15 miles done!

WOOOOOOHOOOOO! Finished my 15 mile run this afternoon feeling about a million times better than after my 14 miler (and having run at a much faster pace, even)! While I can't be exactly sure why this one felt so much better, I'm guessing it has to do with:

• Getting good sleep
• Running consistently last week - not trying to fit my runs in amid travel
• Carb loading and eating well in the two days before the long run (especially noshing on pretzels for an extra dose of salt)
• Eating a better breakfast (bagel w/ cream cheese)
• Fueling more consistently: Gu before the run, as well as at mile 5 & 10
• Drinking nuun instead of water, to replenish some electrolytes
• Knowing when to switch to music, instead of just podcasts (and ONLY looking at my Garmin after a whole song had played)
• Being a far more pleasant day to be running than last week - chilly, but no rain

I did my run on the Burke-Gilman trail, as usual, but this time set off toward Lake Washington and UW as soon as I got over University Bridge. It's such a nice trail and all but one or two of the street crossings have crosswalks. The only things I didn't like was how many bikes went whizzing past without ringing their bells or yelling to let me know they were coming, even where the path was really narrow. No real chaffing issues, which is a blessing, and I'm definitely less sore so far than I was last week at this time. w00t! In super attractive news, my face was absolutely covered in crusty salt patches. Ew. As if I needed more evidence that salt loss is a potential issue for me.

I was momentarily sad when I realized that today was the inaugural Tinker Bell half at Disney Land, which, clearly, I wasn't running. But, as Duchie pointed out - we're PRINCESSES, not fairies and, to be completely honest, I'd so much rather have had a good 15 mile run in the bank toward my marathon than a new medal for a distance that isn't going to be enough to get me ready for London.

Speaking of shiny medals, however, I finally registered for the Birch Bay 30k road race. I've actually got 21 miles on the schedule that day, so I'll do an extra 2.5 or so before the race starts. It's kind of exciting - it's my very last long run before the taper begins and I'm glad that I'll get to practice running without needing to carry my own water. Plus, medal, amiright?!

This week marked a return to consistency of which I'm proud. With no more travel plans, other than for races, I'm looking forward to sticking to my plan.

• Monday - 4 miles easy
• Tuesday - strength workout
• Wednesday - 7 miles easy (treadmill - booyah)
• Thursday - strength workout with trainer
• Friday - 4 miles easy (my AWS day, so out in the glorious Seattle sunlight!)
• Saturday - 15 miles
• Sunday - REST (or maybe yoga?)

Ok, I'm three days post-long run and I do feel almost completely better, although yesterday and the day before were pretty awful. The office administrator has thought this whole marathon lark was insane from the day I told him that I needed to request a big chunk of vacation time and why. He thinks my tottering around the office is hilarious. And, I suppose, it kind of is. He's really going to enjoy the next three months.

I might have been better off if my days hadn't started by needing to return library books. Which isn't so bad in itself, except that returning books means that I then have to walk three blocks down Seattle's nightmare hills to work. If your quads were as unhappy as mine were at the time, you'd be complaining about walking downhill, too!

So, to cap all of that off, I had a nice massage tonight and then went for an easy seven miles on the treadmill. Which really wasn't so bad, other than having to wait a few minutes for a treadmill to open up.

I think tomorrow I'm going to stop by the running store downtown to talk salt tablets. I'm a really heavy sweater and always have been - I do wonder if salt loss might have contributed to my calf cramps after the last long run and have something to do with the muscle soreness I've experienced?

Right. To bed! Well, to sleep, seeing as I'm already in bed.

Whinge

Just needed a bit of a moan. I ran 14 miles on Sunday. It was a new personal distance record, as I've never run anything further than a half marathon (13.1). I mean, I hadn't. Before Sunday. Now I have. Obviously.

But, ugh. It wasn't a very good run. It was the same pace as my first, very slow, half marathon. I never felt super comfortable, which I think might be, in part, because I managed to eat two mince pies for dinner before I collapsed into my bed for 13 hours. Proper fueling, I think not. Or maybe it was the stress of the previous week, which, between family, the funeral, and the travel cluster recounted below, was probably significant?

Either way, I ate my Gu, thought about pretzels, took one or two brief walk breaks and got through it. Slowly. Oh, but I did find the start of the Burke-Gilman trail, which was interesting & I'm looking forward to the Lake Washington Loop Trail for my next adventure.

But, ouch, ouch, ouch. I haven't been this sore since my first half marathon (the one after which I declared that anyone who would run a full marathon was INSANE and I would never be one of them). My calves started cramping immediately. My right shin is tender to the touch, my quads and hamstrings are distinctly unhappy with me, my ankles are bit tender. Basically the entire bottom half of my body hurts. Quite a bit. And I'm sort of shuffling around the office. WITH THREE MORE MONTHS OF THIS TO GO! And I'd be just over halfway done with the marathon.

Whine, whine, whine. I have to keep telling myself that my body will get more used to this - I didn't have any of these issues after my 12 mile run and, frankly, the biological effects of 12 vs. 14 shouldn't be that significant. And I'll have better (and probably worse) runs. But, I have to keep going. Still, why didn't anyone warn me that the training was going to hurt so much?

