Turtles Can Run

I started the Spring racing season fat and sassy, which also happened last year.  This always makes me nervous because I know the more I weigh the slower I am.  That coupled with the fact that I had done no speedwork leading into this race promised me that I would not be coming anywhere close to a PR, so I made my goal to run the ASH dash faster than I did it last year.

The big difference this year would be that I would be running it side by side with my husband.  He said that if I ran it slower than last year,  I could blame it on him .

Our whole family loves this race because of the Easter bunny is there, it has an egg hunt that doesn’t exclude older kids,  the course is flat, it has  awesome bunny trophies and it helps the Austin State hospital patients which is a great cause.

Now for the race.  Race day weather wasn’t bad mid 60 and overcast.  My strategy for this one was little different.  Andrew does better with even or progressive pacing so my goal was to run it as evenly as possible..with a pace around of around 7:23 (just fast enough to beat last year).  First mile went by quickly and we pace it perfectly 7:23, second mile we both started feeling it but we actually ran it a little faster 7:17, I was dying during the last mile (which is how I always feel at the end of a 5K) but we managed a 7:23 and we picked it up at the end and sprinted to the finish at a 6:48 pace.  Our finish time was 23:22, 9 seconds faster than last year and much more fun because I got to share the race with experience with my husband.

Our time was fast enough for me to earn a 2nd in AG award and Andrew a 3rd in AG award.  Two bunnies!!  Yay!!

The  kids haven’t been running much lately,  so  they took it pretty easy and just enjoyed the race and the post race egg hunt.  I think the fact that they want to run 5Ks and look forward to them is awesome, can’t and won’t ask for more than that from them.  I am hoping these races build a life long love of running and the running community for them.

Filed under: Races | Comments Off

It has been quite some time since I have blogged but there has been plenty of running and racing going on in my life.  After the disappointment in San Antonio I needed a break to recover both mentally and physically.  I took about a week off from running and then I started running again but still had nagging pains here and there.  After trying to run through them for a few weeks I took some more time off and when I started running again I decided to stay off the grid (no daily mile, no blogging and sometimes no watch)  for a while, so that I didn’t feel any pressure to go fast or far.  I was slow and fat but running felt good and I was enjoying myself again.

This Spring Andrew and I started running together more often which has been nice.  When 5K season rolled around we decided to race and pace together  for our races, since all of my faster run have been with him.  We just finished our fifth and final 5k of the Spring season, it has been lots of fun and I will be following up this blog with a short description of  each our racing adventures.

Now for the big news.  I am signing up for the Missoula Marathon.  I am hoping to blast through a short training cycle and  get through it without injuring myself.  My number one goal for this one will be to finish, second goal will be a PR, and a far fetched goal will be to BQ.

I have shed most of my winter pounds and hope to race this one a little lighter than last time I ran it to hopefully cut a few minutes off my time.  But we will see, my body tends to hold on to a little more weight during marathon training and the hot and sweaty summertime.

It’s good to be back running, racing and enjoying it!!

Filed under: Running Blog | Comments Off

A while back I noticed a few of my runner blogging buddies got to test out the Sony Walkman MP3 players.  I was not one of these people but after reading their reviews I was intrigued.  Mostly because there were no wires, I thought that would be awesome because I am always trying to figure out where to put my wires.

Since I already had an Ipod nano though my husband bought me bluetooth earphones instead.  I used these for months and I loved that I had no wires to deal with but did need to make sure I wore something with pockets all summer to stash my nano  in (which was in a plastic baggy because Ipods are finicky when they get wet from sweat).   The real big problem I had was that the battery died around the 2.5 hour mark.  Which meant it didn’t died out during my super long runs and wouldn’t last me through a marathon if I wanted to listen to music.

