21 > 27 ?

This was a little step back week and even though my total weekly mileage was only 21.54 miles, it felt more than the previous week’s 27.

Perhaps it was simply due to running some trails and a little hilly terrain. I really haven’t run hills consistently…most of my mileage over the summer (and longer) has been very flat. I did 2 short runs at Helen Putnam Park. 4 and then 4.5 miles. Awesome both times and i loved being off road. The park is not very big which is maybe a reason I don’t go there more often. If you go more than 6 miles there, you are doing repeat trails. But, still….a great place to go and very close to my house.

Also, this is the 2nd week in a row where I had booked a massage for Friday afternoon. Well, 2 Saturday’s in a row now, the runs have felt difficult and I’m sure in big part to the massage. Just not smart to get it on a friday before 2 days of running. Oddly enough, this past friday, my primary reason for the massage was to get some work done on my right shoulder and arm. I have been doing some strength exercises and such and apparently I tweaked something in my arm. I think it is a result of not using proper technique. Anyways, my right shoulder & arm muscles are super duper tight and tweaked. Still. Deltoid, Upper bicep, Trapezius. The therapist spent the entire hour just on those areas and I’m still not right. Better, but something is still off. Not sure what my next course of action ought to be….

Thankfully, this does not prevent me from running. 🙂

Sunday long run was just 10.  Ran all over the town. Need to go somewhere else next weekend. Feeling a little claustrophobic.

This week starts a new week of increasing mileage. Hope to get it all in and with quality!

View from one of the trails…gorgeous day. After I was done, I sat on a bench and just listened. No music with me. Just listened to the slight breeze, the quiet of mother nature in all her glory. AHHHHHHHH — so awesome.

Oh — wore my ASCICS Trail shoes that I hadn’t used in a loooong time. They still work!

Happy Running!

Funtanilla Forty: Part 4

At approx Mile 22 mark, me and the fellow runners & 2 support cars, pulled into a gas station. I wanted to change my socks/shoes and refuel. A man in a large pickup truck pulled up to us and said, “Can I ask what this is all about.” I guess we were causing quite a scene. LOL

I got up and headed down the road. By this time, it was nearing mid-day and it was HOT. Temperatures were between 85-90 degrees and I was in the full sun. There is virtually no shade in San Leandro. Those temps were unusual, for sure, but you get what you get and move on. I needed a hat so I took off my Funtanilla Forty Orange bandana that Sharon made and put on an oversized cap from Sandra. (this was not my first choice, but i couldn’t be picky. left my own Brooks cap in the hotel)

 

Oversized Dodger Blue Cap (UGH!)

 

 

Scott, Neva, Kera & Me on walk break

 

 

Back to Work

 

I was also getting into high traffic areas and had to stop at a lot of traffic lights…that’s never fun but it was part of the course. After the marathon mark of 26 miles, it started to get tougher. I had not run past that distance in about 2 years and my legs were feeling it. And Feet! Scott was still running with me and offering lots of positive encouragement. “Angie, you are looking good. you’re looking strong”, he would say. I have no idea if he was telling me the truth, but it sounded good and I believed him. I can’t say enough about how thankful I am that Scott ran with me. (in total about 26 miles) He was solid! He was a great companion. We have only known each other thru the blogging world and met each other once before at a race. It was easy to run with him…no pressure to talk or anything…just be and run. He is a gem! Everyone loved him and his cute self.

We were coming up to a Taco Bell so I used it as an opportunity to make a pit stop to the bathroom. When I came out and went outside, I saw more friends to greet me; Denise and Jason! On the eve of their 2nd wedding anniversary, they were out there to cheer me on! Denise even ran with me for a bit which was a wonderful surprise. She has some disc problems with her neck that prevents her from hard impact activities, so I was so delighted to see her out there and she felt good!! Me & my friend of about 21 years out running in the streets of San Leandro. Sweet!

