brush.  Oops!  We grabbed candy bars for dessert and went back to the hotel.  We laid low, watched a little t.v. and hit the sack about 10:00 p.m.

Next up: Race Day!

Can't blog...

...running.

Race Expo

One of the fun things about running longer races (and sometimes smaller ones) is the Race Expo.  In case you don't know what that is, when you go pick up your bib and race packet the organizers of the race invite running/health related businesses to set up a booth to tempt excited racers into buying stuff.  It generally works, unless you are very well disciplined.  LOL!

When I ran the Disney Princess Half Marathon the Expo was held at ESPN's Wide World of Sports.  I really enjoyed the Expo because not only did I buy WAY more crap than I needed, but it was an Expo completely geared towards women.  I suppose that's what happens when you have only about 700 men running and about 13,000 women.  ;-)

Then we hit up the Yuengling Shamrock Marathon Expo for hubby just a few weeks later in Virginia Beach.  They had a great Expo as well!  I was restrained and tried not to pick up anything there. I mean, I went a tad bit crazy in Disney, I sure didn't need to go crazy at a race that wasn't even one I was running in!

Today, hubby and I are hitting up the Philadelphia Marathon and Half Marathon Expo to pick up our bibs, shirts, and good bags.  Then we'll wander through the Expo seeing if there's anything we need (haha!) or want (more likely). 

Then tomorrow, it's go time!  Shortly before 7:00 a.m. the theme music to Rocky will start, the elites will head out and probably about 35-40 minutes after the official start I'll head off.  After 3.5 months of training, I'll be running the streets of Philadelphia in my second half marathon.  Wish me luck!

Check out the course

So, for months I've talked about training for the Philadelphia Half Marathon.  Want to see where I'll be running?  Check out the course.  I'm thrilled that there will be water stops about every 2 miles.  This allows me to skip wearing my water bottle, which I think come miles 10, 11, 12, and 13 hurts my back.  Check it out!

Last long run

Yup.  Today I had my last long run before the Philly Half NEXT SUNDAY!!!! Crazy!  It seems like yesterday I started training (end of July really). 

Today's taper run had me going 5 miles. I really wasn't feeling a run this morning, but as I knew I should I went.  And it turned out to be a great one!  Half mile had me at 6:12, which is really good for me.  I then set a goal of hitting a mile in the 12 minute range.  When Garmie went off, I was at 12:48.  Woohoo!  Next goal was 1.5 miles under 20 minutes.  19:38.  Nailed it!  So of course I set the next goal of being in the 26 minute range for 2 miles.  That's been my good time for 2 miles.  26:39 - hells yea!  I reached 2.5 miles around 33 minutes and had high hopes of hitting 3 miles under 40 minutes, but that half mile was all uphill and I didn't make it (41:08 :-( ).  I was slowing down.  Bah!  But, I kept at it and reached 4 miles in about 56 minutes, which while not my fastest, it wasn't too far off.  Then I started thinking I could hit 5 miles under 1:10:00.  Sadly, when I reached 4.5 miles, I realized if I did the math, I would come in at 1:11:something.  This made me sad, but I kept going.  When Garmie went off at 5 miles and I looked down imagine my surprise at

1:09:49

Woohoo!  I was almost jumping up and down on the sidewalk!  Wouldn't that have been funny?  Especially since I was on the busy road near the high school.  And oddly enough, there were TONS of cars on the road today.  Weird.

Overall a great final long run before Philly.  Afterwards, we hit Dunkin Donuts (as is our tradition).  After last week's awful stomach issues, I started out with a egg, cheese, and turkey flatbread, a gingerbread iced coffee and then an apple cinnamon donut.  I am happy to report that my stomach is fine.  Phew!  My friend (who is all-knowledgable about running) analyzed what I ate last week and said I had too much sugar.  So, I tried hard to cut back on the amount of sugar around today's run - no dessert last night, no pre-race meal, and only one 3-piece serving of Sports Beans before the 5 miles.  I had protein with the eggs, cheese, and turkey sausage before having the donut and I'm happy with the results.  I am going to concentrate on more protein in the mornings this week overall.  

One week tomorrow is the Philly Half Marathon.  Eeeeee!!!!!

29981

It's officially official.  I am all signed up and set to run the Philadelphia Half Marathon in 10 days.  Last night I received that number up there.  My bib number.  I also received my corral location - blue.  For those who are unfamiliar with the corral system for Philly, blue is the total back of the pack.  I will be in the last wave that crosses the starting line come Sunday, November 20th.  Whatevs.  The fact that I will be starting is more important than where I'll be starting.