A few days after telling my husband about this battery problem, he came home with a Sony Walkman for me.  I was impressed with it from the beginning.  It was smaller than my bluetooth headset and moved less.  No jiggling at all, which was sometimes an issue with my headset if I didn’t wear my hair in a certain way.   Putting music on was super easy, I just transferred my running playlist from Itunes.   I tested the battery life out on a couple of 21 milers and it lasted the whole time and even longer, I left it on for 5 hours just to test it out.  I sweat a lot so it being water resistant (unlike Ipods)  is a big plus for me.  The controls are really easy to use on the run as well (you just need to remember what  button does what).  Almost forgot to mention one of the best things about it: the price.  The Sony Walkman actually cost less than the bluetooth headset my husband originally bought me.    All and all it is a great product for those who like to listen to music on their run.

Filed under: My Gear | Comments Off

I started base building mileage for the San Antonio marathon mid June.  Through the summer I ran many slow miles on soft surfaces and had not issues.  No signs of injury.  I was happy and had a positive outlook on the upcoming race.   A couple of months ago I decided  it was time to step things up.  I figured if I didn’t do some speed work and more road miles I risked a slow, painful marathon.

Turns out that was not a good idea.  Almost immediately I started having hamstring/ knee issues on any run longer than 6 miles (which is most runs during peak marathon).  My pace improved like I wanted it to but the pain  got worse.  I convinced myself that if I could just push until a little longer the reduced mileage during taper would take care of the hamstring/knee issues.  I was wrong.  For some reason the taper actually made my  issues worse.

Lessons I’ve learned.  (1)If I want to run a slow Ultra on a trail I can do it, my body can take long, slow and soft. (2) Six months of high mileage is too long, I should not have trained so long for a marathon.  Something is bound to go wrong with a training cycle that is that long (3) Don’t mix speed, hard surfaces and super high mileage.  Even though I need to run some miles on the road, I should still do most of my miles on the gravel.  Because that is what my body likes.

I am bummed that I am not running a marathon this season.  This season’s marathon was about either BQing or PRing not just finishing.  In my current physical state I know I can’t do either, so I will just be running what I can, what feels good, until I am healed and can start thinking about  racing 26.2 again.  And try my best to not make the same mistakes again.

Filed under: Running Blog | Comments Off

Today my family and I ran the Thankful Turkey 5K in San Marcos.  We did this race last year and it was so much fun.  I was really looking forward to a small, low key race after last week’s disappointment in San Antonio.

My main goal for the race was have a good time with my family…but I also hoped to improve my time over last year and win a turkey.  Early in the race I latched on  to a fellow runner and we just paced each other, each of us taking turns at leading, silently motivating each other to run a good race.   He was able to out sprint me to the finish but I was thankful to have someone to help me push the pace.  I finished the race in 23:07 (20 seconds faster than last year)  but the race course is a little long and has a lot of turns so that time is a little deceptive.  According to my Garmin I ran 3.23 miles which is much longer than I usually run for a 5K, so my pace today was faster than my pace for the BooRun, which I am happy about.

After I was done I went back to finish the race with my daughter who was running on her own because  my husband was pacing my son who ran another 28:XX 5K which is an awesome time for him.  My daughter was struggling a bit today (allergies and she had to stop to tie her shoe) so I kept kept back tracking on the race course till I found her.  I helped her finish strong and happy.

This race is not chiptimed…they do all the timing old school so it takes a while to get the results, so I wasn’t sure if I won my AG.  They distracted us by giving out the door prizes which they asked my son to draw and announce the numbers for (which he loved doing).

We made out pretty well from the raffle.

My daughter won a turkey gravy boat.

My husband won a pie.

And my son won a bag on candied pecans with a cookie cutter.

Then came the AG awards.

I won first in my AG, so I won a turkey.

And we were all surprised to hear my husband won 3rd in his AG since he was just pacing my son.  He won a Ham.

I love doing this race and hope to be able to run it for many years to come with my wonderful family.

