Tis the season

I have a friend who cannot wait until Oct. 1 to start playing her Christmas music. Sure enough, this week on FB, she is asking us what our favorite Christmas album is. Now, I love her enthusiasm for Christmas and all that the season signifies, but for me-I can't wait for cool weather because that means it's fall marathon season! Maybe I should be singing Springsteen's "Born to Run!"
So, I've been itching to run a marathon, haven't run one since May. I considered Mother Road this summer but my training in the heat had made me doubt my readiness for the race. After I ran my 20 miles last Saturday and got a look at the medal, I began to think about signing up for Mother Road. I was sitting the fence on whether to jump from the R66 1/2 to the full, a cheaper option, or do Mother Road. Mother Road won out because of it being in October, which gives me some rest for the Outer Banks Marathon, and for the medal and last, because it goes through 3 states. I am really looking forward to it, the weather is supposed to be between 60-70 and I have several friends running in it. The only downside is that it doesn't start until 8, so it will probably be in the 70s for the last past of it, but after all the heat and humidity this summer, I think I can get through it.
I did a short 11 miles today, the downtown loop of the R66 marathon route. It has a couple of good hills but I averaged a sub 10 pace and I felt really good about that.
So taper time now and carbo load.
Yay-marathons, and I'll be an offical certified marathon maniac after St. Jude's, assuming I finish all three marathons.

How much sweat can you wring out of your clothes?

Today was sweltering. Our plan was to run 16 and we ran hard and did 12.50. I didn't see any benefit in going further, by 8:30, the sun was beating down and we were soaked with sweat. We should have started earlier to avoid the sun but I am pleased with my workout. I pushed myself harder than I have in months for a long run, even though it was so humid. I am so happy to have the umph to even want to press on, I've been in such a slump this year. I have a good reason for that but I have been getting frustrated with my sluggishness and I am encouraged that some of my drive is coming back.
I listen to a great podcast, Marathon Training Academy. It's a husband/wife team, she is an experienced distance runner and he is training for his first half marathon this fall. The information is very helpful and they have a very good one on yoga stretches and the video is on their blog: http://marathontrainingacademy.com/ You can listen to the podcast directly from there.

Are we there yet?

You would think that the humidity would have dropped by now but such was not the case today. One of the drawbacks of running so early in the morning is fighting the humidity but I'd rather deal with that than the sun. So, our plan was to run 10 miles, some on Riverside and the rest around Jenks. After the first hour, I was dripping wet, I wasn't expecting this and didn't put any Glide on and I was anticipating some wincing in the shower when raw skin was kissed by water. The good news was that we had already done 6 miles and had escaped the burning heat. As we headed through Jenks, I began to tire and tried to focus on my mental training. I looked at my surroundings for distractions and this proved to be helpful. We stopped to drink some water and I was encouraged to discover that we had only 3 more miles to go. At this point my legs were beginning to feel heavy and tight and I realized that pushing so hard on my short runs this week was taking a toll on my long run, yet, I need to get stronger. So, on I plodded, focusing on a technique I've been practicing of raising my knees higher and making sure that my foot plant does not start with a heel strike. I had been commenting to my neighbor, who coaches students for track, that my abductors and adductors were stiff and weak and he told me that was because I shuffled too much, that I needed to pick up my feet more. So, particularly in my short runs, I have been working on picking up my feet more.
When we got to the Jenks bridge, I shouted, "how much further," thinking that we were probably at 9 miles and I was right (my Garmin is not working). That last mile seemed to take f-o-r-e-v-e-r, when we went under Riverside, by Starbucks, I thought, puh-leez, only a little bit more and after a short loop around the parking lot, we were done. The best part about this run was that we were done by 7:30, can you believe that? It's been ages since I got home before 9:00 after a Saturday run. But, now that the temperatures should be dropping, we will probably be starting later and our runs will be getting longer since we're getting closer to our marathons.

