solar squirrel

Sunday was the Portage Lakes Triathlon - after ‘resting’ all week (6 days without running because of ITB issues) I decided that I could go ahead and let myself do a triathlon - after all, the run was only 6.2 miles. I haven’t biked since GCT (a month ago) and I seriously cannot remember the last time I swam - it was well over a month ago (swim was canceled at GCT). So - basically I was going into this in a fairly unprepared state. Whatever, I knew it was a fun race so I was just ready to go out and have a good time. I talked Todd into doing the Duathlon, which he wasn’t training for; so we both were just going to have fun.

Todd started the duathlon about 30 min before my swim wave start, so I got to see him take off - my dad was there too, taking video of the entire thing. Todd looked strong and I figured he would probably place in his age group even without training. After we watched all of the duathletes start, my dad and I headed down to the lake to watch the first swim waves start. My wave was one of the last ones - all of the Olympic distance women started at the same time. There were about 30 of us - not too many, but enough that it would be crowded in the water at the start. I should have started in the front, but I let a lot of people stand in front of me and when they started us I was stuck behind a ton of people kicking me. Aargh! I hate that! It is the weirdest thing because you have all these arms and legs everywhere and you are trying not to get kicked but at the same time keep track of where the next buoy is so that you don’t get off course - OH - and there was seaweed EVERYWHERE!!! It kept getting caught in-between my fingers and in my nose-plug string. It was hilarious! I almost laughed out loud because I was thinking about telling Todd that there were barnacles - I guess I don’t even know what a barnacle is, but I know that the name is funny and that’s the first word that came in my head while I was swimming. So anyway - I was dodging barnacles (seaweed) and lots of appendages and it just really got my rhythm off. Needless to say my swim time was not that great - towards the 2nd loop of the swim it finally thinned out enough that I was able to get into a better rhythm, but by that time there wasn’t enough distance for me to really make up enough time. Oh well, I didn’t drown.

Coming out of the swim I felt strong and I was able to get into transition area rather quickly. All swiftness on my part faded (as usual) in transition. My dad was there in transition video taping me - so I was able to see FIRST HAND how freakin’ slow I am in transition!!!! I will have to see if I can edit out that part of the video and post it - I am so slow - putting on my shoes and socks, and my gloves and helmet…like - I feel like I’m being sort-of fast when I’m doing it, but watching it I look like I’m going in slow motion! It’s like I don’t know what to do next - I definitely need to practice if I want to get serious. To add to the long transition was the fact that I couldn’t find my dumb bike - the rows were super crowded and they were labeled with letters rather than numbers, and I couldn’t remember if they were in alphabetical order from the entrance or exit.

The bike was pretty uneventful, except for the fact that it was raining lightly, which made the road slick and made me afraid of falling. I went back and forth with this lady for a while - she was faster on the flats and downhills and I was faster on the up-hills, so we kept passing each other. Finally she got in front of me at the end and I never did catch back up to her. I decided I would rather live and let her pass me than die from slipping on wet pavement and getting hit by a car. (The roads were pretty empty, though, which was good). My bike to run transition was no better than swim to bike - not sure what the hold up was but comparing my time to other people it was embarrassingly much slower. Again - I felt strong starting the run - it was almost like my legs were getting let out of a cage after being pent up. I was talking and cheering people on the entire time - I saw Todd at about the 3 mile mark and he told me there was a girl ahead and to pass her, which I of course did. He told me I looked strong - I felt great! Unfortunately, around mile 3 my dumb knee started to feel weird - but I still felt good - it didn’t seem to hinder my performance any - but it was still very depressing to feel a dull pain with every step. I was still running great, though, passing quite a few people - I got passed by a few guys, but that’s it. The pain wasn’t enough to slow me down or cause me to change my running (at least I don’t think it did); but just the presence of it probably messed me up psychologically. I had my eye on the lady that passed me on the bike, and I think I could have passed her had I been more mentally strong. After the knee pain I decided to maintain my pace, rather than pick it up and risk possibly hurting myself, so I didn’t catch her. I finished with a 2:33, which at the time I thought was a 2:57 because I was going on the finish clock time - duh - my wave started a half hour AFTER they started the clock! I took 3rd in my age group, and Todd took 2nd in his - so we both got cute little medals!

