It's less than 2 weeks until my very first marathon. 11 days. And I am injured again. So close. I am still hoping that not running for as long as I can afford it will fix it as much as possible. This time it seems to be my right hip flexor. You see, my right hip has always been cause for trouble - just see many of my previous posts. This is especially annoying because it all went very well the first two thirds of the training program. I was doing great! Then came the Fifth Ave Mile which caused a bit of trouble. especially with the 10K just a couple days later. I recovered rather quickly, though, and kept on training just fine. Then the Bronx 10M happened and while I was doing my miles over the following week I felt my right hip to become more bothersome by the day. It was still ignorable and I just took an extra day or two of rest here and there but kept on training. It all started to go really downhill after the Staten Island Half. I ran my biggest PR ever but I was not able to do any more running for the following week. I popped a few Ibuprofen and just rested, knowing that the biggest challenge was still to come: a group 20M training run which I so not wanted to miss because of all the really long runs I still have to finish one successfully. I ran it. I felt great right after and on the way home. Then it became radically worse to a point that I wasn't able to walk without pain. That's where I let it be and I haven't run for over a week. It is getting better and I am positive that I will get to a point where I can run the marathon I just have to adjust my expectations and be prepared for a lot of pain and quite a bit of PT right after. I am mentally ready and I am convincing myself that I will be physically ready just enough to get through. Just two weeks ago I was confident that I could finish in around 3:16 hours (first marathon and BQ!) but now I am scaling this back to somewhere more around 3:30 or 3:40. I will try something like this: first 10 miles in 8mm, next 10 miles in 7:45mm, and the last 10 kilometers in 7:30mm. Negative splits but still quite conservative. The other strategy I am considering is 10-10-10 which prescribes to run slower than goal pace the first 10 miles (around 8mm), faster than goal pace the next 10 (maybe around 7:30mm), and then doing the utmost best, i.e. trying to keep the current pace, go faster, or whatever your body can manage at this point for the last 10K. I'll let you know in a couple weeks how it actually worked out, what I did exactly, and how soon I limped to the doctor. Running is crazy!
So, what happened since the last posting? I ran the Bronx 10M and kept my pace under 7 minutes per mile (6:51 to be precise). I PR'ed by 2:05 minutes. That was my goal two years ago which I missed. Thanks to the marathon training, though, I was able to pull it off this time! I thought I could repeat something similar for the Staten Island Halfmarathon a few weeks later but thanks to the brutal weather and possibly my hip I ended up finishing it up with a 7:13 miles per minute average pace which still gave me a PR of 6:28 minutes! I am not complaining! You can find the details of those two runs in the sidebar or here for the Bronx 10M and here for the Staten Island Half. There is a funny fact about marathon (or any kind of distance) training: you go through all the long and speed runs and you don't really know what they do until you go and race. If there is one thing that I am taking away from this season of training (besides three PRs) is that you just have to trust your coach. Trust your training. Line up and race and you will be rewarded. This was my first time ever that I feel confident that I am actually prepared to run something longer than 10 miles. No, not run. Race!
So, let's talk NYC Marathon. I got my corral assignment a few days ago. I will be starting in wave 1, corral B, start time is 9:50am. Unfortunately I will start in the green lane which runs on the lower level of the Verrazano Bridge, i.e. goodbye great views. I am scheduled to use the ferry that leaves at 6:45am which means that I will be in the start village at least 2 hours before start time. Here is to some hoping that the weather will be great and we don't have to huddle together for hours just to stay warm and dry. I am planning to bring an old long-sleeve shirt that I can discard and a heat blanket (if I still have one at home; otherwise just a trash bag) to sit on. My phone will probably be my source of entertainment in form of an e-book to read and pictures to take. I keep telling myself that this is just like any other race. This time I just have to be a lot earlier than usual. For the race itself I have an idea about how to pace myself (see above) and I have my strategy for nutrition and hydration all figured out (first gel @ 45 minutes and then every 30 minutes; I will pack 8 pouches). I will probably bring a refillable bottle for water but I may change my mind in the very last second about this and rely on the cups that are provided on the course. I am so bad at running and drinking from those cups but I recently read about the "pinch the cup" trick and I may just try that instead. I am okay with running with any kind of bottle (I am just too lazy and especially too cheap to buy anything special plus I like that bottle my daughter got from one of her school events - maybe it's for luck!) in my hand. Phone goes on my forearm and my Garmin on my wrist. I opted out of baggage transport so I can see for myself if those ponchos at the finish line are indeed as sweet as I read everywhere. I think I am ready. It's just that darn hip!
That was a quick update. More to come in November. Good luck to everybody running the NYC Marathon with me. Keep on running, guys!
I thought it is time to give a little update on what I am up to. It's mid-September, the NYC Marathon is 7 1/2 weeks away from now, and I am almost 2 1/2 months into my training for it. Despite all the fears about getting injured again I signed up for the NY Flyers Marathon Training Program which follows Jack Daniel's (no, not the whiskey) training method. So far, I must say that while my ankle and my hip are still in need of some more fixing (which will wait until after the Marathon) it has been very successful and rather pain free. My fitness is approaching levels not seen since summer of 2014 and I am really excited to be able to race 26.2 miles down NYC streets. This is what has happened since the beginning of July:
It all started with the NYCRUNS Firecracker 5K on Governors Island in which I surprisingly placed first in my age group
As part of the marathon program I got a gait analysis by Finish Line PT which pretty much came to the conclusion that my current running form sucks. I don't use my arms to propel me forward, my feet roll a lot after they touch the ground, and my hip extensions are almost non-existent, i.e. I pull myself forward instead of pushing. Oh, and I do some kind of claw thing with my left arm while running. It's interesting to see yourself running in slow motion. Well, I got a few exercises prescribed (stretching) and if I can gather up the $150 or so that it would cost me per session I can get it all improved. For now, I just watch my form (swing those arms, lean forward a bit more, focus on these extensions) and I must say there is a lot of potential in me to run faster and longer.
I've been running five times a week with very few exceptions and, as mentioned before, without injuries.
For the curious ones here is the training plan for this week:
Monday: rest
Tuesday: 8 miles, easy
Wednesday: 6 miles easy, 3 miles threshold, 1 mile easy
Thursday (that's today): rest
Friday: 8 miles easy
Saturday: 5 miles easy
Sunday: 20 miles easy (my first 20 Miler)
My current weekly mileage is around 45-50 miles and I am filling up my months with 100+ miles. Not too shabby.