Golden Days of Running

I was excited about running a new route on Saturday. We decided to run with Runners World and check out the scenery of a midtown run. I was excited until I heard my friends say we were going for 18. Gulp, I really didn't want to go any further than 16 and the 2 others I was running with were the faster ones in my group so I knew I had to try and stay up with them so I didn't get lost. This was going to be a good mental trial. We had received an email earlier in the week about the mental aspects of a long run, particularly a marathon. We were given several tips about how to overcome the mental fatigue that you experience as you add miles to your running routine. This email was timely for me. My last 4 marathons have been mentally overwelming. I just run out of motivation after the 18th mile. I still want to finish the marathon but, I begin walking and not caring about my finish time. This dilema has been perplexing me but the email really helped because I saw that a veteran runner had challenges staying focused too but she had also learned how to overcome her mental fatigue. So, I applied what I had read, I thought about what I would do if I got really tired and as I got tired, I began to practice these new strategies. One thing that really helped was to breakdown the route into smaller segments, so instead of thinking that we had four more miles to go, I would focus on only the next mile. I can't believe what a difference that thinking made in how I felt about running. Another thing that really helped me was being inspired by the people I am running with. The girl I was running with was in considerable pain but you would never know it. When we got close to the hill at 21st and Yale, going south, and she kept on going on that hill and I really wanted to stop; it was then that I realized that I didn't really want to stop but I needed someone to supply me with motivation to keep on going. Well, I got motivation when I saw her staying strong through those hills. I thought, if she can run through pain, I can run through my motivation issues. Before I knew it, 18 miles were over and done.

We started at the fairgrounds and then ran over to University of Tulsa and then back to the fairgrounds. We did this twice and when we got to TU the second time, we ran all over the campus, trying to get 3 miles out of that part. The campus looks absolutely beautiful, the landscaping is gorgeous and the buildings, both new and old, looked stunning, especially the new performing arts center. We run the same route this coming Saturday, shorter, I hope, and I'm pleased that we'll have another opportunity to get familiar with this area.

On Monday we ran the Run into the Son 5K. This is a super event, lots of fun things for the family and an emphasis on the FREEdom we have in Christ. The route was hilly and I was happy with my time, considering that I had run 18 miles on Saturday. A shout out to Stacy, she PR'd. What a hard worker she is on our weekday runs and her persistance paid off.

Could these be chillbumps!

Finally, cool weather has kicked in. I couldn't wait for this Saturday to enjoy a long run without melting. The plan was to run 15 miles so we ran north on riverside way before the sun was up and headed north about 5 miles. We turned back around and got through that awful boring dead air area before 81st before the sun was all the way up. I really wanted to stop at a bathroom so we decided to take a field trip over to the casino. Now I have never been in a casino and I was all eyes when we went in. Slot machines everywhere, I mean hundreds of them and people were playing on them and it wasn't even 7:00! We were entertained by the winners' pictures, people who had won cars, one of them was particularly funny. We decided that the restaurant would be worth a try at some point. The restroom wasn't bad either. So back out on Riverside, we went over the Jenks bridge, waved at our Runner's World friends who were just finishing their 6 mile drop back run and we headed over past the aquarium and around Jenks. I was happy with my pace, I averaged 10:20 and didn't walk until the last couple of miles. I did stop too long at the water breaks though. I tried Honey Stingers for the first time and really liked them, good flavor and good energy. As we got closer to the end of our run, I dropped further back and as I came to 96th and Riverside, I wondered where the rest of my group went and suspected that they couldn't resist the Harvard hill. So I plodded on under Riverside and told myself that I would run up that hill. No worries, they went only to the bridge so I was safe. Yay! We ended up with 16 miles, I think they had 16.50 and it was a good run. I'm really stiff in my hips and getting antsy for fall marathons. We even began to plan for marathons we want to run in 2011.

