Twin Cities Marathon Training - Week 2

Sadly, this is an even shorter post this week.


Running miles: 0.38
Biking miles: 0
AMT machine: 0 minutes
Weights: None

After a really busy weekend, I was exhausted on Monday and it was really hot out so we lounged around in the morning and then went out for my wife's birthday in the evening.  The temp was 93 degrees and The Weather Channel said it felt like 102.  Not fun in northern Minnesota because that means it's also really humid too!

If I had a fancy in-car thermometer, it would have looked like this!

Tuesday was so uneventful that I don't even remember it.  Now, I remember.  I was trying to block out the disappointment that I felt from running.  It was group run night and my knee had been feeling good up until a few hours before the run.  It didn't start "hurting", but was more of a "I'm going to hurt when you will run" feel.  I made it a whopping 0.38 miles before I stopped from the pain.  There was a little downhill followed by an equal uphill right at the beginning that I probably should have walked as everything I've read says going downhill will aggravate my condition.  Note for next time: walk the first part.

Wednesday and Thursday brought 16+ hour days at work so no chance to workout.  In my defense, I had brought workout clothes with had I only worked 12 hours.

Not my hospital.  Just a picture I found on Google.

On Friday, I flipped to nights (a total extra shift to make up for the vacation I took on Monday for wife's birthday) for a 12 hour shift.  In the morning, I met my running group after work and their run and a few of us went for breakfast.  It was good, but not as good as running 8 miles before.  There was some guilt involved. Afterwards, I wanted to do something but my wife didn't get moving fast enough and I got tired so I laid down for what I thought was going to be a 2 hour nap.  I woke up 7 hours later!  Guess someone didn't wake me up!  So then I was awake and ended up awake until 3am.  Since I was awake and we needed groceries, that's where I ended up on a Saturday night.  It's what all the cool kids are doing these days.  Well, I wasn't as cool as the car driving around the Cub Foods parking lot blasting Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'".

And since Saturday was so screwed up, Sunday stayed the same with a late morning wake-up.  We spent a bit of the day cooking and baking as we're starting a real food diet trial.  Only eating food that is food.  It's a crazy concept, but I think that we are going to like it!

Heading to a different chiropractor on Monday morning to see if he can help me to get running sooner!

Twin Cities Marathon Training - Week 1

Unfortunately, this is going to be a very low mileage post. See this post for more details.


Running miles: 0
Biking miles: 6
AMT machine: 25 minutes
Weights: 1 hour

Monday:  No exercise as I was trying to rest my knee after the pain from the day before.

Tuesday:  Still trying to rest it, especially since I had to work Tuesday night and I took vacation for 8 hours on Sunday night to stay off my knee.

Wednesday:  Went to the Y and did mostly upper body weight training for an hour. Tried the treadmill at super slow speed and had pain right away so I stopped.

Thursday:  Back to the Y after working all night again. Did 25 minutes on the AMT machine and then 6 miles on the stationary bike.

Friday:  After working all night, into see the sports medicine doctor in the morning. Slept for a few hours before heading to the cabin for a birthday party for my dad and niece that included swimming and building a rock wall (more fun than it sounds).

Saturday:  After being up until 1:30am getting things ready, I was up at 4:45am to help with an aid station for the Half Voyageur Trail Marathon. That lasted from 6:15am until 1:00pm when the sweepers came through and then we had to pack stuff up and return it to the finish. Napped briefly before finding out there was some of my wife's family in town because of her cousin being in a bad motorcycle accident. We ended up entertaining his 3 kids and our 2 at the waterpark for about 3 hours. 4 kids hanging on you is a workout!

Can I count 5 hours at a waterpark as cross-training?

Sunday:  We ended up back at the waterpark for a few more hours before heading off to lunch. After refueling, we took the kids to one of the local parks to run around for awhile. When they seemed to be losing some steam, we walked around Canal Park and threw some rocks in the water. After getting home about 6-7pm, I crashed for the night. I was exhausted from the switch from nights and running steady for 4 days.

That's how I felt. Nobody carried me!

Between being injured, work, doing a 7 hour aid station for a trail marathon, and having family in town because of a bad motorcycle accident, it's not too bad. But not what is going to get me to my goals, so time to pick it up this week!

