Running for Jen

I was back at the gym this morning.  Thankfully, even though it was cold, they had the doors open so the paint fumes weren't so bad.  My mind didn't feel that tired, but my legs did.  I didn't push myself as hard as I did yesterday.  I kept the incline at 1.0 and allowed myself to get down to a walk after each mile, if I wanted to.  I still took up the pace for the most part.  Needless to say, I was happy to be done.  I am looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow.

I was back at the gym this morning for another early morning run.  Since I am suppose to be tapering a bit, I only ran 6 this morning instead of 7 miles. I ran a tempo run today, completing miles 3-6 at a 9:30 pace.  I felt good.

We started earlier this morning so that another girl from the group could join us this morning.  It was cold (low 40's) and dark, but overall it was a nice morning for a run.  It was very weird to be done after 10 miles, as I am tapering off in preparation for next weekend's marathon.  

It was so nice to sleep in this morning and then go for a run.  The weather was a tad cool, a little windy, but beautiful.  With the marathon just 6 days a way, I decided to get one more hilly workout in to get myself mentally ready for Saturday.  My run went well as I made sure that I ran every hill.  My overall time was 1:01:20, which I was happy with.  I had my music with me as well for the ride.

I took it to the gym this morning.  I felt a little tired, but not too bad.  I ran my typical run, but capped things at 6 miles, since I am supposed to be tapering off.  I completed the distance in under an hour, which I was happy about.

I had the opportunity to sleep in this morning since I had to take my dog Cuddles to the vet hospital for her follow-up appointment since her surgery.  I walked each dog first and then went for my run.  Since this was going to be my last run outside before the marathon, I chose to run a couple of the miles at marathon race pace.  I ran the first two miles at about a 10:30 pace. I then ran mile 3 at a pace of 9:23 and mile 4 at 9:35.  Miles 5 and 6 were both done at a 10:01 pace.  I felt good and ran up every hill.  Miles 3 and 4, the marathon-pace ones were both fairly flat.  Mile 4 would have been faster if I hadn't taken my mind off the pace.  Once I realized that I had wandered off mentally, I was able to get right back on pace.  I finished in just over an hour, which I was happy about.

I went to the gym today for my final run before the marathon.  I was a bit tired, but glad that I got up.  I didn't notice the paint smell today, which was a nice change of pace.  I took up the pace every mile, but didn't push too hard at the end.  I ran mile 5 at a 9:30 pace and split mile 6 between a 9:20 and then a 9:13 pace.  I felt good.  

This turned out to be a great day to run a marathon!  I finished with my second best time of 4:16:58 (chip time), which I am very happy about (distance on my watch ws 26.43).  I also ran a negative split, which I thought was very cool as well.  I am still confirming my age group placement, since the results are inaccurate.  I was 39 on the day of the race, but turned 40 today, the date the results were posted.  The results are showing that I was 40 on race day.  I just emailed them to see if they can change it. Update: They fixed it!

The weather was cold at the start, 33 degrees, but warmed up to the mid 50's by the time I finished. It was sunny and gorgeous.  The course was very cool as we ran the first 7 miles in Fort Benning and then the rest was an out and back on the local Riverwalk.  There were soldiers out everywhere cheering us on and thanking us along the way. 

I told myself going into this that I wanted to run relaxed, yet strong.  When this was done, I didn't want to have any regrets about my performance.  I started with the 4:25 pace group (the next highest was 4:10, but I didn't want to start to fast).  The pacer was a great guy named Sam that had so much energy.  He was a pleasure to run with, but I moved ahead after the first couple of miles since the pace seemed too slow.  I found a nice steady pace, keeping myself just ahead of the group.  Around mile 12,  a few of us started talking.  I wound up running with a guy named Tom, who had just run Chicago last month.  We wound up running the rest of the marathon together, which I know kept me on pace and if anything helped me kick it up a notch.  I never walked outside of the water stops, although we did stop for a restroom break at mile 16.  It was the fastest that I have ever gone to the bathroom and it was well worth it.  We picked up the pace for about a minute afterwards in the hopes of making up time.  I started to feel tired around mile 19, but we just kept counting down the miles.  I knew at this point that running with someone was going to make a huge difference.  We ran steady the whole rest of the way, but did try to pick it up during the last mile.  By the time we approached the last half mile, we stepped it up again.  Once I could see that finish line, I gave it everything I had.  It was very cool to finish out at the National Infantry Museum and have the soldier there giving our medal at the end, which looked like dogtags.  Overall, this was a great experience.