Here are my splits:

Swim 1500 meters - 28:08
T1 - 3:37
Bike - 40K - 1:11:31 (20.8 mph)
T2 - 2:12
Run - 10K - 48:06 (7:46 pace/mile)

Total time: 2:33:35
3rd Place in my age group.

I guess I’m happy with this - considering all of the circumstances. Now I need to figure out what the heck is going on with my knee (almost 100% sure it’s ITB). I see the Dr. tomorrow - stay tuned!

I’ve been meaning to give a more detailed recap of the greater cleveland half ironman that I did last week. First of all - the day started EARLY - I had to wake up at 4 am. in order to get there in time to get all of my stuff ready in transition (transition area closed at 6:45). Well, no sooner do I get my bike out of my car then some guy walks by and tells me that they canceled the swim. What? Ugh…darn it. That means it’s not going to be a triathlon! Oh well, can’t blame them that the lake was choppy and they didn’t want us to drown. So I find out that we’re going to do a 1.2 mile run instead, which means that I want to warm up before the start. Scheduled start for the 1/2 iron was moved up to 7:30, so Janet and I decided to do a warmup beforehand. On our way back to the start all of these people start running towards us - but it wasn’t 7:30 yet - so I thought did they just start the guys first? Nope. They started the race early. So Janet and I sprint back to the start and then turn around and run after everyone else. I would guess we were about 3 min. behind at this point. So I get to my bike stuff and there is Steve right next to my stuff - I thought I only had girls next to me, but maybe he squeezed in after I had already had my stuff setup - nope - he just went to the wrong row. Although it sure was funny seeing his giant running shoes sitting there with my stuff. So I get on my bike and Janet flies out of transition ahead of me. I’m thinking - I’ll just try to keep her in site on the bike, because there is no way I’m in as good of biking shape as she is. Then not even 500 ft. out of the transition area there she is off of her bike. I thought she had fallen or something - but no, she got a flat tire already!!! I felt SO bad for her. What a way to start the bike. So I just go off by myself, trying to get into a rhythm. It never happened. The bike was VERY tough for me for some reason. After 30 miles I was just done. I knew exactly how many miles I had to go because I had on my garmin (actually had it on run mode so I was getting an alert every mile…) so I was fully aware of how many more miles I had to go. I was SO tired and not only did my shoulders hurt which always happens on the bike, but my hamstrings were not happy AT ALL. Finally the bike was over at pretty much exactly 56 miles according to Garmin, and I headed back to transition area. I stood there for a few min trying to stretch out my neck and then I switched shoes and headed out for 13.1 miles of bliss!

Why do I look like I’m scared?!?!

Wouldn’t you know it - there was Elizabeth and Melissa out cheering us on. Those girls ROCK. I was pretty tired when I first saw Elizabeth, but I tried to look like I wasn’t. She was cheering and screaming like crazy and I was super happy that she was out there. She ran with me for about 1/2 a mile and then said she would see me later because she was afraid that she would get in trouble for running with me. I said ok, and just tried to keep a pace that didn’t feel like it would kill me. The majority of the race was me trying not to think about the fact that I had to run 13.1 miles. Going from bike to run is NOT EASY. It’s definitely a feeling that you have to get used to, and since I had done a total of 0 brick workouts in preparation for this race, I was NOT used to it. I just kept on trotting along - and then Elizabeth caught up with me and ran with me, which helped me A LOT because she was talking. I can’t really remember all of what she was talking about, but it was nice to have her running with me. It made it easier for sure. I got a side stitch and she walked with me, and was very encouraging the whole time telling me she was impressed that I wasn’t complaining. (I just learned to keep it inside - trust me I was in pain.) We saw Janet and I only had about 3 miles left, so Elizabeth went out with her and I finished up the rest on my own. I think final finish time was 5:04 - OMG - I just checked online and they have posted splits - and how completely AWFUL - because of the early start that Janet and I missed, my first 1.2 miles took me 10:43!!!!! That is absolutely hilarious!!! Janet and I had our garmins on and I think the first mile was ~6:40 for us. Oh well. So I’m going to say that my time was exactly 5 hours for this triathlon.