My take aways from the training program:
NYRR Team Championships Photo by Richard Brounstein or Bob Cowin
It is hard work. It is doable, though. Trust your coach.
Don't fret if you mess up a workout. Once you do it again you will notice that it will get easier. My marathon pace long runs, for example, have always been really hard. I noticed, though, that the wall I keep hitting comes later and later, the more often I practice. It's mostly mental. If I take water breaks that are too long, for example, I am having a hard time to go back into my rhythm and the thought of calling it quit intensify.
Doing hard workouts or long runs in a group is a lot easier than doing them on your own.
Eat! Refuel! Get those calories, protein, and carbs in you. I have been scarfing down food like there is no tomorrow and I rarely feel like I ate too much. The good thing is that the next workout will burn another 1500 calories again.
Refueling during a run is tricky. I still have to figure this out. Everything is going swell until it's time for a gel and some water. Maybe I still have to find the right flavor? I sure found plenty that I do not want to try ever again. Oh, and gels are nasty. They are sticky and the texture is just ugh.
You are not going to lose too much weight. You will eat and then run and eat again. It's pretty much a zero-sum game with very gradual changes. I am still a bit overweight and while the hard workouts are chiseling on my pounds it is very slow going. That's fine with me, though. I am going to run a Marathon and weight loss is really not my goal here.
I am still planning on writing about some of the races I have done this year, especially the ones that were the most fun, like the 5K in Virginia. I hope to get to do that soon.
I do not have many more races planned for this year. The NYC Marathon is the big one, and then there is of course the Bronx 10M and the Staten Island Half. I am really, really going to make sure I'll get into the NYC Half in 2017. I will also have plenty of races behind my belt to get into the NYC Marathon in 2017 as well. I am thinking of making this my two major races for the coming years: NYC Half in the spring and the Marathon in the fall. In between I do at least 7 more NYRR races, and some of the NYCRUNS events, especially the ones that are part of the club challenge.
NYCRUNS Spring Fling 10K finish (photo by NYCRUNS)
It's not really a new year anymore but new enough for this to be my second blog posting. I have been taking it rather easy over the last few months. I am still running and competing but I take a lot more rest days than I have in the past. It's mostly just because I am afraid I would just injure myself again and I'd rather take two days off here and there than being forced to take a week or two off. At this moment, for example, my right ankle is acting up. It was pretty bad the day after the Spring Fling 10K and it is still lingering a bit. So far I have been taking a couple days of absolutely no running (or exercising at all) and debating if I should do a leisure 4 to 6 miles later tonight. I am leaning towards the latter but I will make the final decision pretty much the second before I lace up my shoes.
Without any real training runs I shouldn't expect any improvements in my times and that's exactly what's happening. My 5K times are hovering around the 6:50 and 10K around 7:00 (I am rounding down, ok?) minutes per mile pace. Far away from my performances during the summer of 2014 but I am thinking that I really should go for distance at this point and not worry too much about speed. I really like the 10K distance but I want to make the half marathon my distance of this year. I have signed up (and plan on signing up) to quite a few this year: all the NYRR borough series runs, the NYCRUNS Queens Half and Verrazano Festival. Training for distance should improve my short distance times a bit as well.
A few recaps. I think the last two races deserve the most words. The Washington Heights 5K was pure fun and I thought I did pretty well. For some reason I really like hills in short runs and hills were aplenty this time. I think the downhill part speeds me up enough to get through the next uphill rather easily or at least all the uphills make me mentally and to a certain extent physically numb to the fact that more uphills are coming. Just like any good Riverside Park race. The first hill there is so steep that all the others don't matter too much. I barely feel them. It seems that I give a lot more on hilly courses than on flat ones. The first hill in Washington Heights is the same. Up, up, up... then down a bit. Up again, and down, and up. The good thing is that it ended on a downhill and then a flat stretch (it's an out and back course). There is one thing that the NYRR has to manage a lot better: the course is really crowded. The streets are very narrow and getting thousand of runners on this course creates a few bottlenecks, especially in the last half when the uphills are coming and people are getting tired. Too many people slow down and it is hard to keep the momentum going. Nevertheless, I did rather well and all the details can be found on Garmin Connect.
Spring Fling 10K start (photo by NYCRUNS)
Then there was the NYCRUNS Spring Fling 10K last weekend where I finally won an age award again. I am still far off from what I used to be able to run (speed-wise; I know, I keep repeating myself) but I still managed to place 2nd in the 40-49 age group. This reminds me of the Shore Road 10K in August 2013 where I placed 2nd out of the blue as well, but no awards were given out at that time. It's always nice to participate in smaller races. I must say, though, it was a rather easy race. I know Roosevelt Island inside out and at any moment of the race I knew instinctively how much I already ran and how much I still had in front of me. Not once did I have to dig deep to keep going. Maybe I could have done more? If there is one thing that I still haven't figured out in over three years of running is how to pace myself correctly. I usually have still too much gas in the tank at the end or I crash and burn too early. Very rarely does everything come together where I can say that I ran a smart race. Maybe that's a skill I will learn eventually when I race much longer distances more frequently. For anybody who is interested, here are the details on how it was.
The next race I am signed up for is the Spring Classic 10K but I may be skipping it because my ankle is still bothersome and I have my very first destination race, the Cherry Blossom 10M, the following weekend. I really don't want to spoil that. Car is reserved, hotel room is booked, I even signed up my boy to the children's race there. I am really looking forward to this experience and in that spirit I will most likely skip the 10K.
I will most likely be back with a recap of the 10 miler. Until then, keep on running!
I couldn't decide on a title so I took the lazy way out. Happy New Year! 2015 is over, a year that started out with injuries and a lot less running than I planned. C'est la vie. Let's move on and focus on the next year to come: 2016. Maybe it is going to be the year of my first marathon, that elusive goal of mine that keeps slipping from one year into the next? Here is hoping.
I have so many race recaps to do but I don't feel like doing them right now and so I defer to the table on the left side of this page for race results. I also put up the planned schedule for next year and there are a few gaps that will be filled in as they are decided on.
