High five to anyone who read that title and in their head/out loud finished, "... to Seagrams gin. 'Cuz I drink it, and they payin' me for it." :) Anyway, last week was a pretty boring running week. The usual short-medium-short runs during the week, and then my long run was a "drop-back week", so it was only 7 miles. So I thought I would give some shout outs this week. There's no way that I would be running the Chicago Marathon in less than three months if it wasn't for certain people. Here we go...
First off, I need to thank the people that are the reasons I even considered running a marathon. Two of my college roommates, Jamie and Jenny, both ran the Chicago Marathon. Now, both of these lovely ladies are more athletic than myself, so even when they did it I thought, "Wow, that's amazing that they did that. I could never do that." BUT, it put the notion in my head that you don't have to be a professional runner to run a marathon. They planted the seed. Then last year a friend/ex-girlfriend of Marc's from high school (yes, you read that right) :) caught wind that I was considering training for a marathon, but was reluctant because I wasn't much of a runner. She contacted me and told me that she had run the 2009 Chicago Marathon, and prior to that had not been much of a runner either. Hearing someone who was also admittedly not a great runner at one point tell me that I could do it pushed me over the edge to go for it.
Next I need to thank everyone who has supported me in my training and fundraising efforts. The words of encouragement, blog comments, even just asking how my training is going really keeps me accountable and reminds me that if I were to suddenly give up (which I don't plan on doing), there would be a lot of people I would have to tell that I gave up, which would not be fun. So thanks for keeping me going. :) And, I have raised almost 75% of the $750 I committed to raise for Marathon for the Cure, so THANK YOU to everyone who has donated! If you haven't donated to and would like to, the link is in the upper right corner of this page!
And finally, my biggest supporter, my waterboy on a bike/amazingly supportive husband. It began when I told him I was thinking about training for a marathon and instead of saying, "What are you, crazy?" he said, "Do it!". Then once I had registered, he made the committment of riding his bike with me on long runs. Now, when this poor man made this verbal committment, I'm sure he thought to himself, "How hard can it be to go ride my bike once a week?" Little did he (or I) know at the time, that when summer rolls around, it gets very hot. This hot weather is very hard to run in. So how to we avoid said hot weather? We get up before it gets hot. Which is sometimes 6am. Even though it's Saturday. Needless to say, he has been up bright and early with me every Saturday (with only a minimal amount of grumbling) except for the two weeks when he had social events already scheduled. He's pretty much a rockstar. Love you, babe!
Miles this week: 18 miles
Weeks of training finished: 18 weeks
Total miles of training: 239 miles
Monday, July 19, 2010
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Into the double digits we go!
My long runs have officially moved into the double digits! I successfully ran 10 miles this morning! I was actually really nervous for this run. 9 miles last week was rough, so I wasn't sure how I was going to do 10. Plus, my waterboy on a bike/supportive husband was gone on a camping trip, so I was going to be completely on my own. Just like the 9 mile run last week, everything was fine until about the last mile. That's when my legs started to say, "We are done. Please stop making us move."
At that 9 mile mark, I kept thinking about tired my legs were, how badly I wanted to stop, but also how I only had one more mile to go, and that really wasn't that far. I started to feel better knowing that I was almost done, but then all I could think about was how in two weeks (next week is a drop-back week), I have to run 12 miles, and that seems so far!
My mind then wandered to a section I had read in the book The Non-Runner's Marathon Guide for Women: Get Off Your Butt and On With Your Training by Dawn Dais. I love this book. The author is absolutely hilarious and wonderfully sarcastic. I highly recommend it to any woman training for a marathon, half-marathon, or just any length of race that seems impossible for you. Anyway, in one of the chapters she talks about "the moment". She talks about how great the moment when you cross the marathon finish line is, but she also talks about how you shouldn't forget about all of the little moments along the way. She says it's so easy to get caught up in worrying about how long you have to run next time, that you forget about what you are accomplishing along the way. At this point it really hit me that I was about to finish running TEN MILES. Yes, that is less than half of the actual marathon, but a year ago I could barely run two miles. I had never run ten miles in my life until today. That's a pretty amazing feeling.
