The Journey is Over

Today was the day!
My time was 1:55:46 so I reached my goal of breaking 2 hours! I am happy!
It was hard. I was doing good until a long gradual uphill climb for a large part of the 9th mile. That was the worst. I slowed to a crawl and lost the 3:45 pace group which I had been staying with. My mile split for that mile was 9:30. It took me some time to get myself going again. At the next water station I walked through it and kept on walking longer than it took to drink the water. I think I needed it. I saw a man pass me with a pace group tag on his back that said 4:30 and I panicked! I figured out that he was wayyyyy ahead of his pace group because there were no others with that tag on their backs.
I did not get all of my mile splits, I didn't always see the mile markers. What I did get is this:
1)8:56
2)8:39
3)8:31
4&5)17:20 (missed the 4th mile marker)
6)8:36
7&8) I got really messed up, I thought a relay exchange was the mile mark and then missed the
7th mile hit the button at the 8 mile mark so got back on track.
9)9:36
10)8:56
11)9:05
12)9:30
13.1)10:00

After mile 9 I was saying to myself that I am never doing this again. After I finished I was saying that I will run more half marathons but never this one again!!
I saw the marathon winner finish! When I finished the leader was at mile 24 and they predicted that he would be in at approx. 2:16 but he was in at 2:17. Hard to believe that someone ran 24 miles in the time it took me to run 13! I saw a couple more Kenyan marathon finishers, the first American man and the men's masters winner and the women's winner before I left the finish area. I got one of those silver blankets that I have seen pictures of! It really does feel warm when you wrap it around you!!

Last night was the time change so I got an extra hour to sleep and it was light out at 7:15am when the race started. I actually slept most of the night! I am not sure what the temp was but it was cold. I did not check my jacket and sweatshirt until 10 mins before the start. I wore light weight running pants but should have worn shorts. It wasn't that bad, I wasn't that much too warm but shorts would have been better.

After I left I could not get back to my hotel until noon because of the streets being closed. I did alot of standing around then we decided to drive around. I was riding with a friend who was staying at a different hotel but also could not get there because of the closed streets.

Soooooo, this journey is now over. I am so ready for a break from training. I still want to run but not train, if that makes any sense. I am looking forward to going to spinning class again! I will start agan next week, not this week. This week is rest my body week!

Laura, half marathoner!

3 days!! I am a bakset case!

I did my last run before my half marathon. I ran 5 miles and ran pretty good, just under 9 min pace.
I am becoming a basket case! I am worrying about everything now. Getting there, parking, getting to the expo, dinner, what am I going to wear, you name it I am worrying about it. A friend told me that is normal!
I got a massage on Monday. I haven't had one in a long time, it was nice. I have missed that.
I am so tired tonight. I know I need to get alot of sleep the next 2 nights because Saturday night I will probably not sleep much.
I know I am trained and ready now all I have to do is go out there and do it!!

One week from tonight I will be trying to sleep in my hotel room.

I wrote the following post on Saturday, Oct. 21st and saved it as a draft or something but it never got posted so here it is with the wong date on it. (I don't have this totally figured out yet!)

One week from right now I will be trying to sleep in my hotel room the night before my half marathon!!!
Today I went on my LAST long run before the half marathon! I ran 10 miles.
During the week this week I hit 900 miles for the year so far!! I don't know if I will make 1000 or not. I am at 913 now and will run about 10-12 this coming week plus the 13.1(so 23-25 total) and I cut wayyyy back between Thanksgiving and new years so I don't know if I can get 65 more miles in or not. I am not even worried about it. 2 weeks after the half marathon I am running in a turkey trot which involves running a 5K and an hour later a 10K, they add the times together. I don't know why I am doing it, got talked into it at one of the training runs I went to! It is put on by that running store. I will have run 14 races this year! The only other race I would do would be if I could find a new years eve 5K.

Less than 2 weeks!

