the little race that could – run the reagan half marathon

I wrote last night about how we were getting snow and I wasn’t too sure if this race was going to happen or not. I’m impressed that the race organizers decide to delay two hours instead of cancel, and then delayed another two when it was clear that starting at 10AM wasn’t going to be enough. The organizers did a great job of making it happen. All of the races ended up starting at 12PM or 12:15PM. That is my kind of race! Or it would be if I didn’t wake up at 6:45AM trying to figure out if I was going to get down there or not. I made it without incident, but drove like a grandma and it took me an hour and forty minutes to go sixty miles. That might be the first time I have ever taken longer to drive somewhere than Google Maps estimates.

I’ve been to Snellville before, but just briefly for a roller derby practice (and that might have been Lawrenceville). The race is held on a closed highway. You run 6.55 out, turn yourself around, do an optional hokey pokey, and run back. Ronald Reagan Parkway is about the least scenic place I’ve ever been in that there’s just nothing whatsoever to look at. No natural beauty, no stores, no billboards, just pavement. The snow probably helped out a lot, too. There are also unrelenting rolling hills. Nothing too huge, but consistent and you get to run down whatever you run up. The wind was pretty solid and brutal on the first half, but had some joyful little bursts at my back in the last mile or two. That is about it for details on the course.

Due to my insanely slow speed of driving, I got there 20 minutes before the start and they didn’t have my race number (I knew that would happen because things like that always happen to me). Filled out a new form, went to the bathroom, and hopped into the starting area. Since I was “tardy to the party” as it were, I didn’t really reevaluate what I was wearing when I left my house two hours before: tank top, long sleeve, another long sleeve, vest, full length tights, knee socks, and regular socks, plus gloves. I think it was in the 30s. I should have taken off the second long sleeve, but I didn’t have time to figure that out and do it before the race started, so I was a little toasty. My feet were also wet before the start, but that didn’t bother me until the eighth mile or so (cue Eminem music) when they felt really, really wet.

I did not have a time goal for this race. Mostly I wanted to just run and feel comfortable, which I think I did, and I didn’t really want “comfortable” to take me over two hours. I really like telling myself I’m only going to be doing something for a certain amount of time. The road was surprisingly clear. The water stations were mostly under overpasses, which was kind of a weird decision given the already present ice/people dumping water cups and making ice (I did this once and then realized that was a bad idea…full disclosure). Several of the aid stations only had one person working them and I’d guess they had a lower volunteer turnout due to to the road conditions around Atlanta, so thanks to those people who left their cozy houses to come volunteer in the cold. I ended up finishing in 1:58:59 (Garmin time). Something weird was that my Garmin was reading about .05 long on the course for the first half, and then pretty much immediately after the turnout at the mile 7 marker, it was .05 short. I ended up with 13.04 on the Garmin. Whatever, I’ll take it. I’ll update the post when I have actual results.

Overall, it was a nice, low key race. It’s hard to say what it would be like at full force in decent weather, but I did notice tons of people wearing shirts from past years, which reflects well on the race. Course is pretty plain. I would say a little challenging, but not too much so; maybe more fun with a buddy. The shirt is okay (white long sleeve with the logo) and the medal is pretty cool.

Basically, not super exciting, but it was a fun way to get my first 13 miles in and I’m glad it wasn’t canceled. I drove back to Athens and hopped on the treadmill for the remaining seven. I forgot to bring a change of pants and had to wear my tights and felt like a goober. I did remember an extra pair of shoes and socks and rescued my shriveled feet from their watery dungeons, but I’m not sure they have forgiven me yet. Olympic ski jumpers and speed skaters provided some distraction. I think I have to study for my statistics exam now. Bummer.

Here’s what I did this week. I wrote all of this week’s dates as last weeks in my notebook. Dur. This was not the best week. I was stuck in a funk and couldn’t seem to motivate myself to do anything, including exercise on a couple of days. I couldn’t get to any spin classes on days that I needed to run. I did pull my snowshoes on Friday night and take Heidi out for a walk down a road/driveway that goes around the pasture behind our house.

2/7 sunday – nada
2/8 monday – 30:00 swim class
2/9 tuesday – 7 miles, 61:57 – avg pace 8:51
2/10 wednesday – 10 miles, 89:47 – avg pace 8:59 + 40:00 swim class
2/11 thursday – 6.57 miles, 60:00 – avg pace 9:08
2/12 friday – nothing
2/13 saturday – run the reagan half marathon – unofficial 13.05, 1:58:59 – avg pace 9:07 + 7.0 mile treadmill follow up, 65:27 – avg 9:21

total miles: 43.62
total run time: 6:36:10
total cardio: 7:46:10

*Edit: here are my official finishing results.
chip time: 1:58:56:07
avg pace 9:05
39/102 female
6/13 age group

four letter words that start with s

I’m starting to think that I’m carrying around some bad race juju. Temperatures in the 20s during my last 5k, and now it’s snowing. The website for Run the Reagan says the start will be delayed two hours, putting my 13.1 start at 10am. The race is an out and back on a closed highway. I’m not really sure where that ranks in prioritizing clearing ice/snow. Pretty low, I would guess. It will take me about an hour and a half to get down there via 78 and 316, so I’m going to have to wait and see if the roads are clear in the morning. If everything is go, I have the feeling it’s going to be another tights+socks day…it’s super cold out there! The high for tomorrow was supposed to be 48F and now it’s saying a high of 37F.