I guess it's just like Miley Cyrus says, "Ain't about how fast I get there, aint' about what's waiting on the other side, it's the climb." Yep, I just ended by quoting Miley Cyrus. :)
Miles this week: 21 miles
Weeks of training finished: 17 weeks
Total miles of training: 221 miles
At that 9 mile mark, I kept thinking about tired my legs were, how badly I wanted to stop, but also how I only had one more mile to go, and that really wasn't that far. I started to feel better knowing that I was almost done, but then all I could think about was how in two weeks (next week is a drop-back week), I have to run 12 miles, and that seems so far!
My mind then wandered to a section I had read in the book The Non-Runner's Marathon Guide for Women: Get Off Your Butt and On With Your Training by Dawn Dais. I love this book. The author is absolutely hilarious and wonderfully sarcastic. I highly recommend it to any woman training for a marathon, half-marathon, or just any length of race that seems impossible for you. Anyway, in one of the chapters she talks about "the moment". She talks about how great the moment when you cross the marathon finish line is, but she also talks about how you shouldn't forget about all of the little moments along the way. She says it's so easy to get caught up in worrying about how long you have to run next time, that you forget about what you are accomplishing along the way. At this point it really hit me that I was about to finish running TEN MILES. Yes, that is less than half of the actual marathon, but a year ago I could barely run two miles. I had never run ten miles in my life until today. That's a pretty amazing feeling.
I guess it's just like Miley Cyrus says, "Ain't about how fast I get there, aint' about what's waiting on the other side, it's the climb." Yep, I just ended by quoting Miley Cyrus. :)
Miles this week: 21 miles
Weeks of training finished: 17 weeks
Total miles of training: 221 miles
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Um... this is hard...
Yep, training for a marathon is hard. And yes, my name for today is Captain Obvious. Don't get me wrong, I always knew training for this marathon was going to be one of the hardest things I've ever done. Up until this week though, my long runs haven't been that hard. I think it was because I was so comfortable running 5 miles for a few months, that going up to 6, 7, and even 8 wasn't that bad. Now I'm getting into the continuous climb of mileage though, I'm definitely starting to feel it. My long run yesterday was 9 miles, and it wasn't too bad until the last mile, which is when my legs really started to bother me. Cardio and breathing-wise I was fine, but my legs were just done. It wasn't injury pain, it was just that my muscles had had enough. So those "drop-back weeks" that I said I wasn't sure if I wanted to follow? I think I'll be following them now. Pretty sure my body will need that slight break every few weeks in order to keep going.
Miles this week: 19 miles
Weeks of training finished: 16 weeks
Total miles of training: 200 miles
Miles this week: 19 miles
Weeks of training finished: 16 weeks
Total miles of training: 200 miles
Monday, June 28, 2010
Uneventful week
Nothing too exciting this past week. I woke up on Wednesday morning to some pretty crazy thunderstorms, but when I checked the weather, it looked like I would get about a half hour break to get my 4 mile run in. When I went out to run, the sky looked pretty mean to the west, and it did start to rain about a mile into my run. I could hear some distant thunder, but never really saw much lightning, so I finished out my 4 miles in the rain. I don't really mind running in the rain, but I love the looks I get from people as they drive by in their cars. Their look either says, "Wow, you're dedicated!" or "Wow, you're crazy. What's wrong with you?". :)
Saturday was a fairly uneventful 8 mile run. I did have to do it without my trusty waterboy on a bike/husband as he was golfing in a tournament that morning. So, I got to experience running with a water bottle in my hand the whole time, as I do not own one of the water belt thingys (I know that's the technical name...). I do have to say that the water bottle really threw me off (both in rhythm, and my arm got tired), so I am going to have to decide what to do for those times when I don't have a waterboy on a bike with me!
That's about it for now!
Miles this week: 18 miles
Weeks of training finished: 15 weeks
Total miles of training: 181 miles
Saturday was a fairly uneventful 8 mile run. I did have to do it without my trusty waterboy on a bike/husband as he was golfing in a tournament that morning. So, I got to experience running with a water bottle in my hand the whole time, as I do not own one of the water belt thingys (I know that's the technical name...). I do have to say that the water bottle really threw me off (both in rhythm, and my arm got tired), so I am going to have to decide what to do for those times when I don't have a waterboy on a bike with me!