Yesterday was 2 weeks out from the half marathon! I am ready for it to be over. We haven't been having the greatest weather so it just isn't as much fun to get out and run. The week before last I had 29 miles. I went to a marathon training run put on by a running store, it was a different one than I had went to before. This was huge. It was an "official" training run for the marathon/half marathon that I am running in. It was in a really big park and the main road running through it was closed off to traffic. It was a 20 mile course but you could run any distance. There was a map posted with instructions for running different distances. I read the plan for running 14 miles and thought I had it figured out but I messed up and miscalculated where I should have turned around and ended up running 16 miles instead of 14 and I hurt everywhere when I was done. My feet hurt so bad I could hardly walk. I went to my car and almost just left and went home instead of going over to where they had bagels, muffins and fruit and water, but I was hungry, thirsty and needed to use the restroom so I managed to get over there. I didn't run for 2 days after that but when I did run I ran good! I was worried that I had over done it and would end up with aches and pains that would not want to go away but I was fine. I ran in a nice park while my niece rollerbladed on Thursday, it was 41 degrees but it was very windy. I was really wishing my race was done with, I am not a cold weather runner. I got new shoes Friday!!!! I got Asics gel foundation VI. This is the first time I have ever worn Asics shoes. I don't care for the color at all, they are lavender and white. They were the most comfy of all the shoes I tried on and I tried on alot of them!! I had already run before I went to the running store so I didn't run in them until Saturday. They felt good, I like them. I think we will have a good 300-400 miles together!! I ran a 5 mile pace run which went good. I held between 8:40-8:50 pace! (8:43 average) Sunday I ran 14 miles on the roads around where I live. I definitely need to go somewhere for long runs like this. I didn't run as good as I should have. I really like the group runs. That is the last long long run before my half marathon. I think I will do 10 next Saturday then taper. This coming Sunday is the Chicago marathon, I have a couple of friends running it.

Done racing until Oct. 29

My 5K time was a bit disappointing on Sunday but I'll take it. I had a 24:30. I started way too far back. There were alot of barely jogging people lined up in front of me and a bunch of stroller pushers. I could not get through people. I was going sideways between people. I am thinking that alot of the people who lined up in front of me were in the 35+ minute range. I've never seen it this bad before. I can't blame my time entirely on that. I followed my half marathon training this week including speedwork (mile repeats) and a fast tempo run and only rested the day before the race so that could have hurt me. I felt good so I am not upset. My sister did great for her 1st 5K!!! She had 27:55. I was so proud of her! After the 5K I ran the kids mile run with my 4 yr old nephew. He ran faster than I thought he would. We did the mile in 10:30! He was so cute, he kept saying "we're passing people, Aunt Laura!!" He loved passing people! (his Aunt Laura loves passing people too!!) He only walked once and for only a few steps! It was alot of fun! Most races now have a kiddie run afterwards.
This will be my last race until the half marathon. It is also the last race in the series of races that I was running in. I did not run all of them but enough to get a shirt which I will get Saturday!! I will probably do a turkey trot race 2 weeks after the half marathon which will consist of running a 5K at 9am and a 10K at 10am, don't ask me why and don't ask me why I think I want to do it! That will be it for 2006 unless I can find a New Years Eve 5K but I doubt that, you don't see them around here anymore.


After the race I came home and ran 8 more miles. I needed the miles. The last 2 were really slow but other than that it went well. A major road near here is closed for repaving and the detour goes down my road and down another road that I run on quite a bit, sure makes alot more traffic and semis. It is only going to be for a short time but what a time for it to happen! I am running more miles than ever right now.

Yesterday I was going to do a 30 min tempo run as scheduled in my training plan but got out there and it was obvious that the only tempo I was going to be running was s-l-o-w! My legs felt as heavy as cement. It was a very slow 3 mile run. This afternoon I did the tempo run but could really feel it and I know I did not get up to the speed that I have been and could not hold it as long. I probably should have taken a day off. I will see how I feel tomorrow, I may take tomorrow off and maybe Friday too, I am going to do a training run on Saturday morning at a running store. (A different store then the other training runs that I did) and will run 14 or 15.

Ran with my sister today

Today I ran with my sister. We ran the course of the 5K we are running on Sunday. This will be her 1st 5K. Her goal is to break 30 minutes. When I ran my 1st 5K in June 2004 my goal was to break 30 minutes and I had 28:55. I think she will do fine.

Today was target tone class too. I went very light on weights, only 8 lbs, we did high reps today. Sometimes this trainer goes a little crazy! I feel like I did something but so far I am not sore.

I am still here and running!