Starting out marathon training injured

Last week marked the first week of training for the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon.  It will be a quick 13 week training cycle after a 3+ week break after Grandma's Marathon in June.  Unfortunately, I logged zero running miles.  Not because I didn't want to or didn't have the time to, but because I physically couldn't.  Let me back up a bit.

The weather from Grandma's caused my quads to cramp pretty good for half the race but thankfully stopped about an hour after I finished.  I was able to do a couple short 2 mile slooow runs the next 2 days and a 3.5 miler the following day.  I then took 2 days off before a midnight 5k that was a PR (not sure how that happened as I wasn't even trying to run fast).  After that, I took 9 days completely off from running.  When I started again, it was an easier 4 miler and then a couple more days off before a 6 mile trail run that was tough for a couple reasons.  The first was from the time off.  I could tell I was a little sluggish from the rest but the bigger reason was the heat.  It was over 80 degrees out and when it gets that warm in Duluth, it's miserable.  The next morning my quads were a slight bit sore but nothing I thought anything of.  I then had a couple more days off from running due to the heat and working nights.  I finally made myself go run Sunday morning after work.  It started out uneventful other than the 70+ degrees already at 8am.  Felt good through 3 miles but then my right knee started to hurt.  Nothing alarming at first.  I've had pain before that resolves after 5-10 minutes to loosen up.  This pain kept getting worse and was sharp.  At 3.4 miles I had to stop because it got too bad to ignore.  Figured I could stretch and walk a bit and then finish running home.  Tried this and the pain immediately returned when I started to run again.  More walking and only a few strides into running again and the pain was back.  So it was a 3.4 mile walk home.  When I went into work that night, I wasn't sure if I could even walk up to the ICU because it started to hurt so much.  Luckily, the ibuprofen I took before I left home kicked in at the end of report and I was more comfortable and able to walk.

After little debate (sharp pain isn't stuff to mess with), I made an appointment with a sports medicine doctor to take a look at what was wrong.  I think he had my knee figured out within the first few minutes of me describing my troubles.

Have to have some medical pictures, don't you?

He then had me get up on the exam table and had me do various movements trying to elicit pain from them.  Of course there really wasn't any from them.  Just running.  But my story of how it hurt still made him think it was patellofemoral pain disorder.  It's when the patella tracking along the groove of the femur can lead to irritation of the cartilage on the underside of the patella. The patella can move up and down, side to side in the groove, as well as tilt and rotate. All this movement means that the patella can have contact with many of the surfaces of the knee depending upon a variety of factors such as muscle strength and balance, overuse, and incorrect tracking.  The orthopedist figures that in my case, it's due to muscle weakness and not to any damage.  I have a few different strengthening exercises to work on and I can run when it feels okay to me.

I tried to run again today and I made it just shy of 4/10ths of a mile, which is 4 times longer than last week when I tried on a treadmill.  There was a little downhill section right at the start of our group run that I should have walked down and it may have helped as that is supposed to aggravate it.  Guess I'll be back in the gym tomorrow cross training.  I've only got 12 weeks until Twin Cities so I can't afford to lose too much fitness.  Luckily, the bike, elliptical, and AMT machine don't cause pain.

At least I can use one of these AMT machines

It's extremely frustrating to not be able to run right now.  Except for my disappointing time from Grandma's, my running has been going really well.  And I had big plans for this training cycle that included more cross training and core work.  Little did I know that it was going to start out with only that.


What has helped you to get through injuries?

Any tips for different cross training activities?

The family vacation.. that I didn't go on

Summer is the time that most families pack up the family vehicle and head out together for fun in the sun.  They come back all tan from being in the sun, relaxed from floating in the lake, full from the cookouts, and content from all the family time.  It's something everyone looks forward to for months ahead of time.  I hope that my family has a great time on that vacation!  Say what???  Yes, my family is going on a family vacation without me.  It's during my first marathon and Father's Day.  And I'm okay with that.  