I look like I’m sleeping - that’s how tired I was…

Looking at my splits - I’m pretty happy with my performance, and no wonder I was in so much pain on the bike - my speed was 18.7 mph! That’s pretty fast for me. I’m also happy with my transition times, which aren’t that great in general, but for me they are good compared to what they usually are (I think at Steelhead one of my transition times was like 7 min…tee hee). So here are my splits (GCT - sorry I complained that you didn’t have splits - I guess it just took you a little longer to post them to your website):

Greater Cleveland Half Iron Triathlon 2008

Run 1.2 miles (swim replacement): 10:43 (really it was probably ~7 min)
T1: 1:39
Bike 56 miles: 2:59:37 / 18.7 mph
T2: 2:17
Run 13.1 miles: 1:50:19 / 8:25 pace

Finish Time: 5:04:35

Here’s a link to the online results.

Now onto some more fun stuff - the Twilight Trail Run! Elizabeth, Melissa, Janet and I all did this one last year and had a complete blast, so of course we decided to do it again. This year Elizabeth and I returned as team Two Trail Freaks confident we would take first.

Two Trail Freaks took FIRST PLACE again, baby!!!! (Yes - that IS sweat.)

Actually, Elizabeth was confident for 1st place, I was a little worried since, oh, you know, she’s WAY faster than me!!! So I was nervous that I would cause us to loose - but not too nervous since Elizabeth was sore from an upper-body workout so if she tried to beat me up I could easily take her. Hahahaha.

We did about 15 min. of warming up and then headed over to the start to watch all the old people go first. (This race is unique in that they do staggered start based on gender and age.) Our team started with the 18-39 women group. I could have started earlier since they had me down as 46 years old - but I decided that would be cheating and started with my real age group. They started us and immediately Elizabeth was out in front - I stayed with her for about 1/4 mile and then settled into a pace that I was able to keep relatively comfortably. The first mile has a nice big hill and Janet caught me on it and passed me (I’m just not good on hills). Once we got to the top I caught her and we stayed with each other the whole time. I was sure she was going to pass me at any moment but I just tried to keep a consistent pace so that I could have my final kick at the end. This race is so awesome because it’s all on the bridal trails at N. Chagrin Reservation. There is one really steep up-hill and several rolling hills with one steep down-hill. The big down-hill is near Squire’s Castle and my toe was killing me as I flew down it - I kept thinking of how lovely my black toe was going to look after this! Janet stayed right on my back the whole time! I was sure I would loose her on the downs because I have gotten pretty good at them, but she was right next to me the entire time pushing me to keep my pace and not slack even though I was getting tired. I knew we were close after Squire’s Castle, because it’s where we warmed up, so I picked it up a little bit - not realizing they were going to make us do a big loop in the grass at the end! I am VERY disappointed that this dumb guy flew past me at the end and I didn’t have anything left to race him. Darn it! If there is one thing that I will not stand for is some guy beating me with only a few hundred feet left in the race and I just didn’t have anything left at that point. Blah. I think my finish time was 37:00 exactly based on garmin, which is a 7:26 pace. I wish I would have been a little faster than that, but at least it’s faster than last year’s time. Janet finished right behind me, maybe one or two seconds behind. It was great that we pushed each other, because I really think I would have slowed down if she wouldn’t have been running with me. Elizabeth is screaming to us from the finish something about ‘I already chugged a beer!!’ So I finish and the guy hands me a beer and I’m like - man do I love this race! In came Melissa and Laura and Bridget and all the rest of our buds. I think Janet even cheered for peanut as Laura was finishing! (Laura is a super fast hard-core runner who is pregnant and she calls the baby ‘peanut’). Todd of course did great and finished in 33 min. probably not even trying to run hard and stopping to gather spiders and walking half of it. (I’m exaggerating here, but it sure seems like he barely tries and still runs super fast!!)

Don’t I look glamorous?! Elizabeth said to take a ‘funny’ pic. too bad I was the only one who posed like a FREAK!

So they did the awards and Two Trail Freaks took FIRST female team! Sweet! We each got a certificate for any pair of Saucony running shoes that we want! How cool is that? This race is awesome. They have a cheap entry ($20); great stuff (headlamp and do-rag); great prizes; great food and beer; great well-marked course; and a great cause. Anyone reading this MUST do this race next year!

