Somehow, The Marathon Returned - comments welcome!

[GollyGadget]

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Have a great race!

 

[nancipants]

(Almost) nailed it.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Congrats! Great job!!

 

[avondale]

Congratulations on your race! Waiting to hear your report on it....

 

[nancipants]

Amelia Island Half Marathon

I decided to run the Amelia Island half marathon as I have a close friend who Iives in the area and I’d heard good things about the race (both from Jack from Rise and Run who did a video about the race a few years ago, and Coach Twiggs who lives in the area). (and yes, my friend and Coach Twiggs know each other. It’s a small town. ) We drove up Saturday and arrived about 2 pm. We got our hotel room (literally across the street from the race start/finish, it was perfect) and let my son go run on the beach because he was stir crazy from being in the car for 4+ hours (me, too!). My husband stayed with him while I walked to get my bib. I also got a hat. After that, we went to my friend’s house for dinner and my son played with her twins. We went back to the hotel early since we all needed sleep. (Side note: my husband and I were up super late the night before because he is a huge Seattle Mariners fan and they were in a do or die playoff game, that didn’t end until the FIFTEENTH inning. And since they actually won, he of course was too excited to fall asleep.) I had my usual stress dreams where I overslept and missed the race, and then my alarm went off at 5:45. I could’ve gotten up later but my son is an early riser anyway and I don’t like to rush before a race.

After getting ready, I walked to the start area and got in line for the portas. In retrospect, I could have stayed in the hotel lobby until like 5 min before race start and just used the bathrooms there! I pushed my way through the start chute to the 2:45 group and hoped I’d stay with them throughout the race. Spoilers: I did not.

Previously I had decided to run with the 3 hour pace group. But we had a cool front come through and the temps at race start were actually in the 60s! So I texted Coach to ask if 2:45 was feasible. He said go for it. I stayed with the group for the first two miles, but they were going way too fast for me. Like around 12 min miles. I knew I couldn’t sustain that for 13 miles. So I slowly started falling back. Another woman did the same and we got to talking. We stuck to the pace group intervals but slowed down to around 12:30 pace, which felt much easier. Her name was Tonya and she runs with the Jacksonville Galloway group. It was nice to have someone to chat with after falling off the group, and kept me from feeling defeated.

Once we got on the unpacked greenway portion of the course, we lost sight of the pace group completely, except for at the turnaround on that section. We slowed down to low 13s for the next 3-ish miles because the ground was uneven and we didn’t want to trip. Once we got back to the pavement, we sped up again and were in the mid-high 12s. It got hard to run together because the roads weren’t closed and we had to run single file, but we stuck together until the last 5k or so, when we both had our headphones on and were digging deep to finish. We went up a causeway bridge which sucked but the view from the top was beautiful. Then we ran the rest of the way through the fort, with beautiful SHADY trees. It really made the race so much “easier.” At this point I turned on my Western Way playlist because I was really tempted to slow down but my avg pace was still showing close to the 2:45 finish time pace and I wanted to see what I could do. Those songs pushed me through and when we were getting to the exit of the fort, I could see the 2:45 group ahead! I wondered if I could catch them, glanced as my current pace and heart rate (zone 4), as well as the mileage (still not at 13) and decided, NOPE. Thankfully, we were almost done, and once we left the fort it was literally two left turns and we were done. I saw my husband and son on the corner before the finish line and they cheered me in. I stopped my watch and it was 2:45:52. SO CLOSE!!! I had no intentions of trying to PR this race and am so happy with the results. My magic mile prediction is 2:42 and I have no doubt I can reach that with a completely paved course and even cooler weather.

Afterwards, we went back to the room, I put my legs up the wall while watching the end of the Chicago Marathon (go Conner Mantz!!!), then took a shower while my son and husband went to the pool. I joined them and enjoyed the hot tub and freezing cold pool water. The rest of the day was spent at the beach, playground, friend’s house, and bed. Not necessarily in that order. Now I am in bed again and very I don’t have to wake up early tomorrow!