I had signed up to run Grandma's Marathon back in January.  At that point, our entire summer was in the free and clear of any major plans.  Then sometime in March (I think), my mother-in-law was telling my wife how she was taking the train out to Seattle with my wife's grandma and another relative to visit with family out there and celebrate an anniversary sometime in June.  My wife jokingly said that she would like to go with and it started gaining momentum like a fat kid after cake snowball across a prairie.  After a lot of talk and not much action, they finally decided on dates.  They would leave the week before my marathon and come back a week after it. So my wife and kids will be gone just over 2 weeks.  

I have to admit that at first I was a bit bummed out by it.  I've run a lot of races in the past couple of years and most all of them I haven't had anyone there to watch me, which is just fine.  I tend to focus too much on the race to notice people.  But then I was thinking about it and realized that it kind of was a big deal.  I was running my first marathon.  I wanted them to be there to celebrate finishing such an amazing feat but more so to show them what all of their sacrificing over the past months was for.  And Father's Day is the day after the race so that would make it a little more special.

I'm not saying that it wouldn't be a pretty trip

But then I started to think about and it wasn't as bad as I thought.  Yes, my family was going on vacation without me over my first marathon and Father's Day but there were positives to it also.  Marathons can be stressful and there are lots of little details to remember to make the most of the day (you don't want to blow 19 weeks of training on a brain fart).  With the family gone, I can eat what I want, sleep however much I want, and poop however much I want and not feel guilty that I'm being selfish.  I also have an ambitious time goal (3:45) and there is a possibility of an epic blowup after mile 20 which I don't know that I would want them around to see.  I'll have another marathon in the fall that my wife will get to spectate and should be more fun because I'll know more what to expect out of running that last 10k of the race.  And then there is the biggest reason of all.  Not having to be stuck on a train for 30+ hours with 2 little kids (that are usually well behaved and love trains) and not in a sleeper car.  I would rather drive the 1700 miles than try to entertain the boys for that long with only seats to sleep in.

So my wife and the boys left today for 2+ weeks of vacation and I started my vacation of sorts from them.  I have some projects to do around the house and then there's that marathon thing next weekend.  Two weeks sounds like a long time but I'm sure that it will go by much faster than I think!

Would you miss a family vacation for a big race?

How do you spend your last week of taper?

What helps to keep you sane?

Do you think it helps to put out your race goals publicly before the race?

Fargo Marathon week and a Drunken Noodle

If you would have asked me a year ago if I would have run the Fargo Half Marathon again, I probably would have said something to the effect of "it was a well organized race but probably not".  The probably not was due to the heat, humidity, and pure suffering that went into a disappointing finishing time last year.  Fast forward to earlier this year.  As some of you know, I'm training for Grandma's Marathon coming up on June 16th.  I was looking for a half to run about a month out as an all-out test of speed and endurance and Fargo fit the bill.  I knew of at least four other friends going out there so I jumped on board to run it again.  I thought that it would be perfect timing for weather and could gun for a sub-1:40 and a Wave 1 Twin Cities Marathon qualifying time.  And that's where the perfect plan started to crumble.

Mother's Day weekend took us out to one of the local parks to hike around and bring the kids to the playground.  They got tired after hiking about a mile and running around the playground so I figured I would go back down the trail and get the car and pick my wife and the boys up from the playground.  Although I was not in running clothes, I had some old running shoes on and a pair of shorts so good enough to run a mile downhill. Everything was feeling great until the last 200 yards when I landed funny on my right foot.  Luckily I don't think I seriously injured it, but it has been off and on tender since.  I have a thing with getting hurt on trails just before Fargo.  Last year, I had a pretty good sprain to the left ankle from a trail race 10 days before Fargo.  So time to take it slow and easy for the next few days.

So taking it easy meant not training much the following week.  I managed to get a slow 6.5 miles in on Monday with a fellow runner that was going to run the Green Bay Half.  And Tuesday, Salomon had a shoe demo at the same trails that I got hurt two days prior.  I tried a pair of XR Missions which is a road/trail cross.  It was horrible (products that try to combine 2 different things together rarely are a success).  But I am thankful that they were so awful because it made me go slower and run a little less mileage.  Wednesday and Thursday were unplanned rest days because I was helping my wife get ready for a rummage sale and after being on my feet all day, running is not what I wanted to do.  And that brings us to Friday and the start of our adventures!