Training is going well lately.  I'm feeling pretty good right now.  I have been following my training plan for the month pretty well.  I have a 30 minute run tomorrow, then my last "long" run on Saturday of 5 miles.  Two 30 minute runs next week and boom! Half marathon.  Eee!  It all comes down to this.  I'm feeling good.  I'm feeling like I will cross that finish line in one piece. 

Decisions...decisions...

Two weeks from today is the Philadelphia Half Marathon.  13.1 miles of sightseeing the city of Philadelphia.  Gives all new meaning to seeing the city on foot.  ;-)

Yesterday's run started out at 27*, which I have a feeling might be similar to conditions come race day based on the last two years (hubby ran the half in 2009 and 2010).  I wore the new running pants and shirt I purchased at Target to try it out (a cardinal rule of running is never wear anything you haven't worn in a training run during a race).  The clothes themselves worked out fine.  I wore a fleece jacket during my run because basically it had zippers on the pockets, which helped me carry all sorts of junk during my run.  LOL!  And I realized it was just the right amount of clothing for the run.

But, here's the thing.  I don't want to wear a fleece jacket.  While I liked the extra pockets, I am hesitant to wear it...plus it's green and my pants and shirt are blue.  Yes, I'm that superficial.  LOL!  So, I've been debating these two options:

Arm sleeves

Cold weather shirt

Now, I have a cold weather shirt like above.  My thoughts are to wear it under the short sleeve blue shirt I'm wearing.  I like the idea of the arm sleeves though because if I do get warm as I run I can take them off.  Of course, the shirt means there's no chance I could lose it if I get hot.  Though I have little chance of pulling the sleeves up because it's a tight fit on the arms.

Of course, I could just suck it up and wear the fleece jacket even though it doesn't match.  It has the fabulous extra pockets and I can roll the sleeves up if I get warm.  

What to do...what to do...

Last Long Run

Well, training for the Philadelphia Half Marathon is winding down.  Today was my last long run before the race.  Two weeks from Sunday I'll be at the starting line ready to rock. 

Today's long run was 12.5 miles.  And there were good things, there were bad things, and there were pictures.  I was going to get up early and head down to the Rail Trail so I didn't keep hubby waiting after his long run.  But, I didn't.  I'm not a morning person.  When I did get up, I realized I didn't download the music I planned on for the Nano.  I'm so tired of what's on there right now and wanted to add The Janedeer Girls and Lady Antebellum to the Nano, but didn't.  So, I decided to try this morning.  Good thing #1: bought, downloaded, and got both on Nano before leaving house.  Yea!

Good thing #2: Before heading out, I checked Weather.com and it said the temperature was 27*.  Not bad.  I prefer cold weather for running.  But, cold weather, which I am only just know remembering means Bad thing #1: my car has frost on the windows.

Ugh.  So, I clean off the windows and get going...Bad thing #2: until the tire light on my car turns on.  I didn't know that's what the symbol meant until I found it in my manual.  It basically said not to drive it fast or take curves sharply.  I had two choices: skip the run or change location.  I decided to change location and Good thing #3: headed to my normal short run neighborhood.  Which had me worried because how in the world was I going to get 12.5 miles in there???

I parked the car, stretched a bit, and got started.

Don't let this slight downhill fool you.  This course was anything but downhill.  I chose this direction to put the development I normally run in at the end.  I decided to run up the street, make a left, and head into the next town over Mt. Wolf.  The issue is that Mt. Wolf is very hilly.  Very hilly.

This is the main street into Mt. Wolf.  I ran up this street and then up and down every street with a street sign.  I started on the right side of the street, then switched to the left side to lessen the times I had to run across this main street.  Before heading out of Mt. Wolf, I got just over 7 miles.  Good thing #4: I was feeling good.  I was actually surprised at how well I was feeling.  I was overconfident.

Why?  Because I chose to do this

What you can't see from this photo is that around that curve it continues upwards.  Bad thing #3: It's an awful, awful hill that I should never have attempted.  I should have turned around and gone back the way I had come.  But no.  Overconfident in the 7 miles through Mt. Wolf made me think I could do this hill.  Nope.  Bad thing #4: It took me 16 minutes to go a 1/2 mile.  Yes, 16 minutes.  That's how hard this hill is. 

Sadly, Bad thing #5: it was the end of the good run.  I struggled from this hill onto mile 12.5.  But, I kept going.  Two of my friends were scheduled to run the inaugural Savannah Rock 'n' Roll Marathon this weekend.  Sadly, they are both injured and are unable to do so.  I dedicated today's run to them and there was NO WAY I wouldn't complete this run.  Even if I had to crawl to 12.5 I was going to get there!

Good thing #5: And I did.  Slowly.  Tiredly.  But I got there.