I've booked a sports massage for Wednesday. I'll bet that's going to hurt, too. Whee.

The past week - epic travel fun

Well, last week was a bit epic. Started out the Friday before leaving for Philadelphia for what turned out to be my Grandma's funeral (see prior post - I bought the tickets before she passed away, so I originally thought I'd be visiting her). There was some utter crazy rescheduling brought on by a delayed aircraft that saw me deciding I'd fly to JFK & make my own way to Philly, then switching airlines and flying to Atlanta for my connection. It was a bit insane, but I made it.

Grandma's funeral was on the Monday and I had a chance to go down to Center City to see my two best college friends. Unfortunately, I think they ended up seeing far more of each other than of me, since I absolutely collapsed after the first five minutes of the Star Trek DS9 episode we started watching. I'm told that they watched another one AND made popcorn, but I was completely zonked out. Bless. They took good care of me.

Monday was a beautiful day - a bit cold & windy, but sunny and wonderful. I know Grandma would have loved the funeral and it felt like a big family reunion and a bit like a party. It was terribly sad that she wasn't there, but I loved seeing people who I haven't seen in ages or who I can never see enough of. In particular, I really loved seeing my cousin and her parents, my aunt and uncle, who I've gotten to know better & better over the last few years. Such a treat! And, Duchie came up from DC, cutting short her romantic B&B weekend with her husband to do such exciting things as keep me company on my 7-mile treadmill pace run. But, I did let her watch Murder, She Wrote & we shared the trashy magazines that I found on the airplane to New York last week. It was so great to see her, too!

Tuesday was the first hint of trouble, when the administrative head of the office called to let me know that the office would be shut on Wednesday because of an incoming snow storm, of which I had been blissfully ignorant. I decided to change my flight to Thursday, because the snow was supposed to turn to rain. I don't think anyone knew it was going to change to freezing rain, however. After a lovely bonus evening with friend in Center City watching Downton Abbey (squee!), I tottered off to PHL. The useless check-in lady knew nothing about the weather issues out West and I checked my bag. When I got upstairs, I checked twitter (god bless it) and found out that SEA-TAC had been closed with the ice. I immediately rerouted myself to Chicago, because I figured a bigger airport was better and I could always stay with my friend's family if I got stranded.

And a good thing, too, because they did cancel my flight and the earliest I could rebook (without going standby) was Saturday. Somehow, my bag was in Chicago, too, even though it had first gone to St. Louis on my original flight. So, I spent two nights with my friend's family, which was wonderful. And I went to Hull House to see another college friend and ended up buying a few of Jane Addams' books. Pity she spells her name the same way as the Addams Family. WHICH I DO NOT, TAKE NOTE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BULLIES. Amazing woman & amazing work, though, and incredibly interesting. I can't wait to do some more reading. I finally got back to Seattle Saturday evening. Hurrah!

Florence Knoll, 1917-2012

I am super tired following a trip to the East coast last weekend and am trying to get as much sleep as I can before I head back again. This time, it's for my grandma's funeral and, as much as I'm looking forward to seeing family, it's going to be sad and hard. I also hope it will be a joyful occasion: my grandma lived to be 94 years old and had only really been sick for the last few months of her life. She had all of her mental facilities and was visited by tons of family and friends in the days before she died. I think, all in all, it isn't a bad way to go. I was grateful that I was already on the East coast and took the train down from New York City to Philadelphia to see her. We spent several hours talking and remembering the things we had done together. It was very special and I'm so grateful that we had that time together. Miss you, grandma.

2011 Recap

2011
I feel like 2011 was my first year of serious running. I started out the year training for my first half marathon, dealt with some injuries, was practically pathetic about running over the summer, jumped back in after the Bar, and ended the year training for my first marathon!

I set three new PBs in the 5k and PB'ed by 11 minutes in my second half marathon. And, frankly, I'm awfully proud of myself.

It was also a big year, personally. I graduated from law school, studied for & passed the New York bar exam, moved to Seattle and started my first grown-up job!

Resolution Run 5k

Fairly recently, my roommate asked me if I'd promise to stay with her if she signed up for a 5k. So, that's how we ended up mostly walking a 5k on a beautiful day around Magnuson Park. Seriously, I was soaking up the Vitamin D. We did opt for the "dry" version that didn't involve us leaping into the lake at the end. So, now roommate is talking about doing a 5k every month and starting to hit the couch to 5k plan pretty hard. Hurrah for starting the year off right with the most beautiful sparkly polar bear long sleeve t-shirt! I'm also glad I didn't get to race this - my legs were SO tired after yesterday's 11 mile run. (Also, how CUTE is my new Skirt Sports jacket? Boom for deal sites!)

Funny story about that 11 miler. I was into my last mile and on my second lap around Green Lake when I realized I was running behind two women with a very fat bulldog. I also realized that my slow/easy run pace was the same as the bulldog's. I had to speed up, for my fastest mile of the long run, because I was NOT going to be shown up by a fat bulldog.