Here is a quick recap of 2015:
Miles run in total: 562 (more or less)
Miles run in races: 96.1
Time spent running: 5148 minutes (that's a 9.2 minutes per mile run on average)
Lifetime PRs: none
Best paces during the year:
1M - 6:00
5k - 6:52
10k - 6.58
15k - 7:48
10M - 7:16
Half - 8:00
Awards won: none
Pairs of shoes used and abused: 2
To illustrate how I spent the year here is a break-down of the mileage per month according to Endomondo and my now go-to activity tracker Garmin Connect:
The beginning of the year was spent on doctors, physical therapy, and races, that I idiotically ran. I also came to realize that my quads problem was probably misdiagnosed and I most likely suffered from a stress fracture in my left femur. At least that's what my googling came up with when I researched the pain that I had when I let my leg dangle over the edge of a seat. The dip in my November mileage was caused by the reoccurring of some similar, but not as intense, quads pain. It's all good right now. Oh, and I definitely will look for a different doctor. I will also put my knee injections on hold until I get a second opinion. They are just too expensive to be done "just because."
What's going on at the moment? Well, I am currently not really training for anything and follow an unscientific and entirely made up by myself weekly routine until later this year when I start a marathon training program where I will listen to a coach and hopefully not get injured again. This is what I am doing right now:
Every four weeks (around the Tuesday of the third week of the month) I want to increase my mileage by 10%, i.e. maybe upping the Tuesday and Saturday runs to 6 miles in January and then increasing the Wednesday and Friday runs by 1.5-2 miles each in February. By the time I join a coached program I want to be at around 45-50 miles per week with two days of speed training. After a race on the weekend I would take the next two days as rest days and skip all speed runs for the rest of the week. Again, this is entirely unscientific and just for fun and I hope I am unable to overdo this. I would also cut a longer run short if I feel that I am doing too much, i.e. things are hurting more or remind of injuries I had in the past. The biggest challenge is finding interesting routes for the Sunday long run. I can do two laps around Roosevelt Island for 7-8 miles just fine but anything beyond that gets way too boring. My usual Triborough Bridge (oops, sorry, RFK bridge), Randall's Island, Upper East Side, Queensboro Bridge (no, while I can get my mind around RFK bridge I just cannot do "Ed Koch Bridge"), and back to Roosevelt Island route is becoming a bit boring. Also running down to the Staten Island Ferry terminal lost its novelty effect. Maybe I should look into new routes out into Brooklyn or Queens. Stay tuned.
The next race I am signed up for, as you can see in the table on the side, is the NYRR Joe Kleinerman 10K in Central Park. It'll be the entire loop including the Harlem Hill and all the other ups and downs that make running so much fun!
So, I had this plan to run my very first Marathon ever here in NYC this year. I ran my nine NYRR races last year and volunteered multiple times. Early this year I got the e-mail that I am eligible to register for the 2015 NYC Marathon, I logged into my account, plugged in my credit card number, paid $227, waited, made my decisions for baggage, got injured (again), waited, and cancelled my entry. Just like that. Well, as always, this is all on me again, because I was being treated in PT for a strained quad in my left leg and still decided to run the Brooklyn Half. After that I promised my physical therapist that I would not run for at least three months which would have been until around end of August. Considering that to that day I had not been able to run a half-marathon without getting injured I thought that I was so not ready to run a marathon. Maybe for fun? Just for fun? Nah. As I told others, I am running not to socialize or be part of a fun event. I'm there to challenge myself, to race others, to always giving my utmost best. I have a goal for my first marathon and it will not be "just finish." Don't laugh but I do want to finish with a 3:30 time, i.e. an average pace of 8 minutes per mile. Crazy? Maybe. But it is a goal. So, yeah, I cancelled, kissed my money good-bye (warning: rant coming up in a few paragraphs down), and deferred my entry until next year.
Photo by MarathonFoto
With the marathon out of the way, I couldn't just sit at home that weekend and pout (well, it was one of my children's birthday and we had a over-night Halloween party that weekend anyway and I was tasked with making pancakes and waffles, which was one of the reasons why her friends really, really, really wanted to come over for a sleep-over, i.e. I really couldn't have run the marathon without letting her down - maybe my injury was a blessing in disguise?) so I ran at least the Dash to the Finish Line 5k aka "The Other Way to Cross the Marathon Finish Line." I did the same two years ago and I am proud to report that I gained enough fitness to match and beat my results from that year and was finally able again to run an average sub-7 mile in a race. Last time I did that was in the spring. I finished in 21:19, ran on average 6:52 minutes per mile, placed in the top 500 out of almost 10,000 finishers, 28th out of 500 finishers in my age group, 3rd in my team.
Photo by MarathonFoto
Compared to two years ago, this year's iteration of the Dash was massive (Edit: I have to take it back; it was pretty much the same then as it was this year). Ten thousand registered runners for a 5k! You can imagine that the first mile was really crowded and nobody but the runners in front was able to really run. The last two miles were a lot better and running through the streets of Manhattan (unfortunately, one block short of running through Time Square) and having tons of people cheer you on was awesome. The course seemed to be quite easy especially since it felt like it was going downhill most of the time, but it was probably just flat in general. All in all, it was a worthy substitute for the Marathon on the fun scale. Wait, did I just call a marathon a fun race? I do not want to regret these words in November next year! Better get myself into the right mental state.
Here is hoping that 2016 will be the new and better 2014. While I still have four more races coming up (over four consecutive weekends starting on the 22nd of this month) I doubt that I will get any PRs or awards this year. I just want to finish my 9+1 (not actually needed because I am guaranteed for next year due to my cancellation, but just for the sake of achievement) and do the NYCRUNS winter series which is always a lot of fun.
Now to my rant. Why do I have to say adieu to my money that I spent on a race that I cannot run due to illness, injury, or what not? This year I got lucky and got into the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Miles race in Washington D.C. but had to cancel due to my persistent problems with my quads (and I couldn't really justify the expenses of traveling there and renting a hotel room etc.) Luckily, the organizers offer a forum where sellers of race entries can find buyers and a web site where you can officially transfer your registration to somebody else. You were able to do this until a certain time before race day, i.e. plenty of time for the race director to plan accordingly for the big day. It sounds so easy and I just cannot come up with any reason why that cannot be done for NYRR events. There are probably a few caveats, like encourage and enforce that an individual entry is not sold for more than it cost the original buyer, but it seems to work very well at the Cherry Blossom. NYCRUNS offers something similar to their members. You can cancel up to two races per year for whatever reason (up to a week before the race, and with doctor's note up to one day before race day) and get race credit for it. They even absorb the costs of the loss of runners that cancel last minute. Again, NYRR, why can't you offer something similar? It's not like you don't have the money and means to at least try something like that. Think about it! Many runners would love to have a service like this, I bet!