 

Denise & I

 

We ran through the mini “downtown” area of San Leandro and made a stop across from the Long’s Drug Store. I sat on the curb and i think at this point someone (can’t remember who, sorry) massaged my calves. A huge help. Grandma and I used to go to that Long’s Drug store all the time and I always enjoyed it. I loved walking slowly along the aisles and just looking at all the stuff…the greeting cards, all the medicine stuff, random things like slippers or clock radios or little fans. I remember when we would walk in during the holidays and they had all their holiday decorations out…for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Grandma always seemed to buy a tin of those Butter Cookies, Andes Thin Mint Chocolates and Mon Cheri Chocolates. It’s a rarity that I eat any of those items anymore (mostly because I don’t wanna buy a WHOLE PACK or CONTAINER just for me) but they always make me think of grandma and the holidays. Ok. Get back to running.

There isn’t a whole to report on the next 10 or so miles. Some of it was back through some areas I had already been and other than that, not to noteworthy. Except to say, that it continued to be hot and Jason was a gem in getting me a bunch of ice cubes packed into a t-shirt for me to wear around my neck. That was a huge help. He also switched places with Denise and ran a bit with Scott and I. I really felt he was taking care of me and I appreciated it so much. THANK YOU, JASON!

These miles that were uneventful were mentally kinda taxing. They made me a little grumpy although I was also feeling the pain so those 2 feelings kinda mixed in with each other. We had to wait at a lot of lights/traffic and it just wasn’t nice scenery. But, again…i chose the route for particular reasons and I just had to keep on.

I got a great boost around mile 32. I am running along on this road full of nothing and I see these red car parked ahead all by itself and I see someone waving. I hear their voice. I cannot tell who it is yet…closer, closer, I see it is my old high school friend, Miki! WOW. CRAZY. UNBELIEVABLE. She gave me a big smile and hug and it was such an enormous boost. She had to get back in her car and would join us later that evening for the birthday party. How great was that, right!!!

 

MIKI!

 

Another big boost came about 2 miles later when Scott and I saw my best friend, Holly! She had swapped her car with someone and had her bicycle and was gonna be with us for a while. So happy to see her and have her join us. We were about 6 miles away from the Marina and the finish line. It wasn’t too long ago that Holly couldn’t even exercise at all. She had a serious back injury that was very painful and caused her to be extremely limited in her exercise. She couldn’t ride a bike, no tennis — nothing really except walking. She couldn’t even really sustain more than one hour car rides. Now, she is kayaking, riding her bike, etc..and I was so proud of her and happy she is able to be active again.

 

Denise, me & Holly

 

Once Holly joined me, Scott departed and went back with Kera in support car. He had run about miles with me and said his knee was starting to bother him. I would have thought he was a serious slacker, but 2-3 weeks prior, he had just run 93 miles across Idaho! So, i let him off the hook and told him it was ok to go rest. HAHAHA!

(read about his adventures at http://www.ikeeprunning.blogspot.com or click SCOTT on my links to the right of page) He is an awesome runner and a great fella!

Now, I’m about 3-4 miles from the end and what am i thinking? Well, I’m looking at my watch and seeing the hours keep adding up and thinking, “wow, i’ve been out here a long time.” You know, there comes a point where your thoughts are not really coherent and you are just functioning..just keep going…just keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep pumping your arms…repeat.” oh, and keep drinking. what else do you need? another gel? keep going. I never thought, “i can’t finish”. Never even crossed my mind. Oh yeah, i few miles back, Kera had the Rocky Theme song playing on her Droid phone so gave it to me to listen to which was very cool. In case you don’t know, that IS my favorite song!

Finally, I’m on a straightaway into the Marina and I know I have about 2 miles left. I tell Holly, “I wanna do this part alone. I will meet you all at the finish line.” Off I went to run the final part which is into the Marina and onto the “fitness trail” portion which looks like a little island in itself. It’s a small loop on paved trail with dirt patches all around and the bay is right there with ya! I was running and looking across to San Francisco. I felt the soft breeze cool my face. I heard the sounds of the water gently lapping against the rocks. I heard children’s voices playing in the distance. I remembered all those times I came to this same spot as a teenager…coming there to find some quiet and some calm in my crazy life. I would run or walk around the loop and just think. I can’t remember what I thought, but I remember how I felt; i felt like i could breathe. Something about the openness of the area gave me perspective and some kind of hope that things would be ok. I think we all need that kind of place, no matter how old you are or where you are in your life. I hope you, dear reader, have that kind of place for you.

