From One Extreme to the Other and Back Again

Oh 1L where have you been?  I’m sorry blog, but I have been negligent I know but it wasn’t because I wasn’t running.  In fact, I’ve been running quite a bit, I’ve just been very lazy about blogging.  And after a very crazy indoor long run (14 miles which equates to lots of times around an (12 to a mile) indoor track, off I went to the Bahamas for some winter escape and R n R.  It was a luxury to run in shorts and a singlet even if it was close to 80F and quite humid and quite hilly.  It was glorious to get up every morning and not have to put on layers of clothing and to run up an over the bridges from Paradise Island to the main island and back even in the wind.  It was a short few days, but well worth it.

 

A little Bahamas Sunshine

But oh blog, five days in Nassau was to be followed by 4 in NYC culminating in a half marathon – and a half marathon that I planned on racing.  Waking up on Thursday morning and travelling to the Nassau airport, I wasn’t so sure.  My congestion had returned and I was worried that I caught a bit of airplane air combined with the extreme temperature swing (12F to 80F), and that I wouldn’t be able to race.  My Friday morning run proved to be ok, but I couldn’t really get the legs moving and I hoped that it was simply a small be of travel lag.  (It can’t be jet lag if you don’t travel through time zones, right?).  Friday night brought a fun trip out to another Nassau to catch up with my friend David and watch the Islanders vs. Senators hockey game.  Little did I know, that the Senators win would be one on the way too many as they have climbed their way into the playoffs knocking off those Boston Bruins (at least for now). 

 Saturday morning brought rain, but I was feeling better after returning to using Flonase, and I had a delightful breakfast with an old friend.  My daughter, her roommate and I then ventured to the Math Museum to take in a little Pi Day fun and had lunch with Cristal.  We did a little shopping in Times Square, and I then headed back to “rest up” while watching some college basketball in anticipation of Sunday’s race. 

Times Square

Waking up Sunday morning, I met Cristal in my hotel lobby and we headed to the “United Airlines VIP Pre-Race Setup”.  I had to (temporarily) be happy with United as it was an incredible spread and although I had to rush out to my Wave 1 start, I know that Cristal made mega friends and had a great time.  The weather was a perfect 43F with no real humidity (even after Saturday's rain and snow in NE) and the course is an excellent combination of rolling (the first 6 miles are in the park) and flat with a tunnel thrown in at mile 12 just for fun!  I knew the park had a good climb at 5K so I went out conservatively hoping to pick it up as I went through the full 13.1.  Wasn't sure where my fitness was really at given my melt down in early February, a returning cold, and dialed back mileage (and winter mess of training), so I wanted to be conservative.  Well I did something that I always try to do in that I ran each 5K progressively faster with my faster miles in the latter stages of the race even into the wind on the West Side Highway (it really wasn't too bad) and had something left to climb the hill out of the tunnel and finish strong.

Ended up running 1:41:51 good for 17th in my AG, 603rd woman (10,150 total), and 2564th Overall (19,455 finishers).  My 5K splits were as follows:

5K        24:46      7:59 pace
10K      48:59      7:54 pace
15k    1:12:51     7:50 pace
20K    1:36:34     7:47 pace

13.1   1:41:51     7:46 pace

I was extremely pleased and somewhat surprised as to how well the race went, and the Post-Race United VIP area was just as good as the Pre-Race consisting of a full breakfast and medal engraving.  I’ve never had a medal engraved after a race so this was a nice touch and free!  I was happy with United Airlines until I got stuck in NYC later that day on my way back to Cleveland.

Another View of Times Square

After returning for just an afternoon and sort morning, I got in my car and made the trip down to Atlanta to visit with friends and run, yes, run, another half marathon.  This one is a super hilly course that I really love and it always gives me the confidence (or not) as to how I’ll handle a Spring marathon.  This time, though, I was not set to race the course, but to use it as a “tired legs” marathon pace run.  Therefore, I set up to run solids runs – Thursday, Friday, and Saturday before Sunday’s race.  Laurie and I ran 5 miles in the rain with 30 sec pickups on Thursday, Jody, Terry, Rachel, Susie and I ran 12 miles on Friday, and Joe and I ran a solid 6.5 on Saturday.  I was set to run comfortably on Sunday and that I did.  Again, I was surprised by my final time of 1:51 as it never felt hard and I had plenty left to climb those last few hills on Juniper, up to Peachtree and finally by Georgia Tech to the end.  The last hill is a killer as it comes right at mile 12, but I felt solid going up, passed a lot of runners and knew that all was well.

After a couple of successful weeks, I know that I could probably use a long run or two, but I'm at least fit for a solid half - now Boston, well that is another animal all together.