As race week and even more so race day gets closer, runners start obsessing over the weather.  Sunny or cloudy.  Raining or dry.  Hot or cool.  Windy or calm.  The changes were often and not in the favor of a fast race.  I traveled with fellow Duluth runner Shane down to Fargo and we left a little after 10:30.  Living by Lake Superior, our climate gets buffered in the summer and we don't see the same heat as other places in the area.  When we left, it was comfortably cool shorts and t-shirt weather.  As we drove further and further west, we saw the temperatures keep rising.  When we pulled into the Fargodome parking lot and got out of the car, we were so glad not to be running the 5k that night.  It was 96 degrees!!  The race day forecast still sounded like it could be warm but we hoped and begged and pleaded for a cool-down.

Not where we checked in

So into the expo we went and got our race numbers, timing chips, and a new Adidas drop bags.  We perused the usual expo offerings briefly.  It wasn't as crowded as last year (maybe because we got there earlier and I wasn't pushing a double stroller through crowds) and there wasn't as many vendors that I was interested in.  The one thing that I really wanted was a new 26.2 oval magnet for the car for after Grandma's.  I couldn't find one to match my other ones so I'll wait for the Grandma's expo.  After the expo, we headed over to the NDSU dorms where they were offering dorm rooms at a cheap 2 night rate.  The only problem we had was that there wasn't air conditioning and it was 96 degrees!  Our third floor room was over 80 degrees all night!  So decided to head off to find a grocery store to get stuff for breakfast and hydration.  After that was taken care of, it was back to the expo for the spaghetti and lefse feed.  The food was good (one of the two pastas wasn't very good) and the lefse was a nice change.  As we were finishing up, Josh Cox, the 50k American record holder, was the speaker for that meal seating.  He had a very inspirational message and seemed to be down to earth and approachable.

After we got done with eating and listening to Josh Cox, it was time to walk back to the dorms and try to sleep.  That was easier said than done with the aforementioned warm weather.  I did manage to sleep but when I woke up, I had a raging headache, no Tylenol, and could barely get breakfast down.  Not what you want race morning.  I know that my headache was probably a combination of the heat and I didn't have any caffeine on Friday.  So as I headed out to the start, I grabbed a couple dollars and figured I would find some along the way.  Thankfully it had cooled down into the upper 60's for the start of the race and actually was down to the 50's by the finish and there wasn't any rain with minimal wind.  A definite win considering Friday's weather.  In the dorms, the Pepsi machine was broken so no Mountain Dew and Coke just didn't sound good at the time (bad decision to skip it).  So I figured I could get something at the Fargodome.  They were selling coffee for $2.25.  No coffee for me since I only had $2.  Off to find the pop machine.  Crap!  A 20 oz. bottle is $3.  So no caffeine for me.  So I suppose I should actually start talking about this race I promised...

The Fargodome early on race morning

So in the urgency and epic fail to find some caffeine, I didn't get out to the start as soon as I should.  They had some nice fencing along the road so you couldn't just jump into your projected time of runners.  Luckily I made it up from the 2:30 runners to somewhere by the 2:00 pacer.  It was probably a good thing because it forced me to start out a little bit slower than I probably would have on fresh legs.  First mile with all the start of a race slowness was 7:49.  My goal the week prior was to break 1:40 but I had backed off on that goal with the weather and how I felt that morning.  The new goal was to break 1:45 and run as even of splits as I could get myself to run.  The next few miles clicked off and I realized my headache was gone and my pace was pretty steady (7:48, 7:55, 7:55, 8:11 oops!).  I had taken a GU at mile 4 and thankfully it was was okay in my stomach.  The water and Powerade was also not causing any issues.  Mile 6 was back down to 8:03 but then mile 7 was 8:14 and I have no idea what happened there.  From that point through mile 13, I ranged between 7:45 and 8:04.  In the last 0.13 miles (according to Garmin), I dropped down to an 8:59 which I'm very puzzled by.  I know that I had picked up the pace but there was a lot of traffic that wasn't easy to get through at the finish.  And there is the fact that you finish just inside the Fargodome, so maybe there was some satellite issues with that.  Anyhow, I managed to cross in 1:44:54 which is a new PR for me by over 5 minutes and just shy of 19 minutes faster than last year's race!  And top 10.5% of a field of almost 6000!  I guess I passed 861 runners and only got passed by 114.  So either that is pretty badass or I started too far back.  Let's go with badass!

