Fair warning - this will be long! In case you don’t want to read - here is short version = It was a really good day!!!
It has been a whirlwind of a week. The family got back from DW last night and I have been, very slowly, unpacking. Waiting for my dog to wake up so I can take him on a walk before I need to head out to the hospital - I have to have blood drawn and an EKG as part of the prep for next week’s surgery for an abdominal hernia. Luckily it has really not limited me at all and MW went very well. The surgery sounds pretty low key and I will be out of the hospital the same day. The only real bummer is I have to take at least 2 weeks off from running post surgery which means I will miss the beginning of my training plan for Spring Surprise and transition to the Fargo Marathon in May.
But the good news, most of January was already planned as recovery with minimal mileage anyway, so I will not miss a lot.
Dopey 2023 ended up being a great weekend! My goals were in short: enjoy the weekend, stay injury free and post a sub 5 marathon time. I was able to make this happen on all accounts! Here were my times:
- 5K: 29:44
- 10K: 1:01.55
- Half: 2:27.24
- Full: 4:40.46!!!!
I am very happy with this outcome. I was running pretty hard in both the 5K and 10K, but not all out, I had much more I could have given in both of those races. In the Half I went very easy. Ran it with my daughter, we made several stops and simply took in the environment, so even though that time is my second slowest Half I still would not trade it for anything. Bottom line it was time with my daughter that I will cherish!
Then the Full. To be honest I was VERY nervous about this race. Not the distance, I know I can run a marathon. But since 2018 I have really struggled to put a solid marathon race together. In 2018 I seriously injured my perineal tendon; the term the doctor used was splayed. It had ruptured and “splayed out like strings of angel hair pasta” - that quote has always stuck with me. Prior to the injury I had been building speed and distance, closing in on a sub 4 marathon at 4:04.35 and running multiple ultras 50 milers and one 100K.
It took me two years to be able to really run again. I gained weight, got a little older and I got slower. So I have really struggled to stay positive. When I started this journal it was to hopefully create more accountability to complete my workouts and I hoped end in better race results. When the NYCM did not go well I was really shook. So you can imagine how anxious I was Sunday morning!
However I am very happy with my results. I stayed true to my training plan, I stayed true to the run/walk/run method and I showed real improvement and came out injury free! It was a really good day. My basic goal was 10:45/Mile, these are my splits.
Mile 1 - 10:46
Mile 2 - 10:46
Mile 3 - 11:13
Mile 4 - 10:07
Mile 5 - 10:26
Mile 6 - 10:34
Mile 7 - 10:44
Mile 8 - 10:21
Mile 9 - 10:31
Mile 10 - 10:24
Mile 11 - 10:14
Mile 12 - 10:31
Mile 13 - 11:37 (stopped for Dopey)
Mile 14 - 10:24
Mile 15 - 10:31
Mile 16 - 10:17
Mile 17 - 10:26
Mile 18 - 10:34
Mile 19 - 10:17
Mile 20 - 10:34
Mile 21 - 10:29
Mile 22 - 10:29
Mile 23 - 10:44 (starting to hurt, shifted from 4:00/:30 to 2:00/:30)
Mile 24 - 10:52
Mile 25 - 10:39
Mile 26 - 10:12
I stayed pretty consistent and actually had a negative split! I finished around 9:45am and the weather had not turned yet. I held my intervals until btwn mile 23/24. But in shifting to a reduced run time I was able to keep pace up. I finished with my strongest mile of the day. Certainly I was feeling it at the end, but I know I have more in me. I need to continue to build fitness, shed a few pounds and I think I can get under 4:30.
It was a great weekend and I am looking forward to 2024.