Todd took the last brownie but was so kind as to share it with me… OINK - OINK!!

Ok - that wraps up the last two races I have done.  Now it’s time to get serious with my Towpath marathon training.  I want to qualify for Boston!

Yesterday I decided to do a trail race, not really as a race, but more of a training run. Bridget was doing it and Todd thought it would be fun, too. E-Speed and Daisy joined and even Barb was there! It was awesome to have so many of the SERC running girls (and Todd) represented!

Before even starting I was sweaty and overheated, so I knew it was a smart move to treat this as a training run and not push myself too hard. Besides, I was going at a pretty hard effort biking to and from work yesterday, so I was still a little tired. (Oh - and eating Mexican food and drinking a huge margarita at 9 pm the night before didn’t help much either!!) Daisy and Bridget had the same idea, but of course E-Speed was out to win it! First 500 feet of the race she was out of site. Daisy and I stayed together talking for about the first 3 miles and then I started to say something to her and she wasn’t behind me anymore…she basically biked a century the day before so her legs were more shot than mine. I figured I would just stick with these other 4 girls in front of me for a while - but even their pace was a bit slow for me so I ended up passing them. It was cute because this one girl and I kept going back and forth between who was in front. I would pass her on the flats and downhills and she would pass me on the up-hills (I walked all of the up-hills). Then at the first 5 mile mark (and the 5-mile finish) she picked up her pace and passed me on the flat part on the grass and I realized that she wasn’t even doing the 10-miler. Darn it. There went my running partner. So I was pretty much alone for the 2nd 5-mile loop. It was boring because there wasn’t anyone around for a while. Eventually I got to some guys but I passed them, then I passed a couple more girls and some more guys. It was fun passing people! I guess they all started out too fast or they just weren’t used to trail running. Even though my pace was relaxed I was starting to get really hot and tired the last 2 miles and was looking forward to finishing. I walked the entire grassy hill part because I was SOOOOOO HOT and sweat was just dripping off of my face and chin and my stomach was a bit icky from the Mexican food. Even with walking so much no one passed me…I was hoping someone would catch up to me so I didn’t have to run alone…it’s really boring running alone. About 1/4 of a mile to the finish I passed 2 girls but I don’t think they were doing the 10-miler (to be politically correct I will leave it at that). So I finished at 1:36:06. Todd and E-Speed had been done for over 10 minutes!! I felt good, though, and I was really glad I didn’t try to kill myself. Daisy and I even managed to place in our age group! Technically I got 5th, but because 1st and 2nd were overall finishers I got 3rd! Woo Hoo!!!

Next weekend is the Buckeye 50k, Winking Lizard, and the XTerra triathlon - I’m going to have a lot of posting to do! (I’m not doing the 50k, but Todd, Daisy, E-Speed, Barb, and a ton of others are - I’ll be cheering them on and taking pictures)

A sweaty freak excited to have placed in her age group!

Elevation, grade, and speed vs. time

Today I made a last minute decision to do the Blossom Time 5.25 mile run in Chagrin Falls.  Todd and I did it last year and it’s fun because afterwords you can pig out at all of the vendors selling things like elephant ears and french fries - you know - just what you need to clog up your arteries after a fast run!  I got 3rd place in my age group last year with a 39:14 and I figured I could do about the same this year.  (That’s about a 7:28 pace).  It was really hot last year, though, and this year it was nice and cool - plus I’m down a few pounds from last year so I guessed I would be a bit faster.

