It is time to stop complaining and do something about it. So I am going to “stick it” to this pain. I just have to remember where the heck I put that nifty little tool.
In the meantime, I managed to run another 5 miles on the ‘mill today. I started out slowly and gradually picked up the pace. I kept it reasonable with an average pace of 9:00/mile. And I used my iPod as another cool tool to take the edge off.
I have a special running buddy on the days when the run just has to happen and there is no time otherwise. While other kids would complain, YaYa joins in with enthusiasm, smiles, and a CAN DO attitude.
He admires me for my persistence in my goal, and often comments on his observations. Once, a few years ago, he told me to keep my hands straight, with my fingers together so that they would cut the wind – do this Mommy and you will go to Boston. When I had wanted to cry at my disappointment for missing my BQ goal AGAIN, YaYa was offering up his encouragement in his own special way. He KNEW that there would be another attempt and I am proud of him for believing in me.
It is so important to have the people you love believe in you. I am so blessed to have my whole family (Tom, BoBo, DD and YaYa) 100% behind me as I live down this dream of Boston Qualification. To my family and friends, thank you for your never-ending support. I love you!
Yikes, am I ever sore. I have done this marathon training before, so I don’t know why I am so surpised. Actually, I’ve trained for 10 other marathons (1 which became a 1/2 marathon – but that’s another story). Why am I surprised?
My training for Grandma’s marathon has been different from the others. Usually, I experience this type of soreness, after every long run greater than 15 miles. I haven’t had that at all. I have actually been running harder with this program. In addition to Hal Higdon’s training system, I’ve been doing speed work (Yasso 800s, mile repeats, and tempo runs) for my mid-week “sort of long” run. I am really proud to have stuck with it so well.
Yesterday I broke out the arnica, started popping the Ibuprofen 800 mg tabs, and am making my way around slowing. This morning I had to sit down on the top step of our stairs and move my butt down one step at a time, and getting up and down from the toilet was quite a challenge too.
I’ve earned this taper. But first, I have a 5-mile run to do. After all, “taper” does not mean NO running.
I meant to get my 5-miler in before my hair appointment, but my body was screaming NO.
I took my time getting around to it. I broke down and bought a running skirt. Yes, after saying that skirts just weren’t for me and that they were something only tennis players wore, I bought one for myself. Then YaYa and I went out for crepes, and visited my Dad.
Finally we hit the local high school track only to find it locked up. Instead I ran laps around the field. 5-miles was about 8 1/2 laps around the field. Slow. Steady. It wasn’t that bad; it just hurt to get started. So each time I stopped for water, or to talk with YaYa, I had to tolerate a few minutes of pain to get myself going again. It wasn’t exactly the “marathon pace” run that it would have been IF I had run it on Saturday as scheduled. In fact, the pace was slower than the pace of my 20-mile run. But, I completed the run and am looking forward to cross-training tomorrow.
As I got closer to the power pole (my marker of 8 miles) I contemplated how I would get the balance of my 20-mile run in. Continuing up the trail would not be an easy option, but it would guarantee me a total of 20 miles. I considered heading back and adding on elsewhere in the park, but wasn’t sure where to add on a 4 mile loop. By the time I finally reached the power pole I had decided that it would just be smoother to continue onward and upward…and so I did.
With 1 1/2 miles to go until my turn around, the trail suddenly got really tough. Not only was it brutally steep, but it was rugged with areas of loose rocks, deep ruts and fallen tree branches. I began to question my decision to continue in this direction. Since I had already gone some unknown distance, I was committed. I walked, and then ran, and then walked again. Finally, I decided to run for a songs worth of time. No matter how hard it was, or how slow I was going, I ran. Finally, I reached my sign and turned back towards home.
I’d been running for 1:49:10 by this point in my trek. I was satisfied that had done what I had set out to do. It was somehow different from running a flat run – I still had 10 miles to go but felt that I had already done the job. It was true. The following 10 miles was down hill. All I needed to do was relax and roll down the hill…AND pay attention. If I twisted an ankle or something horrible like that it would be all for nothing.
The return trip was indeed fast and easy. It was not without pain however. My quads were feeling the effects of the continual down hill. Ouch!
With 3.7 miles left to go, I stopped to stretch. I began running again, determined to finish with less than 3 hours (moving time). I felt comfortable picking up the pace a bit more as I am more familiar with this part of the trail. The only difference was that there must have been a tractor shoveling through recently. It left the trail smoother, but the ground felt more compacted. Ouch! I muddled through and was soon turning the corner with a little over 1 1/2 miles to go.
Woo-hoo! Like a horse returning to the stable, the last section is always faster. I picked up the pace even more. I finished my run with the elapsed time reading 3:02:18.
It’s officially Taper time!!
I ran on the treadmill again today. I am not sure why. Unless I am trying to do speed work, I hate running on ‘mill. Today, I ran on the ‘mill in an attempt to keep from running too fast. What was worse was that I forgot my headphones.
So, there I was looking out the window at the sunny California day. I was stuck hearing the pounding of my feet, the dropping of every weight in the room, and the sound of all of the out of breath runners around me. Ugh!
In an effort not the go crazy, I began my button pushing habit. Starting at an incline of 1.5% with a nice easy pace?too easy?actually boring. I refrained from pushing buttons until each mile had passed. After 1 mile was completed, I increased the speed by two pushes. The incline went up to 2% for a mile. Then the incline went back to 1.5%, but the speed went up a push (or two). I increased the speed when I reached mile 4. This was my final mile. I went up on the speed again at 4.5 and 4.75 miles and was happy to have it over with when I finished my 5-mile run (43 minutes).