And there he goes!
On a different but very similar note, my youngest kid ran his very first race last weekend at the Ronald McDonald House Fun Run. He was so excited to run and he was the first one to be up and running that morning, waking everybody else up. It was a quarter mile run in Central Park and hundreds of elementary and middle school children met up that morning for some fun in running. He was very sure of himself that he would cross the finish line first but in the end he came in fourth in his heat. Due to the number of children, they were subdivided into age groups (one group per year of age) and then each age group was divided into heats of sixteen children. So, only 16 kids were running at a time and since it was not scored there were no winners. Wait, no. Everybody was a winner and got a ribbon as award. The real awards were only given to the top fundraisers. Now I want to convince him to join the children's run after my next race, the Race to Deliver, and then keep me company on my training runs so he can build up to a 5k. He is only 7, so he's got plenty of time, and there will be plenty of races in our neighborhood for him to participate.
Apropos Race to Deliver 4 Miler: I ran this race last year where I ran my fastest pace in an NYRR event. This would be a good opportunity to make it my best race for 2015 as well, no? Anyway, I found this video on YouTube that covers this race and you can see yours truly for a split second at the 10 second mark and for a bit longer at the 25 second mark. Just look for the bald head sporting a pony tail!
Half-Marathon, that is. Half-Marathon that I finished without the need to see my doctor afterward. That is a major accomplishment, I must say. I don't think I was really ready to run a half-marathon, yet, but since I was kind of impressed how I finished the Bronx 10 Mile I thought it couldn't go that bad. I definitely did a lot better than in Brooklyn! I was sore, thanks to the hills, or in specific that ONE hill, and a bit dehydrated but I think I did okay. I expected a bit better than the 8 minutes per mile average pace but I really do not want to complain. Again, I want this to be the first half-marathon that does not make me run to PT again. I do have a bit of a persistent pain in my right quads but it is nothing compared to what I endured after any of the previous halves.
Chugging up the hill Photo by MarathonFoto
How did it really go? It was hard. A lot harder than I anticipated. The details, as always, are in my Garmin Connect account. My plan was to keep the average pace at around 7:30 minutes per mile which I was able to do quite well for the first eight miles but then the big hill loomed. I didn't expect it. The course was different than 2 years ago and brought us down to the water for the 6 1/2 miles back to the stadium. Unfortunately, after running on the boardwalk for a while we were forced to climb around 100 feet over a mile, starting an hour into the run at around mile 9. That took the wind out of my sails and despite the following downhill sections I did not recover. I just made it somehow. Here are the splits, according to my Garmin. Due to the width of the road and the number of runners it was impossible to run the tangents perfectly.
7:13
7:15
7:26
7:19
7:26
7:35
7:29
7:43
8:22 (this is where the hill started...)
9:02 (... and it continued into mile 10)
8:12 (luckily, there was downhill here)
8:40
9:42 (another hill)
1:29
Photo by MarathonFoto
Just from these number you can tell that I suffered the last four miles. It is what it is. The Staten Island Half is definitely a race that requires a lot more preparation than what I was able to pull off. The route was scenic after around mile 6 1/2 when we turned onto the boardwalk all the way until around mile 10 when we went back to the road and at the end through some industrial neighborhood. The finish line was inside the SI Yankees' ballpark, which I thought was great.
I couldn't linger too long after the race so the way home was torturous. On the ferry I became nauseous and all the way home I shivered most of the time. I realized that I probably didn't hydrate myself enough throughout the race. My shirt was drenched and I only started to drink water in the last few miles and that only because I needed those stops to get through the race. I admit, I stopped and walked at a few and took my sweet time to drink. Another reason for the mediocre pace at the end.
That said, I'll run it again next year. I have to work more on my longer distances and get more mileage under the hood. My next half marathon is scheduled for January 24th, next year. It will be the Fred Lebow Manhattan Half, the first to maybe finally get qualified for the NYC Half in 2017. I did put my name in the hat for the 2016 version of it, though. Let's cross fingers and knock on wood.
Last Sunday was my third consecutive participation in the NYRR Bronx 10-Mile run and I think this time I enjoyed it the most. After a long stretch of injury-related breaks and slowly-but-surely, but still far from where it is supposed to be, regaining of my fitness to the levels seen a year ago, I finally managed to run a 10 miler wisely. I did not start off too fast. I did not push myself too much in the first three quarters. I even aimed for an average pace of 7:30 minutes per mile and was never disappointed that I actually dipped down to that at times. In short, I raced with the knowledge that I have to obey my body. Temporary pain is okay,
just don't turn it into permanent pain.
I wrote about this twice already, so I won't repeat too much about how not so flat the course is and that the ups and downs in the first three miles really suck when we have to run them again in the last three miles. The underpass under Fordham Road broke me last year, this year it was just a little dip in my pace.
For the first time I also noticed, and enjoyed tremendously, the serenity of that short stint down and back Mosholu Parkway. It's a around the half-way point of the race (miles 5 1/2 - 6 1/2) where things just quiet down and I was able to refocus myself for the last half. It was a bit of a bummer that it was all over just 7-some minutes later and we went back south on the Grand Concourse. Just before we turned left on the incline I gave myself a little speech of encouragement to get me through the last three and a half miles. I guess it worked.
Picture by Marathon Foto
Since I switched from Endomondo to a Garmin Forerunner I now have maps that I can embed as well. On my Garmin Connect page you can find everything you need to know about this race.
In the end I crossed the finish line in 1:12:33, an average pace of 7:15, which places me in 845th out of 9349 positions in total and 72nd out of 516 for my age group (which, by the way, was upgraded to 45-49 this February). Considering that I ran a 46:46 in a 10k just three weeks ago, which is a 7:32 mile, I think I am improving at a nice clip.
A couple of random notes about this race: a few people ran the the Bronx 5k first and then ran the 10 miles. One of my club mates actually placed third total in the 5k and then ran a 6:45 average in the long race. That is quite a feat and dedication. On a different note, Peter Ciaccia, president of events, was greeting all runners right behind the finish line and gave out high-fives. I thought that was pretty cool.
This was my first posting after so many months and I owe a bit of race recaps and some volunteer experience. I hope I'll get to that in the next few days, before my next run, the Staten Island Half.