The Storm that Passed Us By

My alarm went off at 4:15 and I groped around the house getting ready to leave. I had worked all night Thursday, read that as - worked from Thursday morning until Friday evening without sleeping and knew that this long run would be a struggle. Friday evening I could barely get my pizza eaten, lay out my running gear and drop into bed by 9:00. Because I am used to getting only 5 1/2 hrs. of sleep a night, I woke up at 2:30 and had difficulty going back to sleep. I ended up praying for a friend of mine who was grieving the recent loss of their adult child and dozed on and off until the alarm went off.

When I went out to the car, I was shocked to see raindrops and lightening in the sky. I debated about running but decided it would most likely pass over and headed out the Starbucks at 96th and Riverside. When I got there, Mary was checking the radar on her iphone and we decided to wait and let the storm pass. We didn't get any rain while we waited but we did see some lightening strikes.

We headed through Jenks at 5:30 and enjoyed a slight breeze and a little cooler temperatures. We did 5 miles through there and refreshed ourselves at Jenks Park. We headed out to the Creek to tackle some hills. The Harvard hill about did me in and then the one after it is like a slap in the face. The rest of the way to Yale isn't too bad and we stopped for some water and Gu. The route between Yale and Sheridan has a hefty hill and we plodded on to Memorial. Mary was running strong and I was really dogging it but I managed to keep running and I was grateful for that. At Memorial we visited with a cyclist who has run 28 marathons and had just done the Seattle marathon in June. He had run Chicago 3 times, Boston, New York and was running Big Sur.

The 3 1/2 miles back from Memorial wasn't too bad and my Garmin registered 12 as we completed the downhill part of the Harvard hill. Whew, I was glad that was over!

Since it was 8:30 we headed over to Riverside 5K to see Marv, Maryanne and Marolyn fiinsh and when we got there, they were already done. Maryanne had a PR and won her age group, Marv won his age group and Marolyn came in second, yea to you all for your results.

Next week-15 miles.

Quarter Marathon Report

I was wondering why we signed up for the "Double," both the quarter marathon and the 5K. I haven't been running well in the heat and hated to waste a race because of my lack of motivation. Saturday morning welcomed us with cloudy skies and raindrops at the end of the race. I won't say I "raced" but I put out a good effort and felt better about running than I have in awhile. I loved hearing Jack Wing make annoucements, what an inspiration he is and I'm so glad he's experiencing better health now. There was a great turnout for both races. I did ok for the 5K, at least finished under 30 min., which is a far cry for my PR, then I slowed down for the quarter and walked a couple of hills. I got to see the new medals for the Route 66 Marathon, they're really cool looking and they spin. http://www.route66marathon.com/latest-route-66-marathon-news/2010-williams-route-66-marathon-medals-revealed.html

This heat has been messing with my mind and I've been questioning my readiness for fall marathons. I still don't feel fresh but I cannot wait until the temperature drops 10 degrees and I can see how hard I push myself. We have 2 marathons scheduled for this fall, Outer Banks and St. Judes. Outer Banks should be easy because we are not going for a PR, we are supporting another runner. St. Judes should be a good marathon, others have told me they PR'd there. I still need to find a third marathon if I want to get my maniac status but I'm not sure I want to do that many.

Next week looks like it will be another suffocating time. Not much longer and I will be enjoying 70s, I can hardly wait. I remember when we were freezing last winter, sleet pelting our faces while we ran across the 71st street bridge. Hot and cold are equally unbearable and dangerous. I've been dehydrated this summer and played slip and slide on the ice in the winter. That's why I'm looking forward to the pleasureable fall weather.

I did take advantage of tax free weekend and got a new pair of running shoes. I have been wearing Adidas Supernova Classic for 2 years now and they have a new model Supernova Adapt, which has a very high arch, great for me. I tried on several other brands and ended up with the Brooks Adrenaline. http://www.brooksrunning.com/product/1200641B/123212/Adrenaline%20GTS%2010 They seemed more stable for me and I'll give them a trial run on Tuesday.