I met up with E-speed and did an easy warmup and realized that it was definitely a good decision to wear a tank top rather than a shirt.  Even though it was cold the sun made it pretty hot and I was already sweaty when we lined up at the start.  I got a bit behind the faster-looking guys and started off the first mile easier than I wanted to - mostly because I was dodging people.  First mile according to Mr. Garmin was 6:42 - not too bad considering it was all freakin uphill!  I met up with Steve from Vertical Runner and he mentioned that he was still recovering from the Cleveland Marathon - duh! - that race SUCKS!  He pulled away and I just tried to keep E-speed in sight - since I knew as long as I could see her that meant I was going fast.  :)  The second mile was marked early according to my Garmin - but I was also slower (uphill again).   Finally at about 2.5 miles it started going downhill.  There was this lady who looked like she was right out of the 80’s and she had this shaggy hair-do - all down.  (How do people run with their hair down?  I can’t stand it in my face!!)  She was about 10 sec ahead of me and so was this other super skinny lady wearing pink shorts.  I kept them both in site but figured it would be tough to pass them since they were both slowly getting farther ahead.  I think a little before the 4th mile I passed a girl in Vertical Runner attire who was very polite and then Eileen passed me - I didn’t even realize it was her at first.  Right around the 4th mile this high school girl came right up next to me and I was feeling good so we both picked it up a bit.  She was not gonna let me go!  She stayed right with me - we picked up the pace to ~6:30 and I was starting to get tired.  She would NOT let me get ahead of her - we passed Steve and then Eileen and then the 80’s looking chick - and then I decided to let her go.  I know!!!  Not my typical style - as I let her go right when we passed the 5 mile marker - so we only had .25 to go!!!  Aarrgh.  I just didn’t have anything left - and I kind of wanted her to beat me in a way - she was young - had a 2008 Senior t-shirt on - I figured it would probably feel really good for her to beat me.  Plus - I was more interested in passing the 80’s lady, so after I saw we passed her I sort of decided that was my goal so I was done.  Now that I’m thinking about it I shouldn’t have let her beat me.  Oh well.  I still beat my time from last year by over 3 min.

Here are the splits according to my Garmin:

mile 1: 6:42
mile 2: 7:10
mile 3: 6:47
mile 4: 6:57
mile 5: 6:43

Total time 35:55 - aprox. 6:51 pace.  1st place age group.

E-speed had an incredible race and crushed it coming in 5th OVERALL.  Todd did pretty well also and probably just missed getting an age-group award. 

 Sunday was the Mom’s 5k that one of the SERC ladies puts on every year.  I went into it hoping to get a PR, which I think would be anything under 21 min.  I was pretty sure that I could come close to having right under a 7-min pace, but ya never know - especially since the last time I was on the track it took me 6:30 to do my mile and that was ONE mile at max. effort.  (That was without dinner and going on 3 hours of sleep though…)

I did an easy warmup w/ some other runner friends (There were TONS of SERC runners there - way to represent, SERC!) and then lined up for the start right behind the fast people.  We started with the ring of a bell and off we went.  I was being careful not to go out too fast, since I wasn’t sure what a ‘normal’ 5k pace should feel like.  Oh, and of course I forgot my watch - AGAIN!  The first mile was 6:30.  I felt pretty good and figured I could probably hold that pace.  There was a lady in front of me and I was trying to stay with her. (I later found out she was in her 40’s!)   Mile 2 was 12:50 -I still felt pretty good and was excited that I was probably going to be under 21:00.  The last mile seemed tougher than the first 2, but I tried to maintain a consistent pace.  As we got to the track for some reason I was thinking we had to do 2 laps - so I didn’t do my usual off the hook kick until I rounded the track and saw that duh, it was just one partial lap!  I finished with a 20:27 - 6:35 pace.  It was good enough to get me 3rd in my age group, and since first and second place went to girls on the Vertical Runner team (congrats to an INCREDIBLE time, E-speed!!), I think that’s pretty sweet!  I’m also psyched because I wasn’t going all out - so next 5k I do I’ll know to push a bit harder!  Congrats to all of the SERC people who ran.  We sure are a group of FREAKS!

Training recap from last week

Mon: 4 miles 8 min pace at lunch, “Run for the Border” Cinco de Mayo race ~4 miles < 7 min pace
Tue: 2 miles easy
Wed: rest
Thurs: 4.5 miles medium pace during lunch
Fri: Cycling class 45 min - tough
Sat: 7 mile trail run
Sun: Mom’s 5k race - 3rd age group - 20:27

Totals:
run: 25 miles
bike: 12 miles
swim: none

Yesterday afternoon (4pm) I’m staring at my computer screen trying to figure out the SRU code that I generated for the DSP that I’m working with.  It is super exciting, let me tell you - and Marcus sametime’s me (sametime is like an instant messenger).  He tells me about this Hermes race that is going on for Cinco de Mayo at the Blind Pig downtown.  It looked fun - there was no predefined ‘course’ because it was like a scavenger hunt, and you had a ‘green card’ that you had to take with you to different checkpoints.  The person who got to all of the checkpoints the fastest was the winner.  It started at 7pm and we still had time to register, so we decided to leave work and meet there.