That's about it for now!
Miles this week: 18 miles
Weeks of training finished: 15 weeks
Total miles of training: 181 miles
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Frustration!!!
I am so frustrated right now! I'm mad at myself, although my reason for being mad isn't something I did knowingly.
My run on Saturday morning was supposed to be 7 miles. I use a Nike +, but it's not always completely accurate, so I always map out my route on mapmyrun.com before I go to make sure it's the right distance. I had a route planned out that was actually about 7.4 miles, so I decided I would either stop running at the 7 mile mark and walk the last part, or run the whole thing, depending on how I was feeling.
It was a beautiful morning for a run, and I was feeling good. Then about 1.5 miles in I realized that, well, let's just say I did not give myself enough time between my pre-run hydration and my actual run. I realized I needed to change my route to include a bathroom of some sort. I knew there were bathrooms at the public park, so I decided to skip one loop of road and detour through the park. My thinking was that going through the park was adding on some distance, so by taking away that one loop, everything would even out. Plus I had that .4 extra miles on there anyway. I figured I would still end up reaching 7 miles.
After my brief stop and a city park port-a-potty (EEWWWW!!!), I was feeling good about the rest of my run and knew I would be able to do 7 miles, no problem. I knew that my Nike + was a little bit ahead of where I was distance wise, so I knew that when it told me I had hit the 7 mile mark, I needed to go a bit further. I ran all the way to my end point, and when I got there it told me I had gone 7.3 miles. I figured that was a safe amount over, and that it was probably actually about 7 miles.
I still wanted to double check, so when I got home, I plugged in the route I had actually run on mapmyrun.com. 6.65 miles!!!! GGRRRR!!! I was so mad that I hadn't actually gone my 7 miles! Now, the bright side to this is that I felt great when I finished running, so I know that I could have easily run another 1/2 mile, but I was lacking that satisfaction of reaching a goal and running the distance I set out to run. Very annoying.
This coming week is supposed to be a "drop-back" week. In the training plan that I'm following, the long runs get progressively longer each week by one mile, except every third week goes down a bit. So instead of going 6-7-8-9, my plan goes 6-7-5-9. I already am not a big fan of this, and had decided that for now I was going to go with 6-7-8-9, until I get into the really high mileage and maybe need that drop-back. Saturday's run also confirmed for me that that is what I want to do. So, 8 miles this Saturday! Hopefully that will give me that goal-reaching-satisfaction that I'm itching for!
Miles this week: 16 miles (we'll just round up to make it easier...)
Weeks of training finished: 14 weeks
Total miles of training: 163 miles
My run on Saturday morning was supposed to be 7 miles. I use a Nike +, but it's not always completely accurate, so I always map out my route on mapmyrun.com before I go to make sure it's the right distance. I had a route planned out that was actually about 7.4 miles, so I decided I would either stop running at the 7 mile mark and walk the last part, or run the whole thing, depending on how I was feeling.
It was a beautiful morning for a run, and I was feeling good. Then about 1.5 miles in I realized that, well, let's just say I did not give myself enough time between my pre-run hydration and my actual run. I realized I needed to change my route to include a bathroom of some sort. I knew there were bathrooms at the public park, so I decided to skip one loop of road and detour through the park. My thinking was that going through the park was adding on some distance, so by taking away that one loop, everything would even out. Plus I had that .4 extra miles on there anyway. I figured I would still end up reaching 7 miles.
After my brief stop and a city park port-a-potty (EEWWWW!!!), I was feeling good about the rest of my run and knew I would be able to do 7 miles, no problem. I knew that my Nike + was a little bit ahead of where I was distance wise, so I knew that when it told me I had hit the 7 mile mark, I needed to go a bit further. I ran all the way to my end point, and when I got there it told me I had gone 7.3 miles. I figured that was a safe amount over, and that it was probably actually about 7 miles.
I still wanted to double check, so when I got home, I plugged in the route I had actually run on mapmyrun.com. 6.65 miles!!!! GGRRRR!!! I was so mad that I hadn't actually gone my 7 miles! Now, the bright side to this is that I felt great when I finished running, so I know that I could have easily run another 1/2 mile, but I was lacking that satisfaction of reaching a goal and running the distance I set out to run. Very annoying.
