Winter Marathon Relay

It's been a pretty busy week here in our house.  We had new furniture arrive on Friday so I spent most of my free time this week painting the family room and cleaning it to prepare for the new furniture.  Now that its here we love it.  Despite it being a busy week, I kept up with my running and had a great running week!

Yesterday was the Winter Marathon and Marathon Relay put on by our running club.  I ran in the relay with two of my running mom friends.  There as also another team of strong running mamas and my husband had a team.  It was fun to have so many friends there participating.

My team (thanks Suzy for the pic!)

The weather was also perfect.  Sunshine, temperature in the mid 30's and minimal wind.  In the past it's been extremely cold and windy for this race, so this weather was awesome!

I had the final leg- 11 miles.  My teammates, who are rock stars, ran the first two legs together, to get their long run in for the week.  I had contemplated jumping in with them for the second leg- 5.4 miles and making my run 16 miles, but I had switched my weeks around and 11 is exactly what I needed this week, so I decided to stick with that.

I was nervous since my leg was the last leg and I wouldn't start until 12:30.  I wasn't sure how waiting around all morning would affect my running but I knew I would have fun no matter what.  I was really hoping to use this as a test of my goal marathon pace which is 9:09 min per mile.  I just wanted to maintain as close to that pace as possible and see how I felt.

Tami and Karen at the turnaround having fun!

When Tami and Karen came in, they looked great, like they could keep running.  I took off and just tried to run at a pace that felt good.  I looked at my garmin and realized I was running an 8:45 pace, definitely faster than I planned but I felt good.  The miles seemed to fly by and before I knew it I was done with the first loop and I was running under a 9 minute pace!  At this point I got a little nervous- could I hold this pace, should I slow down...and then I told myself to shut up and just keep running and find out!  Again the second loop breezed by and I felt strong.  My pace didn't vary much and I knew I was on target to be under a 9 minute pace.  As I approached the finish line I saw my husband taking pictures and some of my friends at the finish line.  I was so happy to see everyone and happy about my run that I think I had the biggest smile ever on my face.  As I passed the finish clock, the time said 3:58:27! My teammate Tami, who is also shooting for a sub 4 hour marathon, commented that it might be a sign!  I hope so!

approaching the finish

All in all, it was a really fun day!

Heat Wave!

We're having a bit of a heat wave here in upstate New York which is making for great running weather!  I love it!

Sunday we had the Winter Series Race and I was planning to do the 15K.  I have to be honest I was dreading this run.  The forecast said it was around 10 degrees as I was heading to the race and after running in sub zero temps the previous Sunday I just wasn't sure I was up for another cold run.  I even contemplated going to the gym and doing my run there rather than the Winter Series but I knew a lot of running friends would be there and I would regret the chance to catch up with them if I didn't go.

Turns out I am glad I went.  The weather wasn't so bad! It warmed up a few degrees as we ran and the sun was out.  For the first time ever there was no wind on this course.  The layout of the campus that we run through basically makes it a wind tunnel so it is very rare to run there in the winter and not face winds.  About a mile in I was sweating.

I tried to keep up with The Happy Runner but fell behind in the first mile.  That's ok, she's a faster runner and I knew I probably couldn't stay with her for long.  The rest of the race was great.  Rather than do three loops which I thought we were doing we did a 3 mile loop and then a 6 mile loop which made the miles go by a little quicker.  I saw lots of running friends at the various turn arounds and everyone looked happy, like they were having good runs.  It just seemed like everyone was having a good day.  At the last water station a friend was volunteering so that was another boost. I felt pretty strong the whole time.  I wish I could have run a little fast but coming off a sick week I felt good the whole time which was my goal.  I finished in 1:25:28.  Not my fasted 15K but by no means my slowest.  All in all it was a good day.

Winter Series

Today our local running club held another Winter Series Run.  These are great runs because they always offer three distance options building up to the Winter Marathon.  The course is pretty boring but it gets you outside running in the winter with lots of great runner friends.  I had originally planned to run the 25K.  I thought since I ran the half last weekend and was feeling good I would try to run a little longer this weekend.  For some reason though I have was feeling off last night and this morning so I decided this morning to run the 10K instead.   I'm glad I did because I had a good run.  I finished in 54 minutes flat which is not a PR but not my worst 10K by any means.  While I felt ok during the run I definitely did not have another 9 miles in me today. 

My marathon training plan starts in 2 weeks so I'm glad I took it easier today.  I have many weeks of long runs ahead of me. It was nice to be done with my run early and enjoy the rest of the day.  I ended up having a playdate with Mia and my cousin's little girl.  It was definitely worth trading the miles for today. 

I ended the week with lower mileage than I had hoped but again marathon training starts in 2 week and I will soon be ramping up the miles.  I've been doing great with my other goals.  I did abwork 3 days this week and took a new yoga class.  I've also been stretching more.  I haven't stretched right after every run because my lunch runs don't leave me a lot of time after to stretch.  Instead I've been trying to stretch at night.   I also bought another package at the yoga studio I've been going to and so did my friend Kim so hopefully we can make it a regular thing.

Tomorrow my plan is to get up and run 4 miles outside before Mia is up and Joe has to leave for work.  This means 5:30 am in the dark.  I really need to start doing this.  I bought some Knuckle Lights and a new reflective vest so I'm prepared.  I have no excuses...