Filed under: Races | Comments Off

My San Antonio Marathon experience can be summed up with the old adage, “Anything that can possibly go wrong, does.”  The first thing that almost made me just call the whole thing off was my conveniently located hotel lost my reservation.  This caused a lot of drama and anxiety as I tried to book something downtown but everything was booked.  Magically a few days later a few rooms opened up but they were much more expensive and did not offer late checkout, which meant the only way I would be able to get back in time to shower was if I met my time goal and then ran to the hotel after running a marathon.  Hubby thought I could do it so he didn’t checkout in the morning, so I had a lot of pressure to finish fast.

Second thing to go wrong was the weather.  As the week went on it looked worse and on race morning the conditions were almost identical to 2009.  Accuweather said 100% humidity and temps rapidly rising from 60 to 80 as the morning went on.  This is the worse kind of weather for me.  The humidity makes my heart rate sky rocket making race pace feel really hard.

Third and the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back that made me turn around at mile 13.1 was a nagging knee/hamstring injury that I have been running through and nursing for months that I thought would heal with the reduced mileage of the taper but didn’t and starting nagging at mile 5 and hurting at mile 6 and never ceased.

I never thought I would not finish the race I intended to run, but I had to be honest with myself and I knew  I had already pushed the pace for a PR the first half of the race and if I didn’t stop I would do some serious damage to my knee and finish limping to the finish hours after my family had planned to meet me.  So at mile 13.1 I turned around and walked/jogged back to mile 11 of the half marathon course and finished off the race with the half marathoners.  I ran my longest (17.39 miles) and slowest (2 hours and 38 minutes) half marathon ever.

I cried and struggled with the decision in the days following the race but after hearing about the man who died at the finish line I came to peace with my decision.  It was the best choice for me and my family.  There are many marathons but I only have one body and I need to be responsible and take care of it so I can keep running for the rest of my life.

Filed under: Races | Comments Off

My family and I ran the EGA Boo Run again this year.   This is a fun event for a good cause. The  run benefits the Exceptional Georgetown Alliance. Proceeds help fund therapeutic camps for school-age children with cognitive and developmental disabilities.

We got there just in time for the kids to participate in the costume contest and for me to get a mile warm up in.

Timmy wore his Mario costume again since Hannah was Princess Peach.

Last year I ran this race with Hannah  but decided I would run it on my own and use it as a fast tempo run and see if I could at least win an Age Group award.  At the half mile point one of the volunteers told me I was the first female, my thought at that point was we’ll see how long that lasts.  After the turnaround I realized that the next woman  was at  least 30 seconds behind so I made it my goal to keep the same pace and not let anyone pass me.  Everyone kept telling me I was the first female and cheering me on along the way.  This was very exciting and kept me smiling the whole race.  No one passed me during the rest of the race and I even  managed to reel in a teenage boy towards the end.  I finished in 22:57, first female and 8th overall out of 118. This was not my fastest 5K but definitely the best 5K experience for me .  When I started running I never thought that I would be able to beat out all the other women in a race not even a small one.

For coming in first I won a cool medal, a $25 RunTex  gift certificate, a $15 Paesano’s gift certificate and a free car wash.  I was so excited.

The kids did great as well.  Tim ran on his own and ran a 28:59.  This is a great time for him especially since his plan was to take it easy and just have fun.  Andrew kept my daughter (who ran in a super long dress) company during the race and they just took it easy and ran a 32:14.

Lots of family fun!

Filed under: Races | Comments Off

I am getting to that point in marathon training where I am a little tired of running.  It takes a lot of running to get me to that point.  Last week I ran 72 miles, the most miles I have ever done in one week and my second week over 70 in this training cycle.  Tomorrow I run another 20  miler the sixth 20 miler I have done while training for San Antonio and thankfully the last one.

I used to like 20 milers.  The long miles gave me time to be alone, time to think, time to explore new places and push myself to my limits.  But now I dread them ,  they feel long and tedious, I fear the pain and fatigue of the last few miles.  I am so glad this is my last 20 miler before taper, I don’t think I body could take another one.   I  am curious to see if six twenty milers are better than the two or three  I did for my other marathons.  I guess we will see on November 13.