 

view of sf

 

 

my friends waiting for me!

 

I had been run/walking these last 10 miles and I had about 1 mile to go to the finish. I wanted to run all the way in…all the way in to my friends, my awesome supporters. As I exited the trail and ran along the main road, I could see some of them up ahead with cameras. I was smiling and digging in. I turned left into the hotel parking lot and saw some of them up ahead holding a banner for me…like a finish line banner. I ran until I touched the banner. I was smiling. BIG.

 

Happy. So Happy.

 

 

T-19

There’s been so much going on and so much I have wanted to post, but the moment keeps getting away from me. And honestly, I have been spending so much time in front of computer at work, that I really don’t want to be in front of it at home…which is a little bit of a shame considering i have a sweet-ass iMAC!

So, since this has been a 3-day weekend, it’s a good time for me to post!

Last week was interesting. I was more stressed with work stuff than I have been in a while and then having some anxiety about the 40 mile plan. I also had some physical issues. major fatigue. fatigue like i’m standing up at work talking to a colleague and just feel like I will fall down right then and there. Thank goodness, I didn’t. Fall down.

Then, on Friday, i also had some kind of intestinal issue which was not fun. I left work early, went home and slept a lot for the next 36 hours.

Even though as fatigued as i was, i ran on Tuesday after work. Weather has turned about 10 degrees cooler with significantly less humidity. On Thursday, I ran in the morning and then again later that evening. I felt really good on that second run, but now i think it may have been my adrenaline-induced self speaking. Who knows…I ran 4.5 miles on Saturday on treadmill and was extremely dehydrated. Afterwards, I basically slept for the rest of the day off and on.

So, i tell you all that because it really did not make ANY sense what happened on Sunday. Sunday was to be my longest long run before taper for 40 miler. I had no idea what I would be able to do given what my body was going through Fri/Sat.

I woke on Sunday and felt ok. I definitely felt rested. Legs didn’t feel as fresh as I would have liked, but I was glad to feel rested and AWAKE. I figured since it was my longest run yet, i would just go ahead and run thru the city rather than go to the Silver Comet Trail. I wanted to be alone on the empty Sunday streets of Atlanta. I wanted to see the city in its calm state, to look at the different architecture of downtown buildings, and to zig zag my way through various neighborhoods.

I drove and parked my car along Peachtree Ave, put on my Nathan Pack and headed East. Starting temperature was 56 with low low humidity. HEAVEN!

I made a conscious decision to walk any hilly parts so I could save my legs and last for as long as I could. I felt a lot of peace. It was soooo quiet being a Sunday and a holiday weekend. I had the streets to myself. Love that! The first 12 miles took me through Midtown and downtown. Running along some of the outer streets of downtown is where I encountered some of the homeless folks. They are the only ones up at that time of day. A lot of them sleeping on the concrete. Man, can you imagine? Regardless of how they arrived at a place in their lives where they know sleep on the street, in vacant, dirty, trash-filled parking lots, every one of them deserves compassion. I wanted to go home and get them some blankets. Some part of me frequently feels that only a few pieces of different luck or different choices and I could have been there…could be there…you never know.

On a stretch over by Turner Field (home of the Atlanta Braves) a couple of fellas were sitting there smiling at me as i ran past. “Run it out, run it out”, they cheered! Thx, fellas!