This coming week is supposed to be a "drop-back" week. In the training plan that I'm following, the long runs get progressively longer each week by one mile, except every third week goes down a bit. So instead of going 6-7-8-9, my plan goes 6-7-5-9. I already am not a big fan of this, and had decided that for now I was going to go with 6-7-8-9, until I get into the really high mileage and maybe need that drop-back. Saturday's run also confirmed for me that that is what I want to do. So, 8 miles this Saturday! Hopefully that will give me that goal-reaching-satisfaction that I'm itching for!
Miles this week: 16 miles (we'll just round up to make it easier...)
Weeks of training finished: 14 weeks
Total miles of training: 163 miles
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Oh, Mother Nature
I never thought I would have such a strong love/hate relationship with the weather. Sure, we all have a certain type of weather that we dislike and a certain type that we enjoy, but mine has become even stronger since I began training. The type of weather I love and the type of weather I hate have almost become opposite too, when it comes to running as opposed to any other time.
Normally, my favorite type of weather would be a sunny, breezy day, not a cloud in the sky, and in the upper 70's or lower 80's. Not when it comes to running though. My ideal running weather would be low 50's, little to no wind, and overcast. The warmer it is, the harder it is for me to run.
This weather talk brings me to my long run this past week. First of all, I have to point out that this was the first official week of the Novice Marathon Training Schedule by Hal Higdon. The Novice Supreme Schedule that I've been following is actually a combination of the marathon training and a spring training schedule. So I have now entered the marathon training portion. Woohoo!! Ok, back on track. (This is what I get for waiting too long to post. My brain is all over the place...). This week and last week were identical in schedules. Both long runs were 6 miles, and I completed the 6 mile long run last week with no problem, so I figured this week would be the same.
Wrong. Last Saturday, I got up early before it got warm out. I had a nice, crisp morning to run. This past weekend looked like it would be the same. Friday night I did my usual night-before-a-run-stalking of the hour-by-hour forecast on weather.com to see when it would get too warm to run. It looked like it was going to be below 70 until about 7am, and then would get warmer from there. Perfect. I could do my 6am run with a nice cloud cover, and cool air. Until I actually went outside Saturday morning. And it was almost 70 already. And the humidity was about 1000%. (Dad, if you're reading this, yes, I realize that's not actually possible) It felt like I was in a jungle. Not ideal.
Well, I toughed it out anyway, but it was a rough run. I may as well have been wearing a plastic jumpsuit because there was absolutely no evaporation going on. I was actually thankful that I had already completed 6 miles the week before so I knew that my terrible experience wasn't because 6 miles was too much to handle, it was due to Mother Nature. And the kicker of the whole thing? That temperature that was supposed to climb after 7am... actually ended up dropping. About an hour after my run, it was about 5 degrees cooler and not nearly as humid. Curse you, weatherman!
Miles this week: 15 miles
Weeks of training finished: 13 weeks
Total miles of training: 147 miles
Normally, my favorite type of weather would be a sunny, breezy day, not a cloud in the sky, and in the upper 70's or lower 80's. Not when it comes to running though. My ideal running weather would be low 50's, little to no wind, and overcast. The warmer it is, the harder it is for me to run.
This weather talk brings me to my long run this past week. First of all, I have to point out that this was the first official week of the Novice Marathon Training Schedule by Hal Higdon. The Novice Supreme Schedule that I've been following is actually a combination of the marathon training and a spring training schedule. So I have now entered the marathon training portion. Woohoo!! Ok, back on track. (This is what I get for waiting too long to post. My brain is all over the place...). This week and last week were identical in schedules. Both long runs were 6 miles, and I completed the 6 mile long run last week with no problem, so I figured this week would be the same.
Wrong. Last Saturday, I got up early before it got warm out. I had a nice, crisp morning to run. This past weekend looked like it would be the same. Friday night I did my usual night-before-a-run-stalking of the hour-by-hour forecast on weather.com to see when it would get too warm to run. It looked like it was going to be below 70 until about 7am, and then would get warmer from there. Perfect. I could do my 6am run with a nice cloud cover, and cool air. Until I actually went outside Saturday morning. And it was almost 70 already. And the humidity was about 1000%. (Dad, if you're reading this, yes, I realize that's not actually possible) It felt like I was in a jungle. Not ideal.