This was a great race overall and I’m pretty sure I’ll be back! Here’s some photos. I totally forgot to take a pic with just me and my medal after the race. OOPS.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Great job! I needed this post from you so I can get motivated to do my training.


I’m dying at the Seattle/Detroit game comment because we were also up until freaking 1am watching that dumpster fire. When they put Kanhle in I looked at DH and said “we are losing this” because he has been terrible for the past 2 months. It was disappointing to be right.

 

[nancipants]

I’m dying at the Seattle/Detroit game comment because we were also up until freaking 1am watching that dumpster fire. When they put Kanhle in I looked at DH and said “we are losing this” because he has been terrible for the past 2 months. It was disappointing to be right.

My husband says it is the dumbest game he has ever watched. How many times did both teams get runners on base only to wiff it??? I finally went to bed after the 13th and woke up when I heard DH yell “oh my god!!!” I ran out into the living room and he was like “they won?!?!” Poor guy is not used to that.

I already promised him I’d watch every game if they get to the WS, BUT NOT IF THEY PLAY 15 INNINGS ALL THE TIME.

 

[col1]

Amelia Island Half Marathon

I decided to run the Amelia Island half marathon as I have a close friend who Iives in the area and I’d heard good things about the race (both from Jack from Rise and Run who did a video about the race a few years ago, and Coach Twiggs who lives in the area). (and yes, my friend and Coach Twiggs know each other. It’s a small town. ) We drove up Saturday and arrived about 2 pm. We got our hotel room (literally across the street from the race start/finish, it was perfect) and let my son go run on the beach because he was stir crazy from being in the car for 4+ hours (me, too!). My husband stayed with him while I walked to get my bib. I also got a hat. After that, we went to my friend’s house for dinner and my son played with her twins. We went back to the hotel early since we all needed sleep. (Side note: my husband and I were up super late the night before because he is a huge Seattle Mariners fan and they were in a do or die playoff game, that didn’t end until the FIFTEENTH inning. And since they actually won, he of course was too excited to fall asleep.) I had my usual stress dreams where I overslept and missed the race, and then my alarm went off at 5:45. I could’ve gotten up later but my son is an early riser anyway and I don’t like to rush before a race.

After getting ready, I walked to the start area and got in line for the portas. In retrospect, I could have stayed in the hotel lobby until like 5 min before race start and just used the bathrooms there! I pushed my way through the start chute to the 2:45 group and hoped I’d stay with them throughout the race. Spoilers: I did not.

Previously I had decided to run with the 3 hour pace group. But we had a cool front come through and the temps at race start were actually in the 60s! So I texted Coach to ask if 2:45 was feasible. He said go for it. I stayed with the group for the first two miles, but they were going way too fast for me. Like around 12 min miles. I knew I couldn’t sustain that for 13 miles. So I slowly started falling back. Another woman did the same and we got to talking. We stuck to the pace group intervals but slowed down to around 12:30 pace, which felt much easier. Her name was Tonya and she runs with the Jacksonville Galloway group. It was nice to have someone to chat with after falling off the group, and kept me from feeling defeated.

Once we got on the unpacked greenway portion of the course, we lost sight of the pace group completely, except for at the turnaround on that section. We slowed down to low 13s for the next 3-ish miles because the ground was uneven and we didn’t want to trip. Once we got back to the pavement, we sped up again and were in the mid-high 12s. It got hard to run together because the roads weren’t closed and we had to run single file, but we stuck together until the last 5k or so, when we both had our headphones on and were digging deep to finish. We went up a causeway bridge which sucked but the view from the top was beautiful. Then we ran the rest of the way through the fort, with beautiful SHADY trees. It really made the race so much “easier.” At this point I turned on my Western Way playlist because I was really tempted to slow down but my avg pace was still showing close to the 2:45 finish time pace and I wanted to see what I could do. Those songs pushed me through and when we were getting to the exit of the fort, I could see the 2:45 group ahead! I wondered if I could catch them, glanced as my current pace and heart rate (zone 4), as well as the mileage (still not at 13) and decided, NOPE. Thankfully, we were almost done, and once we left the fort it was literally two left turns and we were done. I saw my husband and son on the corner before the finish line and they cheered me in. I stopped my watch and it was 2:45:52. SO CLOSE!!! I had no intentions of trying to PR this race and am so happy with the results. My magic mile prediction is 2:42 and I have no doubt I can reach that with a completely paved course and even cooler weather.