I can't believe I haven't posted anything since the 4th and now it is the 25th. I have been training for my half marathon, things have been going good. Sometimes it is hard to get my runs in. I've been doing hill workouts on my hill. I got soaked a couple of weeks ago on a 6 mile run. It wasn't raining when I started out and started sprinkling when I was about 3 miles into the run and was only a half mile from home at that point but it wasn't bad so I continued on. The last 2 miles were in a hard steady rain. I looked like I was in a wet tshirt contest! My shirt was clinging to me and you could see through it! I went straight to the shower and took the hottest shower I could stand. After my shower I picked my clothes up off the floor and there was a puddle of water and my clothes were dripping!!
Sept 17th I ran an 8K race. I had never run 8K before but was going to try for an 8 minute pace. My time was 41:17 which is 8:19. Yesterday I ran a 10 mile race. I just ran it to practice my half marathon pace. My time was 1:28:03 which is 8:49 pace. I was hoping to be just a bit faster but I will take it. After the race I ran 4 extra miles. They left the water out on the course for another hour so people could run extra miles for training for half and whole marathons. Next Sunday is my last race before my half marathon. I am only doing it because my sister is running it, she just started running this summer and can run 3 miles now. Her goal is to break 30 minutes. I am going to run the course with her tomorrow. She lives very close to where this race takes place. My nephews are going to be running the kids runs which are after the 5K so I will run with them. One is running the kids mile and the other the kids dash, not sure how far it is but probably a 100 yd dash. I will then need to run 10 more miles that day. I want to get a good time on my 5K because it is the last race in this series of races that I have been running. I am considering doing a long run on Friday, not sure what I am going to do yet. I have some friends who will also be running this race who are training for half marathons too so I will see what they are going to do.

Yesterday was 5 weeks out from my half marathon! After the hotel fiasco in Mackinac City I confirmed that I did have a reservation at the hotel that is 4-tenths of a mile from the start of my half marathon and it is there!

Mackinac Bridge run

Today was the run across the Mackinac Bridge!! What an awesome experience! It was just beginning to get light when I started. The wheeling athletes started first and they were almost out of sight when the runners started, they started groups of about 30 at a time. The governor was standing on a platform with a red flag and would first ask a few people which county they were from then would say on your mark, get set, GO! I started at 6:46am and crossed the "finish line" at 7:28am so about 42 minutes, I didn't time myself, just looked at the time. I just jogged along taking everything in so I could remember it! A man who finished in front of me was wearing a Garmin and I asked him what distance it showed and he said 4.32 miles. It got more and more light as I went along and by the time I was at the highest point it was fully light out. The first part of the run was uphill then it was down hill, it was so cool running under the suspension lines and the towers that hold them up. It's a view I've never had before! We got a bottle of water, a little mini clif bar and a little bag of dried cherries as we finished. Then we had to line up along the sides of the bridge at the finish area and clap as people came in and finally the governor came in. There were several different color shirts and we had to get in groups according to the color of shirt we had and pictures were taken with the gov with each group. Then it was over. It was over so fast after looking forward to it and talking about it for 2 months. I walked back to the place where we left our cars and talked with quite a few people who were doing either the Detroit or the Chicago marathon. I met alot of people who are doing either the full or half in Detroit! A man told the funniest story while walking back to the cars! He said that when he ran his first half marathon he crossed the finish line and then people started screaming and clapping and he looked around and finally figured out that the marathon winner was coming in behind him! I am hoping that by the time the marathon winner comes in I will have already been in atleast a few minutes.
After I got back to my hotel and showered my daughter and I walked around Mackinaw City. I wore my run shirt (I didn't care that I had sweat in it while running, although I had worn another shirt under it) I had quite a few people ask me about it!! I was so proud to have run across!!
The drive home was not fun. There was so much traffic headed south. Had to slow down alot. I was so tired too. We left the hotel at 11am and it took a long time just to get back to 75 to get out of Mackinaw. We were both starving and there is nothing between Mackinaw City and Gaylord so we had lunch at Applebee's in Gaylord. I felt much better after lunch! She wanted to stop at Seashell City on the way back. Anyone who has travelled up north in Michigan has most likely seen the signs for Seashell City. I've never seen anything so dumb in my life!
We finally got home and I fell asleep for about an hour and a half.
I took some pictures on the bridge, I had a disposable camera, I am going to get a picture cd made when I get the pictures developed and will post some pictures when I get them. I hope they turn out.