Here we are again. Back to the doctor and physical therapy. Races to be forfeited, training to be missed, fitness levels unavoidably to decrease. I tried everything I could to not to get to this point but, obviously, I tried too hard and stopped a bit too late. It all started with a left knee/hamstring pain that flares up after running and keeps persisting after rest. It does go away slowly, but too slowly for my taste. When I saw the doctor about this three weeks ago we didn't come to a good conclusion and we are trying a lot of different things in PT to figure this out. For good measures I also threw in the reoccurring pain in my right hip and for that we actually figured out what it most likely is: a labral tear, i.e. a bit of cartilage that covers the rim of the hip socket is damaged. I still have to get x-rays and maybe an MRI to be certain but looking back on when the pain started many, many years ago (12+ miles non-stop on a kick scooter) I think I agree with this assessment. That, at least, will not stop me from running. So, as soon as the hamstring (or knee or whatever it is) problem is under control I'll be back on the road.
All that means, though, that I won't be able to race (due to the lack of training) until at least the end of February. I already missed the 5/10 miler and the Fred Lebow Half in Central Park a couple weeks ago and I will miss the Riverside Park 5k in a week, and most likely the NYRR 4M in Central Park at the end of next month. I hope to be able to run again in 2-3 weeks and that should give me plenty of time to prepare for the Washington Heights 5k on March 1st without getting injured (while running a pathetic pace.) I added a handy little widget to the right side of this blog that shows you my race schedule for this year. It will be modified and added to as needed.
This Sunday I am scheduled to volunteer for the Super Bowl Sunday Gridiron 4M in Central Park. I thought I should earn the +1 for the 2016 Marathon as soon as possible to avoid the rush. Then the following Wednesday I will be part of the 2015 edition of the Empire State Building Run-Up. This is an event that had been produced by the NYRR since its inception but the ESB management company decided not to renew the contract for this year and gave it to my all-time favorite race management company NYCRUNS. This is a paradigm changing decision because over night the ESB Run-Up changed from an NYRR-produced event with all its pomp, glitter, and polish to a, hopefully, a lot more laid-back, fun, and just awesome NYCRUNS production. As soon as I heard about this change I offered my time to volunteer. I just have to be part of it. This is going to be awesome. Plus, I'll get $25 in race credit! I will write about this experience in a later entry, for sure!
I'll be resting for a while. Hopefully, you all will keep on running!
Happy new year, everybody. I slacked off a bit to keep my blog updated so this is going to be rather long entry again. I've got three races to cover, give an update on my injuries, recap the year, talk about my running resolutions for 2015, and finally mention a bit about my planned races in the new year. Let's not dawdle and jump right in, shall we?
Race recaps
Since I missed all of winter racing last year due to injury I am glad that things are better this year. I am planning on running all of the races part of the NYCRUNS Winter Series (two of them in Riverside Park, one on Roosevelt Island, and one in Central Park) and getting a head start on earning guaranteed entry in the 2016 NYC Half. So far I ran two of the winter series races, the 5k in Riverside Park and a 10k on Roosevelt Island, and my last race to finish up the 9+1 for the 2015 NYC Marathon, the NYRR Ted Corbitt 15k in Central Park. Due to problems with my right ankle and left hamstring I wasn't in tip-top shape and pretty much neglected any training and just ran the races. Considering the lack of mileage I think I did pretty well:
NYCRUNS Winter Running Series 5k, 11/30/2014, Riverside Park, net time 20:35, pace 6:38, 26th out of 458 finishers total, 6th out of 42 finishers in my age group
NYRR Ted Corbitt 15k, 12/13/2014, Central Park, net time 1:03:50, pace 6:51, 254th out of 4,468 finishers total, 34th out of 308 finishers in my age group
NYCRUNS Winter Running Series 10k, 12/21/2014, Roosevelt Island, net time 41:21, pace 6:40, 28th out of 479 finishers total, 5th out of 45 finishers in my age group
I am especially proud of my 6:51 pace in the Ted Corbitt because I redeemed myself from the not so good outcome at the Bronx 10M. I met a teammate of mine, Chris, in the start corral and we talked about how we planned this run to be. He said he was going to run a 6:30 pace more or less, while I was aiming at a 7ish pace, so I just latched onto him and didn't leave him out of my sight. I also made a point of not overtaking him (there were a couple of opportunities to do so) because I wanted to leave this to the end of the race where I would come from behind, surprising him. Unfortunately, the hills in the second loop of the course put an end to this plan prematurely and I had to let him pull ahead while I struggled through the last couple miles. The course was a 4M loop, a 5M loop, and some through Central Park but the hills, especially the Cat Hill, makes it challenging. I definitely need a lot more hill work, maybe a few training runs in Riverside Park or the Harlem Hill in Central Park would be a good idea. The next half marathon I am signed up for is 2 complete loops of Central Park, all hills included. Fun! Here are the split times according to Endomondo:
6:44, I struggled a bit with my phone and the armband, the start was on the 102nd St traverse
6:23, nice and easy, rolling hills
6:48, first edition of the Cat Hill
6:34
6:55, for some reason I slowed down as soon as I took the corner from the traverse back to the West Park Drive. That was entirely psychological.
6:45, back to the rolling hills
6:53, is it over soon?
7:12, Cat Hill, 2nd edition
6:53
last half mile in 3:11, back to the 102nd St traverse
That was my 9th and last one to get guaranteed entry in this year's NYC Marathon. This is exciting and I will be able to register for it in a couple of weeks. Once I pay my $200 and some I am committed and I am planning on taking advantage of the marathon training program that my running club offers every summer.
There is not much to say about the other two races. They were fun and I did as expected, maybe a few seconds too slow but it's okay. The competition was pretty stiff, I must say. Plenty of sub-40 minutes in the 10k race in my age group. One day I hope to join them.
Injuries
Ugh, let's talk about the not so good stuff. As I mentioned a few times before my right ankle and my left hamstring have been bothering me quite a bit. It didn't stop me from racing but I wasn't able to do much in regards of training between them. After the 10k I stopped running altogether for two weeks over the holidays and started again last Saturday with an easy 4M loop around Roosevelt Island. The ankle seems to be holding up but the back of my thigh, just above the knee, hurts when I step on the foot and it developed a spot that hurts when pushed deep within the muscle. The foam roller seems to ease the pain a bit so maybe I just keep rolling it out religiously. I am due for another round of Euflexxa injections anyway, so I will bring it up with my doctor. My right hip joint also flared up but this always comes and goes. I became a bit lazy with my strength training for my hips and gluts so this is definitely something I really need to pick up again.