After I got my medal and ate post-run food, I ran into Noah, one of my friends and part of our running group.  He finished just under 2 hours at 1:58:39 and was happy with that.  He's been cheating on running with golfing! So we were chatting about the race when his wife Abby came in at 2:05:32.  She thought it was a 10 minute PR so that's why we weren't expecting her yet.  We finally managed to all meet up and take a quick picture before heading off to eat.  Figured that we might as well since Shane wouldn't be done for about 90 more minutes since he was doing the full and we were all starving!

Noah and Abby running together

Noah cheezing it up for the camera!

Abby running awesome on her own

Me, Abby, and Noah after the finish

We decided to go to Perkins after getting picked up at the perfect time in the parking lot by Abby's mom and her boyfriend Richard.  We met Nicole there (she didn't run this year because of some knee issues she picked up in Duluth while visiting).  The wait wasn't too bad considering there was a major race going on in town.  After everyone sat down, we realized that we were acting like junior high and the boys were on one side and the girls on the other.  We had a great time and filled our bellies with food and more importantly caffeine!  I'm not a Coca-Cola drinker but two glasses were amazing that morning!  Thank you again to Richard and Dorine for buying breakfast that morning!

See... it's junior high seating!

After Perkins, it was back to the dorms where I met up with Shane after finishing his marathon.  He was disappointed with his 3:30 (he needs 3:25 for a BQ) but he wasn't feeling great that morning either.  But he did put the jets on in the last 10k and passed 54 people and didn't get passed by anyone!  He can shoot for his BQ again in less than a month at Grandma's.

Since Shane was still running when we ate, we went to the Fargo Billiards and Gastropub for lunch after cleaning up.  It's a place with a restaurant surrounded by 58 pool tables and various large TV's.  Burgers and beer for the running effort.  I had told Shane before we got to Fargo about Scheels Sports so we headed there after eating to check it out.  It's a monster sports/hunting/clothing store that has various simulators for various sports and NASCAR (it's not really a sport, is it?), a restaurant, and a Ferris Wheel!  A freakin' Ferris Wheel inside!  After a quick look around and a purchase of a new pair of running shoes (not stocked by Duluth Running Co.) we headed back to the dorms to rest for awhile.

Who puts a Ferris Wheel inside?  I guess they do!

We talked about going to the post-race concert out a the West Fargo Fairgrounds but Shane was moving pretty slow at this point, so we decided to skip it.  After resting for awhile (aka updating FB, Twitter, checking race stats, etc.), it seemed like it was time to eat again.  We were looking for non-chain place to go to have something a little different.  After a bit of researching, it was decided to go to the Drunken Noodle.  Now I know there are a hundred different junior high jokes I could enter here (we were just in junior high up at Perkins, so it is possible) but I'll just use one.  The Drunken Noodle - What happens after too much beer!  We got their signature dish (wait for it), The Drunken Noodle.  It was rice noodles stir fried with basil, broccoli, tomatoes, onions, garlic, bell pepper, jalapenos, and hot Thai chili.  I was hoping for something a bit hotter but was an okay meal for cheap.  I think I would have enjoyed it more had there not been an attached sushi place just behind where we sat that was whispering my name.

The sushi is still calling my name!

After eating, we were getting tired again so we headed back to the dorms again to get some sleep so we could leave early in the morning for the 5 hour drive back to Duluth.  After a little more status updating and such and a phone call home to my wife and kids, it was lights out.  It was much more pleasant to sleep with the cooler temperatures.  The ride home was uneventful other than some rain along the way.  Oh, and we did stop for a few pics.

A giant Paul Bunyan wanting a low 5 for an awesome race!

So all in all, it was a good weekend for running down in Fargo.  Three of the five runners I knew running Saturday ended up with a PR (me, Abby, and Sam, a runner/blogger from Duluth), one got a BQ (Sam), and everyone had a good time!  After running Fargo for a second time, asked the same initial question, I would have a slightly different answer.  It would be, "It's a well organized race and I would definitely run it again!"