I registered us and got our map and our ‘green card’.  There were 3 checkpoints - to get to all of them and return back to Blind Pig was about a 4 mile run.  At each of the checkpoints you had the choice of either doing a shot, drinking a beer, or doing a Mexican hat dance (wtf is a Mexican hat dance??).  At 7pm they lined everyone up and then let a new team start every 10 seconds.  When we were up Marcus takes off at like a 6:30 pace (I was wearing my Garmin) towards the first checkpoint - “Tower 230″, I think it was named.  Marcus thought he knew where it was, but as we ran past some people sitting outside they were like “where’s your stuff?”…eventually we realized that we had passed wherever it was we were supposed to go - and we ran back - it took us a while to find the place, but we finally did and when we got there - without even thinking - we each did a shot of tequila.  Yea.  BAD MOVE on my part.  My stomach was burning as we raced out and headed towards checkpoint #2, The Clevelander.  (Did I mention that we  each got a fake mustache at checkpoint #1 - we must have looked SO RIDICULOUS!!!) We FLY there - go in and I basically KNOW that I will throw up if I do another shot or drink beer - so I’m like “I don’t drink” and they put this sombrero on me and give me some maracas and made me to a “Mexican Hat Dance” for 30 sec.  Omg - I am so sure I looked like a complete freak!!  I was wearing pink running shorts and a sombrero (and a fake mustache that I stuck to my shirt so it wouldn’t fall off) - need I say more?  Hell no.  Marcus does the shot - probably because he realized how ridiculous I looked and didn’t want to do the same!  Checkpoint 3 didn’t require drinking but we got a sombrero to carry back with us to prove we were there.  We hauled back to the Blind Pig and were greeted at the finish line with, of course, a Corona!  Ha!  I just wanted some water!! 

It was actually really fun now that I am writing about it - but my stomach felt awful.  Both of us were just like - uuuuggggghhhh.  The Spazmatics (sp?) were playing and it was a pretty cool time!  We stayed for another beer (and I asked a midget for a lime!!) and then headed out at about 10 pm. 

When I got home I took 2 tums and went to bed.  Tequila shots and road racing seriously do not mix.

We got 1st, 2nd, and 3rd!  Way to REPRESENT ladies!

Today was my first attempt at a duathlon.  I’ve done triathlons, of course, so I wasn’t too worried about dying, but I was not sure how hard I should go out on the first 5k.  Of course Elizabeth was going to go all out on the first 5k so I couldn’t run with her…and Janet wasn’t feeling quite up to par since she went to a wedding last night and was hung over…I was on my own.  I didn’t realize the race was starting when it did, so I didn’t even have my watch on - luckily the first mile I ran with Nick and he told me we were a bit under 7-min pace (I think 6:50).  A little after the first mile I pulled away from Nick and just tried to keep a good pace that felt decent.  I forgot how fast a 5k is over, before you know it the transition area was in site.  I finished the 5k in 20-something…I honestly don’t remember what the girl said(I think it was 20:20)!  I felt good, though, and Elizabeth was just getting ready to head out on her bike.  I screamed to her that I was going to catch her and these 2 old people who were watching laughed at me.  (For those who don’t know, if I ever get the chance to see Elizabeth in the transition area I always tell her I’m going to catch her…she’s always ahead of me, but sometimes I can catch her on the bike).

I did end up catching Elizabeth (and Todd) on the bike course.  (Todd was having bike issues…)  Going into the 2nd 5k my legs just felt like they were sooooo heavy.  It’s the weirdest feeling to run after biking - your legs just don’t work right.  I have no clue how fast my 2nd 5k was, but it was good enough to get me first female overall and I even passed a few guys on the run!  Woo hoo!  The one guy I was running with for a little while had passed me at the very beginning of the run and I caught him on the last mile and I was like “come on, we only have a mile left!”  he stayed with me for about 30 sec. and then fell back.  He was breathing pretty hard.  All in all a great race.  I felt pretty good the whole time and the best part was that me, Elizabeth, and Janet were the first 3 females!