Recap of 2014
I have been running now for two years, running races for 18 months. It's been a very good year once I recovered from ITB injury in the spring. I was able to go faster and longer. I hope I can add more to that in 2015. Here is the year 2014 in numbers:
28 races run
132.1 miles raced
764 miles run in total
8 PRs run
8 age-group awards won
5:45 best 1M pace
6:17 best 5k pace
6:25 best 4M pace
6:33 best 5M pace
6:36 best 10k pace
6:51 best 15k pace
7:03 best 10M pace
7:47 best half marathon pace
2 pairs of shoes used (and abused)
It's been a very good year. I hope my current injuries are just fleeting and 2015 will kick in with a bang. I have to catch up with quite a bit of training but the first race of the year will happen in a week already.
Resolutions for 2015
This is an easy one: treat injuries with respect. I think I did quite well last year but I probably overdid the racing part in the summer and didn't allow enough rest in between races and training. Other than that, I want to finish a half-marathon without injuries, and run my very first marathon. I also pledge to get myself a GPS-enabled running watch. I need to watch my splits with more care. All in all, I am just going to have even more fun.
Plans for 2015
I would say I will have at least four highlights this year. The first one would be, of course, the 2015 NYC Marathon on November 1st. I have guaranteed entry and I will run it. Secondly, I will also earn guaranteed entry for 2016, of course, doing the 9+1 again. Included in this will be running all five of the NYRR 5-Borough Series (excluding this year's NYC Half) to get guaranteed entry into the 2016 NYC Half. Since I volunteered for the Brooklyn Half last year I have a guaranteed spot in this year's edition, which is a good thing to have because this race sells out within a couple of days. Last, but definitely not least, I will be doing my first destination race. I was accepted into the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler in Washington D.C. via lottery. The hotel room is already booked and we are going to go on a family vacation that weekend.
My preliminary race calendar for the next three months (and a bit of a preview for the rest of the year) is as follows:
I will probably pick up a few more NYRR races and fill in the gaps with NYCRUNS events. I may also add a few more volunteering opportunities for NYCRUNS produces races since it pays the bills. I enrolled as a member so I get the added benefit of discounted entry fees and the ability to defer up to three races per year. The three most exciting events in the current schedule: Volunteering at the ESP Run-Up (this is awesome!), the Cherry Blossom, and the Marathon.
It's been a while. Since I got another two races down and some volunteering work at the 2014 NYC Marathon, it's time to catch up a bit. Let's start with November, 2nd. It was a cold and very windy day and I did not envy the runners of this year's marathon for what they probably had to endure at the start line. I was told that it was so windy that running across the Verrazano Bridge (pretty much the first three miles) was hard work. People took turns to run in front of groups to provide cover from the wind. I was standing in Central Park with hundreds of other volunteers and even there it was quite uncomfortable. But let's rewind a bit.
This year I was one of the lucky people to be picked for medal distribution. We were stationed just a few yards behind the finish line and we greeted the runners and handed them their well deserved medals. In the beginning there was plenty of time to hang them around their necks but very soon we had to deal with so many runners that we just had to hand them out. Some runners still begged to have the medal hung around their necks and as long as our "boss" didn't look (we weren't supposed to waste too much time because there were thousands of runners coming by and they all wanted their medals) I was game and did the favor for them. Others wanted to take pictures with me and even others asked if they could have a second medal for their boyfriend, wife, or mother. And then there was at least one guy who put his medal into his back pocket, returned, and told another volunteer that he was still to get his medal. Sneaky dude. I probably should have said something but I had runners lined up to get their medals. We were warned in the beginning that there will always be runners trying to get more than one medal. I am not sure why, though. Anyway, I will never forget the gratitude and relief most runners show immediately after they finished the race. It was a very rewarding experience despite the fact that we had to show up at 8am and I didn't leave home until around 7pm (and some runners were still coming in). I can tell you, though, the whole thing did not feel like 11 hours. It got so crazy busy once the middle pack of runners came in and it kept that way for many hours.
2014 Laurie Harris 5k
Unfortunately, we didn't see much of the elite runners. The first place woman runner came by us but after her all elites were diverted right after the finish line (and before they had to interact with common folks like us) to their own secret hide-out and recovery space. I guess it makes sense, but wouldn't it be great to hang a medal around an elite runner's neck? I assume the first woman was not supposed to walk by us and she was extremely exhausted and possibly not thinking straight anymore.
Two pieces of criticism: While the entire event was managed extremely well, there were a few too many times where I and others had to stop and asked "what are we supposed to do now?" Communication is always key and, unfortunately, many times an issue and for folks like me who do volunteer work at the finish line for the very first time we do need a clearer picture from the get go what is expected from us and what we should be doing next. Luckily there is always somebody who knows but still.
Secondly, why does volunteering on marathon day not earn you the +1 for guaranteed entry for next year's marathon? If you put in 11 hours or your time into this event (longer than any of the runners) why wouldn't I satisfy the volunteering requirement? I've tried to find an answer but I guess I have to bring this up to the NYRR. I'll shoot them an e-mail and see what the reasons are.
After last month's 10k in Bed-Stuy I took a few weeks off from racing. It felt great for my body to get a break and just focus on training a bit more. I am quite happy where I am with my pace and distances and thought it was an extremely successful year. I ramped it up a bit last weekend by running a 5k on Roosevelt Island and a 4M in Central Park. Unfortunately, my ankle/achilles tendon on my right foot has been acting up and something about my left hamstring is giving me a bit of trouble. I decided not to run at all until next week when my next 5k is due. Let me do a quick recap.
The 5k on Roosevelt Island was the 2nd Annual Laurie Harris Hope and Dreams 5k, a race organized by my running club, the NY Flyers, in honor of a past member who died from pancreatic cancer just recently. I was glad to have a race back on the island again because it is so nice not to wake up an extra hour or two earlier just to get to the start line. Unlike last year's event, this time we had quite a few less runners which is not a bad thing per se. It just shows that switching race directors seems to have an impact on the popularity of a race. Last year it was managed by NYCRUNS who took care of most of the publicity of the event - it was listed on their website, and that is how I found out about it before I even joined the NY Flyers. For some reason this time around it was managed by some outfit called Madison Square Consulting and it was entirely up to us, the club, to get the word out. We had some runners from other local clubs, and the president and CEO of the New York Road Runners was there as well (in a non-running capacity, though), but other than that it was mostly Flyers. In the end we had about 130 registered runners which is a lot less than the 450 or so finishers from last year. It was a very nice event nonetheless despite the cold. Plus, I think I found a fellow runner that I will now declare as a fierce competitor of mine and I will always try to beat him. I am not going to name names but he is a member of the Hellgates Road Runners, he's in the same age group as mine (but three years younger), and he beat me in this 5k in the very last mile! But then I beat him by a couple of minutes or so in the 4 milers the next day.