A few more random pictures

How did others races go this weekend?  What are your big upcoming goal races this summer?  How do you change your race expectations when things change that you can't control?

Happy National Grilled Cheese Day!

It was brought to my attention that it is National Grilled Cheese Day today by fellow blogger and friend Lindsey Ann.  As a fellow lover of grilled cheese, I can't believe that I was utterly unaware of this holiday and wondering why banks, post offices, the government, and other paper pushers don't have this day off to celebrate and make grilled cheese.

Doesn't that look absolutely delicious?

Although important in their own right, we have holidays that celebrate dead presidents, trees, and Hallmark.  Grilled cheese makes people feel good every day of the year.  There aren't too many foods that have an overall good feel to a majority of Americans.  Pair a grilled cheese sandwich up with some tomato soup and you have a kick ass meal and you are going to feel so good afterwards.  I would think that the feeling you get after eating a grilled cheese is what it feels like to be Chuck Norris!

What it feels like to eat a grilled cheese

Although our family is trying to eat more healthy, I will make an exception and use white bread because there is just something about it that you can't quite make up for with healthier versions.  Maybe it just seems too fancy when you substitute different bread and use something besides good old cheddar cheese slices.

Sorry to our friends to the south, but it's the truth!

 So, on this April 12th, make sure you make a little extra time and room in your tummy to enjoy a grilled cheese sandwich.  If you don't, that might be bordering on un-American!  If you do, you'll get a thumbs up from Chuck Norris!

Are there fireworks tonight?

Yay for me!

Who gets to toot his horn?

So I am totally not one to toot my own horn, unless it's a real horn because that's fun.  But in this case, I gave myself permission to do so in blogville.  I am by no means a fast runner in the grand scheme of things, but I would like to be some day.  Every week I try to put my best foot forward, literally, to make that become a reality.  I do my runs the best that I can that day, cross-train to improve core strength, rest when needed, and eat well to help fuel the training and recovery.  With all that, I seemed to have been stuck in a rut for a little while now.  That and I got sick a several weeks back and it took a bit out of me for a couple of weeks.  Until this past week.  I'm not really sure what finally clicked last week but I'm not going to question it at this point.  I was starting to feel like my usual self and getting some confidence in my running again.

This guy!
Disclaimer: Not an accurate depiction of that guy

I've been running a fair amount on the treadmill lately and kind of liking it.  Is there something wrong with me?  The big reason why I like it has been my shoes.  I bought a pair of Nike Free 3v3's a few months ago thinking about a slow transition to a more minimal shoe or at least away from my orthotics that I've been in for almost 30 years.  The plan was to run 2-4 miles a week in them without orthotics at a slow pace for some time to build up foot strength before advancing to more miles or a faster pace.  Well, that WAS the plan.  Over the past weeks I've actually built up to being able to run 10 miles in them at my normal running pace.  But the huge thing that has happened is my running form has drastically improved as a result.  And I think that is where my newly found speed has come from.  That and I've doubled my weekly mileage from previous training cycles.


So by this point you've got to be wondering, "Is this how he brags?"  No, not really.  Had to do a little bit of a lead in to make the story make sense.  You back with me now?  So I mostly work the night shift in the ICU (due to my wife being in school and minimizing childcare costs) which is something Nurse on the Run can totally understand.  So I got done with work Friday morning after a crazy 3 nights fueled by way too much caffeine to want to admit to.  I was then able to get a few hours of sleep before needing to be up for some errands and an appointment.  By the time that was all done and we had supper, it was 8pm.  Time to jet off to the YMCA to get a quick 5 miles in.  Not being overly ambitious, I started out with 2 miles at 8:30 pace followed by 2 more at 8:15.  This is about where I've been running most of my miles lately.  But then somehow the treadmill kept creeping faster and faster and mile 5 ended up being 7:20.  I'm not one that checks very often to see how fast I can run a mile so I was a little surprised because that is the fastest recorded mile I've run in recent history.  Which is all good except that 10 hours after my mini-speedwork session, I had a long run to do.