Physically, I was feeling better than I had expected and mentally, i felt stronger than in a while. I KNOW a lot of the mental strength came from simply better weather and not having to battle the flattening humidity. It’s truly amazing how much that had beaten me down over a good chunk of the summer. I ran into Decatur and found the track at Agnes Scott College open so i went on it. I was relieved to take off my pack and run without anything. No water, no iPOD. Free. The track there is awesome. Beautiful grass. Nice track. Serene setting. There were only 2 other people there; an older couple who were walk/running. They were adorable. I thought maybe that is how me & my loved one will be when we get old. (Whomever that loved one might be…) I ran a solid 4 miles on the track and then continued on for the final 8 miles back to my vehicle. 24 miles.

I was pretty psyched when I was finished. Why? Because I did it on tired legs. Because I had about the same pace I had at the LA Marathon back in March. Because like all the other times, I could have stopped at any point and I didn’t. Because I pushed myself and gained more confidence with each passing mile. Because even though I will still need to go another 16 miles to reach 40, I know i can do it. I know it in my blood. I needed that kind of a day, that kind of a run more than i could possibly explain.

Below are some recent pics a friend took during some different runs.

more reflection from Nike SF Marathon

Just some numbers I’ve looked at recently – running miles by months

June 2009 = 79

July 2009 = 104

August 2009 = 128

September 2009 = 122

October 2009 = 77 (including marathon)

I was looking back at some numbers last time I ran a marathon which was in March 2007. I ran the ING Atlanta Marathon that day. That was my 5th marathon and I suffered. I had my worse finish time of 4:53. YIKES. I looked back at what my mileage was the 3 months prior to race and this is what i found:

December 2006 = 99

January 2007 = 117

February 2007 = 121

What surprises me when i compare the 2 training periods (a loose comparison) the 3 month total prior to Nike race was 354. The 3 month total prior to ING was 337. So, not much difference in the totals.

I’m not trying to figure out why there was such a vast difference in finish times as I pretty much already know the answer to that question, but it is all pretty interesting. Some of the big differences were the time of year for training. ING was in March, so i trained in winter into early spring. Maybe I spent too much time on treadmill. I can’t remember. For NIKE, I trained all through summer/heat/humidity and then some fall weather conditions. And then race day conditions were completely different. ING race day ended up being an incredibly hot day(unusual for march). There was not enough water on course and it was quite hilly. NIKE race day was some good ole’ San Francisco weather; high 50’s to start and probably never got above 65. Very few hills. Perfect. I think my performance was aided by something else; sheer enthusiasm for being back home. There is no way to calculate that, but it made a difference! I needed that race. I needed that race experience. I had to get the bad taste out of my mouth from the poor showing at ING. Ya know?! I needed it like sometimes you need to kiss someone so that last person you kissed isn’t the last person you kissed. Know what I mean? So, again, Thank you San Francisco, my city bay the bay.

Back in my office, people were interested to hear how it went. I am lucky to have good and enthusiastic support among my work folks. Just the other day one of my colleagues asked, “so, when’s your next race?”

Well. What’s next?

let’s break it down

Alright, lemme break it down for you. First, let me mention that I trained the least for this marathon compared to all other 5 run before. What that basically means is that I logged less miles over the specific training cycle. Normally, I get in at least one 18 miler and one 20 miler before tapering. This time, my long run was 16.25 and I felt that this alone could really hurt my race outcome.

Heading into the final 2 weeks of the race I was run down, traveling, and basically feeling like I wasn’t even sure I would finish the darn race. So, I really did not know what to expect from my body. Mentally, I was feeling so much better than a month or so ago so i was super thrilled with that part, but physically I wasn’t sure what to expect.