This guy, right there! Picture by Hellgates Road Runners
As always (and I am not proud of it) I went out way too fast. Everybody already knew who is going to win the race (Brian, our head coach, a 30-something who just ran the Dash to the Finish Line 5k in a 5:20 pace) and I tried to latch on him as long as possible. The first mile went by in 6:06 minutes, the fastest ever for me in a 5k. It was just Brian, another super-speedy guy, two other guys, and me in front for the first 2 1/2 miles. I had a very good shot at getting into third place if for some reason I didn't slow down to a 6:24 in mile 2, and ran an excruciatingly slow 6:45 third mile. I am guessing I just gave way too much in that first mile and the extremely cold air was not helping. In that third mile the Hellgates runner and the first female winner squeezed by and left me in the dust. In the end I still finished in solid 7th place (out of 131 finishers), 3rd for the Flyers, and 2nd in my age group (if there were age groups, that is) with a time of 19:59 minutes, a 6:26 average pace. I made sure that I stayed under 20 minutes and when I saw the seconds tick by when I approached the finish line I knew I had to turn on the afterburner and get it done. And done I got it... barely but I did. Considering the flatness of the course I am not quite happy with my result and luckily I had the opportunity to redeem myself the very next day.
I am somewhere in there Picture by NYRR
As eighth race for my nine "get into the 2015 marathon" races I signed up for the Race to Deliver 4M which took place the very next day in Central Park. The course was one time around the inner loop starting and ending on the 72nd St traverse. As usual I was assigned to the front corral and, not sure, yet, if this is actually good or bad, went out with the fastest of the fastest. When I entered the corral most runners tend to stay in the back and move only forward toward the start line when told my a race official. I guess very few feel really comfortable starting all the way in the front. Should I? This time I was able to pace myself a little better and the first mile went by in 6:16 minutes and the second in 6:06. Then the three rolling hills came and slowed me down to a 6:38 and I finished the last mile in 6:22. I am not going to add those numbers up (they are after all from the running app) and use the official result instead. My total time of 25:43 minutes, an average pace of 6:26 per mile, placed me 101st out of 5,302 finishers and 10th(!) out of 289 in my age group. If I ran a second or two faster I would have placed in the one-digit in my age group! This, I say, is awesome! Sure, it seems that this race did not attract the best of the best (or at least not that many) but it is still an NYRR event with thousands of participants. This was way cool. Also, I beat that guy from the day before by over a minute. Yes! When I spent some time at the finish line to spectate a bit he walked by me and recognized me. I will have an eye on him from now on...
I feel like I have not reached my full potential, yet. I used to a bit faster and I realize that it is mostly my mind trying to convince me to stop what I am doing. If I can get that reigned in (and I admit it is hard especially with the ongoing nagging tendons and/or muscles) I think I can get down to a 6 minute mile. We will see. I am focusing right now to stay under 7 minutes for longer races like the upcoming Ted Corbitt 15k (in December), the NYCRUNS Winter Series 10M (in January), and the Fred Lebow Half (also in January).
As I said above, I am taking a week off from all kinds of running, hoping that my right ankle will recover enough, and will jump right into the very technical NYCRUNS Winter Series 5k in Riverside Park on Sunday. At least, I will have a shot at an age group award again.
I will try to get my next blog entry out a lot faster than it took me to write this time. This is not a promise, though. Until then, as always, keep on running!
On my way to work this morning I was thinking about music. Actually, I was thinking about why I am not a fan of going from any point A to any point B, be it walking, running, or taking the train, with earbuds in my ears. Okay, let me rephrase that. Of course, I started to think about it with why I don't listen to music on my runs. If you flip back a few pages to the beginning of this blog you will read that in the beginning I did listen to music on my training runs and during races. I quit doing it, though, because it was a hassle to deal with bouncy wires and sliding earbuds, and I never had the money to buy a decent pair for my workouts or the patients to find the best routing of the wires from my phone to my ears. Why did I never make it a priority to figure it out or spend a few bucks (like I would when it comes to shoes, shorts, or gloves)?
I hate using the car. Every time we go West to visit family I am dreading the accumulated time I would have to sit in a car just to do simple errands or going on a trip. I don't drive so I always end up being the copilot but it is the fact that I am very restricted when it comes to interacting with my surroundings that makes me not look forward to taking the car. When I sit in the car all I have are the other people in the car, the radio that is usually playing nonstop, the stale air that gets blown around, and that seat that gets more uncomfortable the longer I have to sit in it. I cannot just stop and look at something that caught my eye. I can't touch a fence or the leaves of a tree or the flowers that I think look interesting and need my attention. All I hear is road noise, whining kids (okay, a bit unfair to my kids because they are actually very good kids when it comes to road trips), the same music over and over, and the sometimes forceful conversations just to bridge the time. I feel isolated and forced when I have to use the car.
When I put music into my ear on my commute, on my walks or runs, and during my races, I feel the same kind of isolation. When I got a new iPod many moons ago there was a time when I listened to music every time I stepped into a train or walked to/from work. It got old very fast and I started to leave it at home. I love music but I don't love it that much that I would want to shut out my surroundings. I love the latter a lot more because it empowers me and all my senses are available to enjoy life around me. Even though the homeless guy begging for money or the group of subway acrobats shouting "It's showtime!" are annoying but they complete my experience. I would not want to miss it.
And during races? Besides the usual recommendation from race directors to keep the volume at a level so you can hear instructions and warnings I think listening to the sometimes thousands of running shoes hitting the asphalt instead is a lot more entertaining and especially motivating.