So morning quickly came and I was supposed to lead a group for a run and then finish up my 12 miles afterwards.  We ran a 4 mile out and back on the end of Park Point which is essentially a nice beach run.  It wasn't at any record pace (9:30 overall).  The weather was cold and windy and I didn't feel like staying down on the Point for another 8 miles.  So I drove to meet the group I train with that had a 2 hour head start.  And by head start, I mean they were all finishing within 15 minutes of me running again.  The first mile was good because I got to wave and say hi as people passed but then reality hit with mile 2-4.  I was sucking down water like crazy which isn't normal for me.  And there was a headwind!  Don't ask me what I think of running into the wind.  There is a boat landing at my turnaround point with a bathroom and water.  But it wasn't open yet for the year and I was out of water.  Not so good with 4 miles left.  Thankfully, I was able to get my mind back into a better spot when I started running back.  That and the headwind turned into a tailwind.  You can ask me what I think about those!  And so with a smile on my face, the wind at my back, and a slightly dry mouth, the mile times started to drop.  Those first 4 miles that I struggled through with an average of 8:51/mile then turned into 8:54, 8:34, 8:22, and 8:19.  Negative splits are definitely the way to go and I've been doing a lot more of it lately.  So for a split up 12 miler that wasn't a great overall effort, I was pretty happy to end up with an 8:57 overall pace and with the last 4 being that fast.  And I felt good at the end which always helps.


And then came Easter...  I am all for the holiday but in my family, the day drags on and food is NEVER served on time.  You can always count on it being at least 2 hours after the advertised serving time.  Which isn't good when you're trying to plan a run.  So we ate, hunted for eggs, and had a good time but didn't get home until 8pm.  The Y isn't open that late on Sundays normally and they are closed on Easter.  So it was going to be a road run.  I have a route that the first mile is a gentle uphill followed by a mile + that is a nice downhill that you can let your legs stretch out on nicely and have an artificially fast mile time.  I wasn't overly thrilled to be running so I figured I'd take that route to see if I could get some mojo going.  First mile was an 8:35 and it felt much slower in the cool, misty night air.  Once that second mile started, it all changed.  The legs came alive and it felt really good to be running.  Mile 2 ended up at 7:34.  A good mile but not something I was going to maintain for another 4 miles.  Miles 3 and 4 came and went at 8:05 and 8:06 and still felt relatively easy.  Then there was the turnaround and mile 5 dropped to 7:57.  Starting to wonder what Garmin was thinking.  This isn't normal for me, let alone during a solo run.  As I was running mile 6, I kept telling myself that I didn't need to push the pace but I don't think I slowed ever.  And then the last mile beep showed a 7:24.  7:24!  That's faster than my fastest first mile at 5k pace... and this was mile 6 of a run that I didn't really care to do!  I was on cloud 9 for the rest of the night and a bit the next day.


Today marked my longest run to date - a 16 miler.  Normally I would run this on Saturday but I work this weekend and so I wasn't about to run around there for 12.5 hours and then try and run for 2 1/2 more.  I was fortunate to have one of my running group friends tag along for the first 8 miles and averaged a 9:19 pace.  It was probably good for me to follow her pace and take it slower for the first half.  It seemed way too easy and we were done before it felt like we should.  I filled up the water bottle again and headed off to do another loop.  When I started out again, I really didn't feel like I had run yet for the day.  My pace dropped by about 40 seconds/mile and continued to drop another 10-15 seconds over the course of the remaining 8 miles.  I didn't start thinking about how I felt until 15.5 miles and I think it was more of a "I've been running for over 2 hours and 15 minutes and I'm getting bored with my thoughts" type of thing.  And before I knew it, I was done in 2:23:39 with a 8:59 average pace.

Post run picture

The past 5 runs have definitely increased my confidence for Grandma's Marathon in June.  I had set my C goal for 4 hours but have still not set A and B goals.  The guy I ran the 4 mile beach loop, who owns a running store and is a pretty good runner himself, stated that he thought I have a 3:40 in me.  A couple weeks ago, I would have thought that was crazy talk.  But I might just be able to get my mind to accept that if things continue to progress this way!

65 days until Grandma's Marathon