Boston Marathon Training: Week 3

I ran 7 miles in the rain on Tuesday and had to reroute my planned, relatively-flat route early on because of flooding on the greenway. 

Sat.:  13 miles on hilly roads; 9:13 average pace
Sun.: Day off
Mon.: 7 miles of hills in the rain; 9:16 average pace + 8 X 100 m strides
Tues.: 8 miles with 6 at an 8:14 average pace.  Christmas Eve morning run.
Wed.: Christmas; day off
Thurs.:  traveling; day off
Fri.: 4.84 miles; 9:47 average pace

Last week I ran on a local greenway that passes under the Triangle Expressway.  I was reminded why I recently made the move from that area of Apex to a newly developing area.  I used to run on that greenway before the six lane toll road was constructed and made its debut in Southwestern Wake County.  My family and I were content in our home.  When the road construction began, I grew nervous knowing that the road was close to my side of the subdivision.  When it opened my fears were confirmed.  From my once tranquil setting, I could hear the traffic from inside my house and outside when I ran and worked in the yard.  Time to move.

My family and I have been living in an apartment for four months while our new home is being built. It's been a long four months.  During this time I have become more grateful for what I once thought was a simple lifestyle in a house.

During the process of preparing our house for the market, showing the house, packing, moving belongings to a storage unit, and moving, I was not active on this blog.  One week I was barely able to work out.

This week on my long Saturday run, my task was to run on the roads.  I chose to run from my apartment to my new house and back.  My new neighborhood is hilly, and I will live at the bottom of a  hill.  I ran through the streets of my new neighborhood to my house, touched the front door, turned around and ran up that hill for the first time.  When rerouting my Monday run because of flooding, I ran back to the house and this time went inside to look around for a minute.  I emerged from the house and ran out into the rain for the first time...

Salted Caramel Gu Review

I saw the Salted Carmel Gu advertised somewhere and thought I'd like to try it.  I rarely deviate from the Chocolate Outrage flavor, but have been enjoying salted caramel treats lately, and I wanted to check this out.  I ran out of my stock of Chocolate Outrage and have yet to place an order for a box of GU along with new shoes, so I was in Dick's Sporting Goods to buy some GU. I felt lucky to find the new seasonal flavor and picked up a few packets along with my favorite.  I tried it on the trail and did not like it.  It did not taste like salted caramel or caramel or salt.  It was just sweet, sweet clear GU.  I didn't finish it and just barely had enough Gatorade to wash away the taste.

Boston Marathon Training: Week 2

Scene passing under 540 on a sunny, cool morning run on an Apex greenway near my old neighborhood.  

On the first day of winter, I began my long run in 55 degree weather in shorts and a t-shirt.  The weather was wild and varied this week with warm and cold days and dry and rainy conditions.

Sat.: 12 miles; 9:30 pace
Sun.: Day off
Mon.:  5 miles; 10 min. pace
Tues.:  7  miles; 4 at 8:14 pace
Wed.: Cycling class and weights
Thurs.:  6 miles; 9:17 pace
Fri.:  cycling and weights

Boston Marathon Training: Week 1

The American Tobacco Trail in Apex.

Saturday:  12 miles at 9:30 minute pace
Sunday:  rest
Monday:  5 miles at 10:00 minute pace, recovery run
Tuesday: 5 mile Fartlek Run with 6 sets of 2 minutes up tempo and 2 minute jogs (I did on treadmill, and it should have been 6 miles.)
Wednesday: cycling class and weight training
Thursday: 6 mile general aerobic run at 9:30 pace (I chose a hilly route)
Friday:  cycling class and weight training

*My coach developed my training plan based on my past and recent running history, my ability and goals, and the rigors of the Boston course.

I receive Runnersworld.com's DAILY KICK IN THE BUTT e-mail each day.  This week I took note of a quote by Jenny Simpson, an American middle distance and steeple chase runner, "The secret to racing is not about digging deep for more than you're capable of, it's about knowing exactly what you're capable of."

Training Begins for the 2014 Boston Marathon

I began training for the 2014 Boston Marathon yesterday with a 12 mile run with a friend on the American Tobacco Trail in Apex, NC.  Running in the upcoming 118th Boston Marathon to be held on April 21 is bigger than fulfilling a personal goal or dream.  Running in this race will be not only for my healing, but also to honor the proud and strong city of Boston and her residents and for all those who were injured and lost their lives in relation to the Boston Marathon bombings this year.

I learned I qualified to return to the race several days after the bombings.  I didn't know how I felt about returning at the time, but I soon decided it is what I must do.  Many, many others wanted to do the same, and we waited to learn about the Fall registration process and the number of entrants that would be accepted after leaders promised that the race would come back bigger and better.
I had qualified by a comfortable amount of time, but not too comfortable.  I reasoned that if it was meant for me to be back, the size of the decided upon field would allow for my entry.

Eventually the Boston Athletic Association announced that it would expand the field of runners from 27,000 to 36,000 -- the largest field since the 100th anniversary of the race.  That gave me hope that I might be able to get a spot at the starting line.  As it should be, the first to be able to register were the thousands of runners who were stopped on the course and unable to complete the race.  This still left a few extra thousand spots to help with the increase in demand to run the race.  When registration opened for everyone else on a Monday, beginning with those who qualified by 20 minutes or more, I got a little nervous again and began counting the numbers.  Those qualifiers took 4,000 spots. Wednesday the process opened to those who qualified by 10 minutes or more. Finally, 10AM on Friday, Sept. 13 arrived for those of us who qualified by 5 minutes or more, and I completed the entry process as soon as was possible.  Then I went for a long run.

That night while attending a Taylor Swift concert with my seven-year-old daughter and our friends, I was checking e-mail during the opening act (sorry Ed Sheeran) and saw an e-mail from the BAA.  It was a note of acceptance.  While young fans around me were screaming at the concert, I celebrated loudly with my runner friend whose daughter adores Taylor while everyone else around us must have thought I am a huge fan of either Ed or Taylor.

The next week I watched as those closest to the cut off time for qualifying registered.  I read FaceBook posts of those who were optimistic and nervous.  There was not enough room for all of those qualifiers.  Some who had run the race last year and qualified did not get a spot.  During that week of waiting, I had felt as they had, and I knew I would be devastated if I could not run the race. After it was confirmed that some qualifiers did not get a spot, and I heard later through the grapevine (erroneously) that another runner had received a letter of confirmation, I got confused and started doubting that I was actually a registrant.  This period of time was short lived but intense. The BAA had communicated that registrants would receive a letter of confirmation in the mail in the coming weeks.  I did not feel quite right until that letter came in the mail on October 31.

As I go forward with training, I have a joyful heart knowing that this race is more about representing American resilience than about any possible personal goal that I could set for myself.  When the runs seem cold, dark, long, lonely, hard or endless, I will pull out my "This is for Boston" mantra with new meaning.  And before each run, just as I did on the first day of training, I will say a prayer for all those who were affected and for continued healing for us all.