Last weekend I spent a morning in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant for the annual Bed-Stuy Restoration Corp. 10k. It was the same day as the Staten Island Half which I ran last year but decided to skip and do something else and push the longer races into 2015. It was an interesting little race (around 400 runners) that zig-zagged through the Bed-Stuy neighborhood with start and finish at the Bed-Stuy Restoration Plaza. Getting there was a matter of taking the A or C train which dropped me right off at the start line. After the usual pre-race activities (picking up the race number, checking in the bag, do a warm-up mile or two, use the toilet) we went off to a great race. My strategy this time was to keep it calm and simple and try to get faster at the end. Somehow, though, I failed to do this once again and went out way too fast and the last third of the distance was run too slow. My goal was to ran the 10k in under 42 minutes (6:46 pace) but I managed to come in under 41 minutes instead, a nice 40:56 (6:36 pace). I wonder if I stayed with the first female finisher, who ran the race a lot smarter and kept on the slow side for the first three miles and then sped up, I would have done even better. Nevertheless, this was a new PR for me. I finished first in my age group of 40-44 and 16th total (out of 401 finishers). As award we got one of those tall trophies which doesn't fit nicely anywhere at home. I am thinking of planning my races according to what awards are given out at the end. I have to find a spot on the shelf in the living room somehow. Just kidding! But still...
Slowly running on empty
Here are the splits according to my Endomondo app:
6:17
6:34
6:30
6:32
6:41
6:44
Here it is!
The course was relatively flat and there were no sharp U-turns or some such. The NYPD blocked off just enough streets to make the race happen but sometimes a car squeezed in here or there but didn't really pose any problems.
Marathon season is coming up and I will be handing out medals at the NYC Marathon and also volunteer at the upcoming NYCRUNS Brooklyn Marathon in Prospect Park. My next few runs will be the Laurie Harris Hope and Dreams 5k, the Race to Deliver 4M, and last but not least the first installment of NYCRUNS Winter Running Series 5k. I am still waiting for the colder weather to come in but nonetheless, keep on running!
Maybe not the best title for a posting but I guess I should be just proud of reaching another mile stone in my running career: I ran until my nipples bled. What's next? Toe nails falling out? At least my knees held up really well. Let me start from the beginning, though.
Medals! Photo by MarathonFoto
As my seventh NYRR race of the year (not including the two I had to forfeit because of my fractured toe) I ran the second to last race of the 5 Borough Series, the NYRR Bronx 10 Miles. It's a familiar route since I ran the exact same race at the end of September of last year as well. What I forgot, though, was how semi-hilly it is. It's not bad but it really got to me this time. My goal was to cross the finish line in under 1:10 hours, i.e. sub-seven minute pace, something that was predicted I would be able to pull off. If only my mind did not play tricks with me I probably would have done it. The thing is... those hills are murderous after running nine miles as fast as I could. I had to do something that I promised myself I would never ever repeat again after last year's Staten Island Half: I walked. At the end of mile nie I was fighting myself but the weenie in me ruled supreme and I slowed down to a walk up the hill. It wasn't a long walk, maybe 30 to 45 seconds (time is something funny when you are exhausted) but I did it again for another 15 seconds or so on the last hill, half a mile before the finish line. In the end I definitely lost at least a three quarter of a minute. I admit, walking felt great and I was able to run even better after those breaks, but still... after all I did rather well. I finished in 1:10:38 hours (argh!!! If only I didn't walk!!), placed 401st out of 9,462 finishers, 54th out of 701 in my age group, and 6th out of 81 New York Flyers. That gives me an average pace of 7:04 minutes per mile (I can't believe I walked!) and I improved my last year's time by 3:21 minutes. Next year again. I have to focus a lot more on endurance to get through longer distances just as easily as I get through 5 and 10ks. Just to remind me in the future about walking and to avoid it, here are my splits:
6:35 (too fast!)
6:49
7:01
6:57
6:54
6:45
7:13 (the slow-down was caused by turning the corner into a steep-ish incline)
7:01
7:15 (exhaustion set in)
7:46 (too much walking but very strong finish)
Finished! Literally. Photo by MarathonFoto
After the usual going out a tad too fast I did quite okay for the first 10k of the race. My original plan was to run a 6:50ish pace bu doing the first 3 miles at 7 minutes, the next 3 at 6:50, the next three at 6:40, each, and the last one in whatever was left in me. Maybe my problem is getting a bit too caught up in keeping up with the "guys" at the start. Most of the time now I start in the front coral with all the people who can run this course in under an hour and I always tend to be front-ish with the fastest of them. For the future I should take note and stay more in the middle or towards the end of the first coral so I get to run with the folks that are more like me, pace-wise, that is. I will learn some day!
All that said, it was a great morning out in the Bronx. We had 10,000 starters thereabouts and when I was waiting for the start and turned around to look back the entire Grand Course as far as I could see was filled with runners.
Still setting up
Ah, I guess I have to mention my nipples. At around mile six I always get a cup of water and douse myself to cool me down. This time I did it twice, spilled quite a bit of Gatorade over my shirt, and sweated a lot. That created the perfect environment to chafe both of my nipples to a point that they started to bleed. I didn't realize that until much later after the finish when I saw a red dot on my shirt, wondering what happened there. Once at home, taking a shower was excruciating because the salt from my sweat irritated the wounds even more and now I am sitting here in front of the computer, two days later, with really itchy nipples. Not sure what to do next time. Either stop pouring water over me and leave that for after the finish line or putting a band-aid over them.
Now that my knees and hips seem to be holding up just fine I created a plan for what to do with winter this year. I am quite excited about this since I had to sit it out last year and so this is what I have planned so far:
So, what happened since the last posting? I ran the Bronx 10M and kept my pace under 7 minutes per mile (6:51 to be precise). I PR'ed by 2:05 minutes. That was my goal two years ago which I missed. Thanks to the marathon training, though, I was able to pull it off this time! I thought I could repeat something similar for the Staten Island Halfmarathon a few weeks later but thanks to the brutal weather and possibly my hip I ended up finishing it up with a 7:13 miles per minute average pace which still gave me a PR of 6:28 minutes! I am not complaining! You can find the details of those two runs in the sidebar or here for the Bronx 10M and here for the Staten Island Half. There is a funny fact about marathon (or any kind of distance) training: you go through all the long and speed runs and you don't really know what they do until you go and race. If there is one thing that I am taking away from this season of training (besides three PRs) is that you just have to trust your coach. Trust your training. Line up and race and you will be rewarded. This was my first time ever that I feel confident that I am actually prepared to run something longer than 10 miles. No, not run. Race!