Afterwards, we went back to the room, I put my legs up the wall while watching the end of the Chicago Marathon (go Conner Mantz!!!), then took a shower while my son and husband went to the pool. I joined them and enjoyed the hot tub and freezing cold pool water. The rest of the day was spent at the beach, playground, friend’s house, and bed. Not necessarily in that order. Now I am in bed again and very I don’t have to wake up early tomorrow!

This was a great race overall and I’m pretty sure I’ll be back! Here’s some photos. I totally forgot to take a pic with just me and my medal after the race. OOPS.

Congratulations on a great race

 

[superchime]

Congratulations on your race!!

 

[avondale]

Congratulations again on a great race! Nice race report - sounds like you also had a pleasant race experience, which is a bonus.

 

[nancipants]

Congrats! Great job!!

Thank you!

Congratulations on a great race

Thanks!

Congratulations on your race!!

Thanks! Glad to “see” you!

Congratulations again on a great race! Nice race report - sounds like you also had a pleasant race experience, which is a bonus.

Thank you! It was a really nice course and despite pushing myself hard, I still enjoyed the race. It helped that the weather cooperated and wasn’t expecting a PR and got a big one.

 

[nancipants]

Well, after a great race, this last week has been kind of a garbage fire. My left hip/quad has been sore, and a few days ago my knee joined in the fun. I had a short recovery run on Tuesday and hills on Thursday. Both were hard! Plus, I had stressful stuff going on with my mom and had a few bad nights of sleep. And my kid was sick on Wednesday/my husband on Thursday. Thankfully, I did not catch it myself.

Today was my 23 mile long run. It was hard. I don’t know how I ran 12:40 avg pace last week and this week it was a struggle to stay above 15:00. Plus, my tummy was very unhappy this morning and I had a very unfortunate incident that I will not detail here. But I’m very glad I carry wipes with me.

I started a little after 5:30 am, ran close to my house until it got light out, then ran around the rest of my neighborhood and up and down the main road for a short distance until I got to 17 miles. I stopped at my house twice to refuel, put on sunscreen, get my visor and sunglasses, and cool off. It got too hot to finish outside so I did the remaining 6 miles on the treadmill. I don’t know why I find it so much harder to walk on the treadmill than outside, but I do. It was a struggle to get through them and I walked a bunch and did the last mile extremely slow. But I finished.

I have two more loooong runs - 26 miles the Sunday before Thanksgiving that I plan to do at a local park (after it gets light out). I’ll set up my car as an aid station and try to mimic the Disney marathon as much as possible. (Stopping at water fountains a little less than 1.5 miles, stopping for bananas around mile 13.5 and 17.5.) I hope the weather is a little cooler then so I can do the entire run outside. My December run is 29 miles and I’m doing that at Disney. It will probably take me all day but I’ll have lots of distractions and stop for park breaks with my husband and kid. Of course right now I’m questioning how I can run that far again but The November run should be a little better, hopefully, since it won’t be the week after a hard half marathon. But the December one is a week after I run two halfs six days apart, with the second one potentially a PR effort. At least I’ll be distracted!!!

 

[WillRunForPizza]

I have never run 23 miles in training. But I imagine that doing it a week after racing a half would be quite difficult.

 

[nancipants]

I have never run 23 miles in training. But I imagine that doing it a week after racing a half would be quite difficult.

Yeah, originally that was NOT the plan. But when the weather gods shine on you in Florida, you gotta take advantage.

 

[avondale]

I always find it extra hard to run or even brisk walk on the treadmill after I've already been running and I'm tired. I feel you on that one!

I did do a 22-mile training run before my first marathon because I was worried the standard 20-miler wasn't "close enough" to race distance. Not sure if it helped in the end or not. But it wasn't part of Dopey, either.