As  you might have read though in the earlier post, when I woke up on race day, I KNEW I was ready and I knew I would have a good day. Here are the mile breakdowns:

Mile 1: 8:45

Mile 2: 9:43

Mile 3: 9:41

Mile 4: 10:03

Mile 5: 9:31

Mile 6: 10:23

Mile 7: 11:00

Mile 8: 9:23

Mile 9: 10:29

Mile 10: 10:26

Mile 11: 9:47

Mile 12: 10:04

Mile 13: 11:17

Mile 14: 9:46

Mile 15: 9:58

Mile 16: 10:00

Mile 17: 9:40

Mile 18: 10:32

Mile 19: 10:21

Mile 20: 10:05

Mile 21: 10:13

Mile 22: 9:54

Mile 23: 10:22

Mile 24: 10:10

Mile 25: 10:17

Mile 26 + .2 = 12:44

OK. Here is where it gets tricky on my “official” time. I was wearing my Garmin, which is where I got my mile splits from, however, i noticed my mile markers on Garmin did not match up with race mile markers. Usually not a big deal because often it is pretty close. But, it was not close this time. When I completed the race, my watch read: 26.61 miles, 4:28:01. So that is .4 more than official race of 26.2. When i looked at my watch for 26.2, I was at 4:24. My RACE CHIP time was 4:28:10. Hmmm…what to do? Well, considering my Garmin has been off before, but never by that far of distance, i’m gonna split the difference and say I finished in 4:26. How does that sound? Fair?

In my age group Female 35-39, there were 742 runners. I was #171 out of 742. Not bad.

I’m cool with it! Like I said, a few days before the race i wasn’t even sure i would be able to finish. Comparing this time of 4:26 to my best of 4:19 is interesting. I trained less and didn’t fare too much worse. I wonder what i could have done had I got more miles in….lots of info to consider going forward. I did notice that for rest of day and next day, I felt the best I had ever felt after a marathon. I wasn’t nearly as sore or as fatigued. And I almost want to whisper this, but it kinda “felt easy”. Maybe it’s because I was “home” and feeling so awesome and loved. Maybe it was because it wasn’t in the damn heat and humidity of the south. Maybe it was all the Peets coffee. Maybe it was the Pacific Ocean breeze. Maybe it was “Rocky” on the iPod. Or maybe…it was just one of those days.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for cheering. Thanks for the support. Means more than I can say!!

Cheers!

the latest

Sept 6: AM 11.35 miles; outside – PM 3.25 miles, treadmill

Sept 5: 7 miles, outside

Sept 3: 5 miles, outside

Sept 2: 3 miles, treadmill

Sept 1: 3.3 miles, outside

Total: 32.90 miles

atlanta by foot

Great runs this weekend! Man, I needed ’em too, especially after last weekend less than desirable ones!!

Saturday ran a solid 6 thru Brookhaven/Peachtree. Today, Sunday, met up w/ Jeff at a Starbucks in Midtown and ran all over for 13.6 awesome miles. Weather was fantastic. 7am start. 65 degrees! 65% humidity. WHAT A HUGE DIFFERENCE IT MADE! This was the best long run I have had in a looong time. Felt strong the entire way. Ran through Midtown, downtown, Cabbagetown, Reynoldstown, Edgewood, Candler Park, Druid Hills, and Virginia-Highland neighborhoods. A good look thru the city and into some parts I hadn’t see in a while. A wonderful breeze swept by us a few times. Legs felt better than they have in a long time. THANK GOD!!

After showering, Jeff and I went to get some grub at Radial Cafe. Sat outside and enjoyed conversation, coffee and delicious food.

Hope we have more of this weather! Hope everyone had great weekend training and otherwise. Stay Strong!

Aug 23: 13.6 miles – outside, mixed terrain

Aug 22: 6.1 miles – outside, mixed terrain

Aug 20: 4 miles – outside, HOT/HUMID

Aug 19: 4 miles – treadmill

oh, yeah. here are the recent mile #’s

Aug 9: 12 miles – Silver Comet Trail w/ Jeff
Aug 8: 5 miles – outside, hills
Aug 6: 4.6 miles – outside, hills
Aug 5: 3.5 miles – treadmill w/ incline
Aug 4: 4 miles – Silver Comet w/ Jeff

Week total = 29.1
I gotta keep increasing it. Still a bit behind schedule. Still, a good week.

“It’s not where you’re from; it’s where you’re going. It’s not what you drive; it’s what drives you. It’s not what’s on you; it’s what’s in you. It’s not what you think; it’s what you know.”
—Gatorade commercial