Filed under: Running Blog | Comments Off

I am finally getting around to writing up a race report on the Zilker Relays.  One of my running buddies that I met on Daily Mile asked me to be part of her and her husband’s relay team.  It sounded like a lot of fun so of course I said “yes”.   She knew  I was marathon training and putting in a lot of miles so I don’t her expectations of me where very high. hahaha

Sarah and Mike decided on Tortoises and Hares for our team names after seeing this blog.  I thought this was awesome of course, even if the implication was that I was going to be one of the tortoises and therefore slow.  I figured I would just have to prove that turtles can run

Onto the race.  The Zilker Relays is a 4-Person Relay Race. All Relay legs start & finish at same location near the Mopac footbridge on Stratford Road. Distance is 2.48 miles per leg.  Which made this race 2 firsts for me : relay race and racing a distance shorter than a 5K.

Race day came and it was a hot one.  When we got to the race start area it was still 103F!!  Of course it cooled down a little by the time we raced.. it was probably only 99F..haha  Our strategy was to have the fastest runners (the guys) run the first and last legs and we tortoises (haha) would run in the middle.  As I was waiting for James (the other member of our team) to come in I was quite nervous..  he blazed through the course in 14:01.   I managed to grab the bracelet without dropping it (yes, I was nervous that I would) and took off.  I was thinking that a 7 minute pace would be a good goal.  But I just couldn’t manage this with the heat.  I guess I should have tried a couple of runs  in the evening heat and speedwork before racing. Instead my pace settled at 7:25.   After only a mile my throat was burning and was super dry.  I was never so happy to see a water stop as I was to see the one that was set up at the halfway point.  Second mile clicked in at a 7:25.  Now I knew I only had a half a mile to go.  I tried to speed up but really knew I would be happy at this point to finish up without slowing down.   As I approached the finish line I was nervous again about not passing off successfully but I saw Sarah and passed off successfully.  I finished the last bit in 3:15 seconds.. which gave me a total time of 18:05 (avg. pace 7:23).  I was a bit disappointed with the time but kinda happy that I at least was able to be consistent with my splits.   Next up was Sarah, she turned out to be a much faster tortoise than me.  She finished her leg in an impressive 17:09.  Mike earned his hare status with a super speedy 14:09.   Our total time was 1:03:25 (avg. pace )6:24.

After the hard stuff (running) was done we got to enjoy the reason we really signed up for the race.  Food, beer, music, and lots of yacking!! Overall a very fun experience and I think it would be fun to do it again next year.

Filed under: Races | Comments Off

Wanted to give a little update on my plantar fasciitis/heel spur issues and my footwear.  Last time I wrote I was wearing Brook Launches and working in the Kinvaras.  As the weeks passed by I gradually increased my mileage in the Kinvaras and decreased my mileage in the Launches.  I found that after a while every time I ran my launches my ankles bothered me and sometimes the old plantar fasciitis pain would rear it’s ugly head, so I went full time in the Kinvaras.  Since switching over my feet, ankles, legs feel great.  I have gotten in more mileage this summer during base training without injury than during any of my marathon training cycles.  The only  problem I have found  is that my calves occasionally get tight but that is easily resolved by rolling them out.  The Kinvaras combined with smart training seems to have finally rid me of my foot pain woes.

I will admit that my collection of Kinvaras is getting a little large.   I have six  pairs in my closet.  Four that  I am currently running in and two new pairs.  Most shoes don’t last me more than two hundred miles so when I got close to that mileage I bought replacements.  However, the three pair that have more than two hundred miles on them still feel great, so I haven’t stopped running in them.  It will be interesting to see how many miles I can safely get on them before retiring them.   The extra two pair I bought on a super good sale (best time to stock up ). So, in short I am totally in love with Kinvaras, I really hope Saucony keeps them they way they are, so that I can continue to run with happy feet!

Filed under: My Gear | Comments Off