Well, I toughed it out anyway, but it was a rough run. I may as well have been wearing a plastic jumpsuit because there was absolutely no evaporation going on. I was actually thankful that I had already completed 6 miles the week before so I knew that my terrible experience wasn't because 6 miles was too much to handle, it was due to Mother Nature. And the kicker of the whole thing? That temperature that was supposed to climb after 7am... actually ended up dropping. About an hour after my run, it was about 5 degrees cooler and not nearly as humid. Curse you, weatherman!
Miles this week: 15 miles
Weeks of training finished: 13 weeks
Total miles of training: 147 miles
Saturday, June 5, 2010
The Next Big Decision
Deciding to train for the marathon was a big decision for me. I had come a long way in my running, but registering for the marathon meant that I was committing to keeping up with a training schedule for over six months, and committing to run a distance much longer than I had ever run in my life. Once I told people that I was training for a marathon, I knew I couldn't back out.
My next big decision was whether or not to fund raise. When you register for the marathon, they ask you if you will be running for a charity or not. At the time when I registered, I said no, but it definitely put the idea in my head. I knew that if I was going to try and raise money for any charity, it would be something related to fighting breast cancer because both my mom and my aunt are survivors, and it feels like almost every woman I'm related to has had it. Not quite, but it's safe to say it runs in my family.
This was a tough decision for me though because most charities make you commit to raising a minimum amount. I couldn't just sign up and raise as much or as little as I could. This was scary for me because I hate asking people for money. I am definitely no Holly Robinson Peete.(Celebrity Apprentice? Anyone? Anyone?) I began to look around at marathon related charities though, and found that Susan G. Komen, a pretty big name in breast cancer research fund raising, had a program called Marathon for the Cure, and that the Chicago Marathon was one of the races they were associated with.
I finally decided that I would join Marathon for the Cure and commit to raising at least $750. I figured I'm at least doing something to give people reason to donate. I'm not asking for donations just 'cause, I'm running 26.2 miles for the donations! (Not to mention the many, many miles of training). So, I will try not to be too much of a pest about it, but I would love it if you would consider donating. Even the tiniest amount is helpful! There is absolutely no problem with using that "other amount" field and donating ten or even five dollars. I've even put a link to my donation page here on the blog to make it nice and easy! :) And a big "thank you" to those who have donated already!
Miles this week: 15 miles
Weeks of training finished: 12 weeks
Total miles of training: 132 miles
My next big decision was whether or not to fund raise. When you register for the marathon, they ask you if you will be running for a charity or not. At the time when I registered, I said no, but it definitely put the idea in my head. I knew that if I was going to try and raise money for any charity, it would be something related to fighting breast cancer because both my mom and my aunt are survivors, and it feels like almost every woman I'm related to has had it. Not quite, but it's safe to say it runs in my family.
This was a tough decision for me though because most charities make you commit to raising a minimum amount. I couldn't just sign up and raise as much or as little as I could. This was scary for me because I hate asking people for money. I am definitely no Holly Robinson Peete.(Celebrity Apprentice? Anyone? Anyone?) I began to look around at marathon related charities though, and found that Susan G. Komen, a pretty big name in breast cancer research fund raising, had a program called Marathon for the Cure, and that the Chicago Marathon was one of the races they were associated with.
I finally decided that I would join Marathon for the Cure and commit to raising at least $750. I figured I'm at least doing something to give people reason to donate. I'm not asking for donations just 'cause, I'm running 26.2 miles for the donations! (Not to mention the many, many miles of training). So, I will try not to be too much of a pest about it, but I would love it if you would consider donating. Even the tiniest amount is helpful! There is absolutely no problem with using that "other amount" field and donating ten or even five dollars. I've even put a link to my donation page here on the blog to make it nice and easy! :) And a big "thank you" to those who have donated already!
Miles this week: 15 miles
Weeks of training finished: 12 weeks
Total miles of training: 132 miles
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