Skipping another Saturday

Since we're snowed in, I did not brave the elements and go out and run this a.m., but I do have my priorities straight, I managed to get to the salon by 10:00 for color & cut. I love that quiet air that is all around when it is all white outside. It sounds like the RW group had a good run this a.m. but I am glad that I didn't scrape my car at 7:00 a.m., my neighbors would probably tp my property later and thawing out my car took about 15 min. at 9:30 thanks to my hubby. I am doing a 16er tomorrow since I am doing a marathon in about a month, depending on whether I do Post Oak or Little Rock. Here's my lineup through May:

February 13 - Poker Run 5m (untimed)
February 27 - Post Oak Trail Marathon-very uncommitted on this one
February 28 - Post Oak 10K-this is doable
March 7 - Little Rock Marathon
March 13 - RW St Patrick's Day 5K
March 27 - Wish Lemons 5K Tulsa, OK
April 25 - OKC Memorial Marathon
May 9 - Ft Collins Marathon
May TBD 1/2 Marathon

Seeing this schedule gets my motor going! I need goals, even though I'm not fast, I'm also not a recreational runner. If I didn't have a race to look forward to, I probably wouldn't run. I admire the people who get out there and run, day after day, week after week, year after year, with no desire or need to race. I run with someone like that during the week. I know he'll run as long as he is able, has been for 20+ years. Me, I need the challenge of a race.

Wet but a worthy training run

So I get the email early in the week that Carmie wants to run at 6:30 a.m. on Sat. I groan and think, I'll go run with the other group. Then others respond and they are jumping on the 6:30 bandwagon. I crater to peer pressure and psyche myself up for the 6:30 start. Then I see that it is supposed rain (again) on Sat. morning. I thought it couldn't have been worse than the Post Oak practice...and it wasn't. We had a good run, got pretty drenched, but went south on the Creek and got some hill work in. Did 13 miles, we'll do at least 16 next week. I feel good getting some long runs in, I was much stronger this Saturday than the Sunday I ran 12 miles a couple of weeks ago. Since I want to have higher mileage weeks this year, I'm going to add another run in this week, that should get me up to at least 30 miles this week.

Post Oak Trails

Saturday I went out to Post Oak Lodge to do a trail run out there. They are having a trail marathon on February 26, I am not a trail runner and do not aspire to be one but I wanted to have some variety in my training. It had rained most of the night and was very foggy on Saturday morning. About 45 people came out for training run and we separated into groups based on our 5K pace, but we wouldn't be anywhere near that pace, more like 15 min. mile. For the most part I was dressed appropriately. I had a waterproof North Face jacket and a light jacket underneath it and a technical shirt. I have a great wide brimmed waterproof hat. I had trail running shoes. The only mistake I made was to wear my capri pants and socks that didn't cover my ankles. I received only a few scratches though.
It was very muddy, sticky, slippery and cold even though it was about 42. It was a constant drizzle. You don't race on these, you pick your way through and hope you can stay up with everyone and look behind you to make sure no one else is getting too far behind. Some people had a really good time doing this, I did not. I like to move, maybe it will be better when it is drier. I value my history of non-injury, I'm concerned that I could get hurt very easily out here. But, I want to stretch myself so I'm still planning on doing this as long as my schedule permits. There is another training run on February 6 and I hope it is drier so I can get a better idea of what it would be like on firmer ground.
What I learned from this:

• Protect your ankles with ankle socks
• Bring a change of clothes, including shoes & socks (I did) and a plastic bag for dirty stuff (thanks Tess)
• Bring something to eat or gu, even if is only 6 miles, you will get famished
• Make sure you are with someone and have your cell phone (we got far behind and everyone was looking for us)

My ankles were really sore on Sunday, I dread to think what they will feel like after 26 miles. I need to put in more miles on trails if I'm going to do this. Hopefully, Feb. 6 will be a longer run. I wonder how longer this marathon will take? It took us 2 hours to go six miles but we were sloshing through muck.

The best thing about the day was that I didn't fall and the coffee and fellowship at Starbucks was a great way to wrap it up.

I can't wait to run on solid ground on Tuesday.

Saturday Break

With the weather being so cold, I'm doing my long run on Sunday instead of Saturday this week. It's been fabulous to have a whole Saturday at home, I think it's been almost 2 years since this has happened. Right now I'm listening to my favorite running podcast, Pheddipidations, he's talking about their Boston Polar Plunge, it was 34 there compared to our Polar Bear Plunge of 20 something. He's also taking about Spring Marathon options.
So today I got tons of cleaning done at home and thought this would be a good time to write about plans for this year.
Ideally, I'd like to run the Post Oak Trail Marathon, the Little Rock Marathon and the OKC Memorial Marathon, then I'd be a marathon maniac. I don't know if I can do that with my personal schedule though because my sister-in-law has cancer and I don't know if I'm going to be going to the east coast to see her this Spring. I also would like to do the Fort Collins Marathon http://www.ftcollinsmarathon.com/ in May and then I would take a long break and do either the R66 or some marathon in Nov. or Dec. I've done river rafting on the Poudre River where this marathon occurs and it is beautiful.
I want to increase my weekly mileage this year as well. Last year I averaged 20-25 miles/week and I want to up that to at least 30 per week and add more speed and hill work.
I certainly would be thrilled if I ran a 4:30 marathon this year. for the shorter distances, I'd like to run a 5K in 26.50 and the Tulsa Run under 1:30.
How about the rest of you? What are your running goals?

Holiday Running

We went to Charlotte, NC for Christmas so I escaped the snow here. All the way to Charlotte on Wednesday, I kept getting phone alerts of bad weather and I couldn't believe the pictures of snow on FB once the snow hit Tulsa.
Charlotte temperature was around 35 and I went on a couple of runs while I was there. My sister-in-law's neighborhood is hilly and on Thursday I did a short 3 miles through her housing addition. On Saturday, I considered doing a 12 mile but I didn't want to short-change family time so I opted for a 6 mile out on a major road that had sidewalks. The hills were long but not a sharp incline, it was a good run. When I got back, I was glad I had decided to do only 6 because our plans had changed and we were going to hit the mall earlier. I sure didn't want to be the reason for delay when the ladies were going shopping.
I was back in Tulsa by Monday, 12/28, but no running outside on Tuesday so I went to the club and did the eliptical, I haven't done that in 2 years!
No running Thursday morning outside again and then I did the Race Into the New Year, I wore my Yak-Trax for the first time and they really helped. Then on Saturday we ran 5 miles in the cold. With all the layers I had on, I was glad to do only 5, we had a great turnout in spite of the weather.
This next week is going to be really cold again, the snow hasn't melted, so I better make plans to run indoors.