Not the time I anticipated.  Stupid hills.  But, I did get the miles in.  And now, I have a four night runs and one 5 mile run to go before the Philadelphia Half Marathon.  It's almost here.

The really negative part of my run happened afterwards.  I came home and Very bad thing #6: have been sick all day.  My stomach has felt sick for hours.  I have never had this happen before.  And I heartly hope it never happens again.  I've read a few things that could have caused it and I'm going to work on those for the coming week.  Instead of celebrating my 12.5 mile run and hubby's 20 mile run, I laid on the couch feeling sorry for myself and in pain.  Hopefully the half marathon doesn't end this way...

Finally!

I finally got 2 weekday runs in this week.  It has been ages since I've done that.  It's kinda embarrassing.  But, I've made a commitment to run all my runs til the Philly Half Marathon on November 20th.

It wasn't a good run by any stretch of the imagination.  I realized shortly into it I had to go to the bathroom. Oops.  It was not pleasant to be honest.  Note to self: remember to go to the bathroom before going for a run of any distance.

Then, as I was almost done, a little girl started yelling behind me.  I normally ignore people yelling around me, but all of a sudden a small dog went tearing past me.  Apparently, she wanted me to stop her dog.  Oops again.  So, I took off trying to catch up with this little dog.  I was no where close to catching him!  But, I did my best to help her corral him and eventually she got him.  He got distracted by other dogs behind a fence and she was able to grab him.  All this chasing after the little dog sure didn't help my running, but it did help the little girl, so I suppose it wasn't all bad.

What we're taking away from this is I got 2 runs in this week.  Huge step for me.  It's been too long.  Next up: 12.5 mile run Saturday, my last long training run until the Philadelphia Half Marathon.  Eep!

20 Days

It is November.  For anyone who has been following along, that means there are 20 days left until the Philadelphia Half Marathon (sure there's a full marathon the same day, but I'm not running it.  So, it will be forever be known as the Philadelphia Half Marathon.  Except for when talking to the owner of Earn Your Donuts who is actually running the full marathon.).  It is hard to believe how quickly it came up!  But in 20 short days I will be starting, running, and crossing the finish line on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.  Eeeee!!!

So, I have decided I gotta get my act together.  I gotta make the next 20 days count.  No more messing around.  See that photo above?  That's my exercise routine leading up to the half marathon.  I need to make sure my body can handle the rigors of running 13.1 miles all at the same time.  So, there's lots of stuff on there - running, walking, stationary bike, core workouts, weights, and a walking DVD.  I want to make sure I'm physically as ready as I can be by November 20th.

I'm also working on eating healthier.  I've been eating pretty well lately, but I'm upping my game.  I am concentrating on making more meals during the week.  We tend to rely on Ellios pizza, frozen waffles and the like.  My goal is to make more "real" meals on weekdays.  More vegetables, more fruit, more protein.  All very important.  This week's meals are all laid out:

Monday - chili and cheesy corn bread
Tuesday - turkey wraps
Wednesday - eggs, bacon, and toast
Thursday - pasta and tomatoes
Friday - pizza

Any thoughts on these last few weeks?  Suggestions?  Things I should be doing/not doing?

A little off kilter

So, my normal long runs usually happen on Saturday.  When I started running a few years ago, the only day of the week I ran was Saturday, then when I started adding mileage, it would be Saturday morning.  And I've just continued that.  I'm sure I'm not alone in having my long runs on Saturday mornings.  I'm sure there are lots of people (maybe even the majority) who do this.  I do know it's strange for me to do a long run on either Friday or Sunday.  I've done them occasionally on a Sunday and it just feels...weird.  And not running Saturday morning, when running on Sunday, is weird too.

But, this week I switched up my long run from Saturday to Friday.  Why?

I'm in the Harrisburg area, which is currently receiving 6"-10" of snow.  Yup.  I can attest to this.  There's a lot of snow happening out there.  It's really quite odd.  Snow in October?  Really?  I just checked and there's not average snowfall for October in the Harrisburg area.  Surprise, surprise.  LOL!

So, this is why I switched my run from Saturday to Friday.  I changed the mileage because I'm a wuss and was afraid of running on the Rail Trail on a weekday.  It's awful out in the middle of nowhere and without other runners/bikers out there with me, I really was nervous about being attacked.  Let's just say I was be cautious.  Yea, cautious.

Stay tuned.  I'll probably add some snow photos later in the day.  What's a post about an epic October snow storm without photos?

** Who knew the graphic above would change?  LOL!  When I posted this initially, it showed the Harrisburg area due for 6"-10" of snow.  I swear!**

Tuesday Run

Finally!  I got a Tuesday run in.  It's been ages since I've gone out on a Tuesday for my 30 minute run.  Jeff Galloway would be proud.  LOL! 