Well, today was first day of running since the marathon on Saturday.  Since I was only going 3 miles and knew that I should take it easy, I brought my dog, Rocky with me.  Overall, we both did just fine.  It was kind of cool out with a lot of wind. My legs felt alright, although they were tired by the end.  When I got home with him, I took my other dog Cuddles, out for a short walk.  I could feel the fatigue at that point.  It was nice to get back into the swing of things.  I look forward to running on Saturday with my friends again.

The original plan was to run about 6-7 miles this morning, therefore, getting 9 in and feeling good was really nice.  My friend and I just did our thing and didn't worry about pace or hills.  We were both content with the distance completed.  In the past, I haven't really run more than 5 or 6 miles the week after a marathon, so I was pleasantly surprised with how my legs felt.

After a pretty decent night's sleep, I decided to head out for a morning run. It was cool and blah outside, which means that it is a good time to run. I felt pretty good out there, making sure that I ran all of the hills.  My pace wasn't anything to write home about, but I wasn't concerned or focused on that at all.  My goal for the day was 5 miles as I slowly start to increase my mileage again.

After a lousy day of subbing, I came home, walked one dog and then took the other one on a three mile run.  I was tired, but knew that it would be good for both of us to get moving.  I didn't concern myself about a time and just made sure that we both felt good.

With today off, I had the opportunity to sleep in and then go for a run.  As I did the other day, I walked one dog first for about a mile, and then came home and ran with the other one.  We ran a pleasant 4.1 miles outside of one minor issue when we ran into another dog.  Embarrassingly, I had to pick mine up and cover his eyes until the other dog passed.  It was quite windy, but otherwise a nice day for a run.

It was in the upper 30's at the start of my run this morning.  My husband and the dogs were sleeping, so I thought that I would take advantage of the moment.  Unfortunately, my legs/ body didn't think that this was the best idea.  I wasn't hurting or anything like that, but when I got to the hills, my legs just wanted to walk.  I am not worried about it as I am still increasing my mileage up again from the marathon, which was almost two weeks ago.  I have no regrets doing it, but it just wasn't pretty.

It was actually warmer than we anticipated this morning.  We ran a slightly different route this morning so that we could check out the lights downtown.  It was really pretty.  We had a nice 10-mile run, which we capped off with a mile walk.

After a very long night of sleep, which was obviously needed, I finally got out the door for my run.  It was one of those mornings that I would have been better off just getting up, eating and then get out the door, but that didn't happen.  By the time I did get started, I was mentally out of it.  I walked most of the hills and was just happy to finish.

Due to lousy weather, I decided to run at the gym this morning.  I am glad that I did, because it has been raining most of the day and the temperatures are slowly dropping.  This was the first time that I have been on the treadmill since the marathon.  It felt fast at my slow, warm-up pace.  I decided to maintain a 10-minute mile for miles 2-4 and then picked it up a tad for the last mile.

I completed 5 sets of abdominal work afterwards, which included three sets of planks and two sets of crunches.

This was not what I would call a great run.  I don't even think that it was due to the lack of sleep, since I didn't feel sluggish.  Once again, when I got to a 10:00 minute/ mile pace, I just wanted to stay there.  I took it up by mile 5, due to a combination of wanting to and really needing to go to the restroom.  Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day.

I followed my run with 6 sets of abdominal exercises.