Sorry for the bathroom photo. My arms weren’t long enough.

splitting runs

I’m looking for some advice if there’s anyone in the mood to dole it out. I have a half marathon this Saturday and I’m wondering if it would be good to do another run later on Saturday since my “long run” will only be 13.1, or if adding extra miles later in the day is not really going to do anything beneficial for me? This Saturday will be five weeks until ING Georgia. I know you should only split long runs if you have to, but if I’m just going to be running miles to run them and have them in the books, should I skip it? Is doing a 13 early and 7-ish later going to help in terms of marathon training? I’ve certainly coasted my way through some training before, so it’s not that I’m hell bent on meeting a quota; really, I’d just like to know that if I do it, it served a purpose. Twenty at once is not the same as thirteen, wait a few hours, and seven.

long run o’ doom

Chilly and windy as hell (15-20 mph). Oddly, even though I did a mostly out and back route, the wind was only ever at my back for a glorious 10 feet. Not sure how that works. Things didn’t go so great today, but I am happy enough that I didn’t cut it short. Something I was thinking about a lot is how if you are into running longer distances, people are like WHAT! YOU RAN WHAT?! but it is relatively normal for someone who does it. Part of this is because there are always outliers that make things seem relatively normal. Running a marathon is NBD compared to someone running Badwater or similar intensely long and difficult races. Being vegetarian or vegan is weird to some people, but a piece of cake compared to someone who eats macrobiotic food or raw food only. A lifestyle usually isn’t too difficult because it’s your lifestyle. Someone out there is always going to be taking something to more of an extreme, but holy hell, that doesn’t mean things aren’t hard sometimes. Just because I’ve done it before or have run further doesn’t make running 18 miles easy. So, give yourself a pat on the back if you’re someone who cranks out mega miles like it’s normal. It’s really not and therefore, I consider you a badass. I almost consider you a badazz, but I’m not sure yet.

Highlights of my run today:

- At mile two, passing a guy in his yard and him saying, “nice day for a walk, huh?” Fail! I was running into the wind and getting blown over already, but going this slow on mile two is never promising. I may or may not have been redeemed when I passed him again around mile 10 and he walked out the door and said, “holy cow!” I was kind of glad that he was not outside when I passed again at 15+16.5 ish miles. It would have been awkward.
- HUGE HUGE black dude peeling out of his driveway on a MINI bike. This would have been fairly entertaining on its own, but the bonus was a pit puppy or Staffordshire chasing him for a tenth of a mile or so until he couldn’t keep up. This was conveniently when I reached the puppy and for a quarter of a mile or so, it acted like I was chasing it and was all freaked out. He wouldn’t let me pet him, but he nuzzled my calves while I ran and he had a wicked overbite. Also, gigantic leg muscles. He’d put our Staffordshire to shame and Spikey is a muscle-y little dude!
- Reaching a stream I needed to cross on the dirt road that was basically going to be key to my sweet local running route and finding it about fifteen feet wide, rock free, and flowing really fast. That turned my two loop plan into an out and back + other junk added on for more miles. Also, rain+silty dirt roads = running on the beach, but less like Baywatch. More like Outtashapewatch.

Yeah, not exactly a Glamor Shot. Don’t judge. But that is the road behind me.

- A bunch of cyclists riding by around mile nine. I was pretty miserable today, so seeing some other friendly people out was a decent pick me up.
- Nothing good happened for a while. Ran slow, was miserable. Got honked at (after seeing above pic, maybe I consider myself lucky for this). Stopped by my house for a drink.
- Mile 17. PUPPY TIME! This super chunky puppy ran over while some kids and a grown up were riding four wheelers in their yard. I thought it was a really fat grown up dog; no doughy look, just looked like a totally obese Jack Russell. He wouldn’t leave me alone and I didn’t want him coming with me, so I played with him for a minute. The fat little kids on four wheelers wouldn’t come get him and I had to wait for the adult to get off his four wheeler, PUT DOWN THE KID WHO WAS ON HIS LAP, and come get the dog, who he said was four months old. But who doesn’t like puppies? This was a like a puppy run, in that I got tired as hell in the first minute and also that I met a couple of them. We don’t have animal control in our county, which is why you might notice that a long run post will never go too far without mentioning the roaming dog factor. It would be like not mentioning the weather or how far I ran. They are everywhere.

Next weekend I’m doing the Run the Reagan half marathon in Snellville (one of ten zillion Atlanta suburbs that are mostly identical), so it will be a little respite from the long runs. I’m crossing my fingers that it doesn’t rain. After that, ING Georgia Marathon in March and Warrior Dash Southeast in May. Maybe some shorter stuff in April (Terrapin 4.1, Twilight 5k or Twiathlon), but I haven’t registered for either of those yet.

Here’s what I ran this week!

1/31 sunday – swim 1000 yds, about 32:00
(January total miles: 137.71)
2/1 monday – 7.0 miles, 62:18 (8:54 avg) – swim 800 yds (30 min class+10 minutes beforehand)
2/2 tuesday – 7.0 miles, 62:00 (8:51 avg)
2/3 wednesday – 3.0 miles, 26:14 (8:44 avg), 45:00 spin, 30:00 swim class (500 yds)
2/4 thursday – off
2/5 friday – 8.5 miles, 74:56 (8:48 avg) – this killed my legs for some reason. ow.
2/6 saturday – 18.10 miles, 2:52:25 (9:31 avg)

total miles run: 43.6
run time: 6:37:53
total cardio: 7:54:53

Today is Brian and my six year anniversary. Yeah! Happy anniversary, B!