Me, E-Speed, and Daisy Duc after the St. Malachi 5-miler.

Today was the St. Malachi 5-mile race in Cleveland. Since the last time I ran it I had over a 9-min mile pace, there was pretty much no pressure to PR it. I didn’t really want to go ALL out, but I wanted to push myself a bit. I ended up with a little over a 7-min pace, which was good enough to get me 3rd place in my age group. I started out w/ Daisy, and I guess after the first mile I decided that I would try to finish with a 7-min pace. I felt pretty good the whole time except for the dumb hills. I swear my pace doubles when I get to a hill. I need to work on that. I saw E-Speed a few times and she was cheering and taking pictures which was nice. I saw a few of the speedy guys from SERC who were heading back on the 4th mile and I cheered for them. About 1/4 mile to the finish it starts to go uphill so of course I slowed down, and wouldn’t you know it some lady starts to pass me - I let out a vocal ‘hell no’ (ooooops!!) and proceeded to pick up my pace. That lasted less than a second and she quickly lost any enthusiasm she had in her to race me to the finish - she was no fun!! - but then I felt bad so I was like “come on - let’s race into the finish”. She wanted nothing to do with me…oh well…I went ahead and picked it up a bit for the finish in and beat her. Sorry, lady! I like the competition at the end!!

5-mile splits:

1) 6:39 (downhill)
2) 7:00
3) 7:31
4) 6:57
5) 7:04

Finish Time: 35:11

The last time I ran St. Malachi I was over 45 min. Here’s to another 10-min PR!!! Woo Hoo!!

Today was my second attempt at running the Youngstown 1/2 marathon. I ran it last year and seriously almost died. This year although I am in much better shape, I hadn’t ran more than 10 miles since the Buckeye 50k (10 miler was last weekend), so I wasn’t sure how I would do. E-Speed said she was planning on running 8-min pace, and I was like, yea, right, but when I started with her and Daisy the pace felt comfortable, so I decided to run with them. Daisy was coming off of a week of rest and she decided to back it off a bit. I stuck w/ E-Speed and seriously felt great until this dumb HUGE hill around mile 10. My legs just wouldn’t go as fast anymore. I tried to quicken my stride to catch back up, but it was useless. I decided to just do what I could and try to fly on the downhills. I never caught back up to E-Speed, but I did manage to pass a few guys on the downhills and one lady who was going really slow on an up-hill. I told her we were almost done and she could do it - she seemed really tired, though. About a mile left in the race I heard some people cheering for someone w/ a girl’s name (can’t remember now what it was) and I was like - oh there is no way I’m going to let anyone pass me this close to the finish - especially a girl - so I tried to pick it up in my usual hammer-finish style. I’m not sure how close she was to me, but she never passed me, so it’s all good. I finished well ahead of what I wanted to do - with a time of 1:45:38 - about 8:04 pace. I was almost 10 min faster than last year! SWEET! E-Speed and me finished 1st and 2nd in our age group, too.

Todd is SO hardcore and he finished 4th in his age group with a 7:14 pace and a time of 1:34:46. He also improved dramatically from last year - almost 10 minutes, too! I tell you, doing a 50k makes you TOUGH!

Needless to say I’m super happy with how things went today. I love that I am part of SERC - it has seriously made me such a stronger and smarter runner and also given me wonderful new friends.

Youngstown 1/2 marathon splits:
(Note that the mile markers didn’t seem to be too accurate)

1 7:53
2 7:15
3 8:55
4 7:02
5 7:52
6 8:07
7 8:25
8 7:32
9 8:02
10 8:51
11 8:04
12 7:57
13 (not sure…I always forget to stop my watch!)

Final time: 1:45:38

Weekly training recap:

Monday: 1-hour Aerobic / yoga / kick boxing class
Tuesday: 3 mile run easy at lunch
Wednesday: 45 min cycling class (tough!)
Thursday: 4 mile tempo run at lunch
Friday: 45 min. cycling class at work during lunch
Saturday: rest
Sunday: Youngstown half

Weekly totals:

run: 20 miles
bike: 24miles
swim: 0
other (aerobics, etc): 1 hour