It was an o.k. run.  I went to the local high school where there are sidewalks and a housing development.  I pushed myself, but I didn't speed up at every other mailbox.  I just ran and tried to push myself.  I took my walk breaks like usual, at every half mile.  I had a good first half mile at 6:06 and I was thrilled when I was under 13 minutes at the mile.  Then I was under 20 minutes at 1.5 miles.  Very happy with this.  At two miles I was at 26:48, not too shabby.  But, I must have dropped off because I ended up with a 30 minute run of 2.24 miles.  I was hoping I was going to be in the 2.30s. 

I shouldn't be too upset.  This is really only my second run since my lovely upper respiratory infection.  I did pretty well overall,  no coughing during the run, I was able to push myself throughout.  I think my goal of hitting 2.5 miles in 30 minutes before the Philly Half Marathon on November 20th may not be happening.  I'm slightly disappointed, but it's o.k.  I hadn't anticipated getting sick.  It's possible I could still hit 2.5 miles in 30 minutes before the race, but if I don't, I'm o.k. with it.  I can always try after Philly.  Life happens.  And I'm not going to get disappointed about this.  What's important is being prepared for Philly.  And I'm feeling better and better about it.

November 20th

One month from today, I'll be running the Philadelphia Half Marathon.  I'm a bit nervous after my lovely upper respiratory infection.  Not sure how the lungs will take to it, especially since the weather has turned colder.  But, I'm still going to go for it.  I have a month.  I have one more long run.  I have several shorter "long" runs.  And lots of 30 minute weekday runs between now and then.  I'll complete the half marathon.  It may not be in the time I had been hoping for, but I hadn't anticipated being sick for over 12 days either.  Roll with the punches.  After all, as the Philly Marathon is saying, it's the "best time of your life!"

And we revise

So, this whole upper respiratory infection put a damper on my training.  I did neither of my 30 minute runs last week, nor did I do my 4 mile run on Saturday.  There was just no way I could do them.  I couldn't breathe.  I couldn't stop coughing (I was on two different cough meds too!). I had a headache for most of the week.  So, I didn't.  I rested.  I took my over-the-counter and prescription medications. I healed.

Where does this leave me?  Good question.  My original training program from here on out looked like this:

October 22: 12.5 miles
October 29: 4 miles
November 5: 14 miles
November 12: 5 miles

Ummmm....I don't see this happening.  I see something more along the lines of this happening:

October 22: 4 miles
October 29: 12.5 miles
November 5:
November 12:

It's those last two weeks I'm not sure what to do.  Maybe 6-7 on the 5th and 5 miles on the 12th?  I believe that 14 mile run is getting dropped.  It's ok.  I've already run an 11 mile training run and have the 12.5 mile one scheduled.  For my first half, I only ran one double digit training run and I crossed the finish line.  While ideally, I would have gotten that 14 mile run in, life happens.  I didn't want that upper respiratory infection, but you handle what gets thrown your way.  This is how I'm dealing.  Hopefully, it will be enough.

Bah!

Thursday is going to be my trouble day.  I can feel it.

Woke up this morning and it was dark.  Not middle of the night dark, but darker than 6:00 a.m. should be.  I (sadly) was hoping for rain, so I could put off my run.  Didn't want to get up.  When I heard the door shut, I knew it wasn't raining or else hubby wouldn't have left.  Darn.

Got up, changed, and headed out.  I ran.  Not as fast as Tuesday, but as fast as last Tuesday.  2.09 miles in 30 minutes.  Not great, but better than last Thursday...when I felt the same way about getting up.

Guess I'm getting into the habit of getting up in the morning to run.  Guess it doesn't hurt that I have a MeetUp in Lancaster at 7:00 p.m. tonight and can't run after work...

Amazing!

Got up for week 2 of half marathon training this morning.  I'm not a morning person, so this is quite the accomplishment, let alone going for a run afterwards.  LOL! 

Hit the neighborhood where I run and headed out.  I felt like I was pushing it.  I wanted to push it.  I had a great 30 minute run (as part of my 3 mile run) on Saturday and I wanted to see if I could improve. 

1/2 mile: 6:38
1 mile: 13:08
1.5 miles: 19:27
2 miles: 26:33

30 minutes: 2.27 miles

Holy crap!  I am no speed demon.  I'm not going to qualify for Boston, run in the Olympic games, give Usain Bolt a run for his money, but that ladies and gentleman might very well be the best 2 mile and 30 minute run of my life!  And I am only on week two of half marathon training!  I had a goal of 2.5 miles in 30 minutes.  I think I might just hit that!