Many things Monday

1. I ran 7 miles on Sunday, and it was pretty awesome! It was just slightly cooler (still ridiculously hot and humid, but less so), and it felt so much better. Come on, Fall!

2. Also, after much discussion on Sunday, I decided to replace my February half marathon (St. Pete Rock 'n' Roll, which was cancelled) with a Gasparilla race. The Gasparilla Distance Classic consists of four races: a 15K and a 5K on Saturday and a half marathon and 8K on Sunday. The logical choice would be to replace the half with a half. But, I'm illogical ... and I really want a jacket. So, to get a jacket, I need to do a challenge. The plan: 15K and 8K (Bud Select Challenge). I really like half marathons and kind of want to throw that into the mix, too. Or maybe I'll just find another half (after I win the lottery).

3. I watched a lot of football this weekend. I even planned some activities around football games. Hopefully, this is just an NFL opening weekend thing because it could get kind of ridiculous. Well, I'm fairly certain I won't be watching the Tampa Bay Bucs anymore, so that's one less game each week.

4. But, my watching of football allowed me to see this.

5. EEEEEK! I just love this guy. I really need to chill out on him, though, so I don't become crazy-annoying fangirl. Sometimes I find myself telling myself, "Stop it. Not everyone wants to hear about Bruno. Not everyone thinks he's the best thing ever." So, after this mention, I'll lay off of him for awhile. Unless I win the trip to see him in Vegas. Or London. Or if he's on an awards show. Or if I dress up as Elvis for Halloween because that's something we have in common. But, other than that, I'll restrain myself (and the masses few people who read my blog rejoiced). 

6. Did you see the rerun of the Saturday Night Live that Bruno Mars hosted this weekend ... oops.

7. My dog's favorite thing ever is walks. Well, maybe walks are behind Milkbones, but they're a close second. She loves them. So imagine my surprise when she sat down and refused to walk. Stubborn dog. I have no idea where she gets that from, ahem. 

You think I'm moving? Funny.

Have you ever gotten a jacket for a race? I haven't, and I'm super excited about it! Did you watch a lot of football this weekend? If not, what did you do?

Time to panic

I’m not sure why I keep doing this to myself.

The last two years I’ve taken time off from running over the holidays. Some of it is due to a crazy December work schedule. Some of it is due to family visiting. Some of it is due to travel.

Last year, I panicked. I assumed I’d lost all running ability. I adjusted my training schedule and realized I did not lose all running ability. Even with the time off, I got my beautiful half marathon PR of 2:33 at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon in February.

This year, I’m panicking again. I tried to remember that I took the time off last year and was fine. The only problem: this year I have a half marathon in two weeks. Yikes. And, it’s not any half marathon. It’s the Clearwater Halfathon, possibly “the most challenging half marathon in Florida” (according to the race website). Double yikes.

Why is it challenging? It has two ascents over two “relatively” tall bridges connecting Clearwater to the barrier islands.

And, by “relatively” tall, they really mean gigantic, scary and huge. Triple yikes.

So, even though I’m trying not to panic, I am.

Even though I ran 7 pretty awesome miles on Sunday, I’m still panicking. 

Awesome miles, but not awesome hair

Even though I’ll have four more weekly runs and one more long run before the race, I’m still panicking.

Gah.

How do you deal with being unprepared for a race? Do you panic? Should I stop panicking? Ever run over “relatively” tall bridges? How does one do this?

Long run loser

After my first half marathon on Nov. 20, I really didn’t have a desire to run. After a week break, I finally got back into the groove (for the weekly speed workouts, anyway). But, I just couldn’t muster any desire to do a long run.

I’d try and would run 3 miles and call it quits. My longest run during this time was 6 miles. And, it was miserable. I probably walked half of it. I kept telling myself that next week would be the week I’d complete a long run. And, next week came, and I couldn’t do it. A few miles were OK. But, anything much more than 4 miles was getting into iffy territory.

As with all running-related issues, I started evaluating why I felt this way. And, I came up with a few reasons:

• I’d accomplished the goal I worked so hard for (completing the Women’s Half Marathon), and I lost my drive.
• With holidays, visitors and travelling, running took a back seat.
• My last long run was the half marathon race on Nov. 20. Because it was hot, miserable and didn’t go at all like I hoped, I lost my love of the long run.

I think all of these played into my lack of desire to run a long distance. But, I think the last reason probably played the biggest part.

I used to love long runs. We lucked out with the weather for most of our long training runs for the half marathon. The weather was fairly cool (for Florida) for most of our longer distances. The training was working, and I could run a longer distance each week. After a rough 7-mile run one week, all of my runs were pretty glorious. I remember loving two 10-mile runs. They were just completely enjoyable. Then, this blasted half marathon came along and ruined everything. It was hot. It was humid. It was awful.

I'm only smiling on the outside.

Every time I thought about a long run from that point forward, I remembered that terrible run. And, I hated it.

With the holidays over, the visitors gone and the traveling done, I decided this past Sunday was the day to do a long run.

First step, tell my coach that I really sucked it up in regard to long runs. I really didn’t want to admit that my training was turning into a big pile of failure. But, I did. And, I felt better already. So, instead of running the 11 miles (yikes!) on my schedule, my coach suggested a 6-8-mile run. That sounded doable.

Second step, show up and run. At 7:30 a.m. on Sunday, I met my group for a still undetermined number of miles (but between 6 and 8) run.

The first few miles were kind of rough. My first few miles of any long run usually aren’t the best, though. So, I kept going. At the 3-mile turnaround point, I decided to keep going. The run still wasn’t a masterpiece by any means, but I’d gotten in the groove. I went another 0.5 miles before turning around. The last 3.5 miles were easier than the first, and I’m so happy I finally ran a non-stop 7 miles. And, my time was almost exactly the same as my (better) 7-mile run during my previous training (1:21). I’ll take it!

I have a tendency to take a turn to negative town, so part of the run I was so disgusted at myself for not being able to run the 11 miles on my schedule. But, toward the end, I felt happy for getting back out there and tackling a long run. And, replacing my last miserable long run memory with a pleasant one.

Day 24 (Oct. 2)

Best. Run. Ever.

I realize I may have said this before, but this day tops anything prior.

Up until this week, we were dealing with almost 80-degree temperatures and high humidity at our 7:30 a.m. Sunday runs. When we met for our long run this morning, temperatures were in the low 60s. And, almost more mind-blowing, the humidity was 0%. Living in Florida, you get used to 90%+ humidity. Every. Stinking. Day. Having none feels heavenly.

Due to these glorious temperatures, running felt like a breeze today. I still cannot believe I ran 7 miles with no walk breaks and without feeling like death. It felt easy. It felt fabulous.

I tackled that pesky, hilly bridge with no issues. I tackled the entire 7 miles with no issues.

Oh! And, I took 9 minutes off of my time from last week. Yes, 9 whole freakin' minutes!

I want every run to feel like today. I loved every minute of it, and I even wanted more. Call me crazy. Or call me a runner.

Day 21 (Sept. 25)

The day: Sunday. The time: 7:30 a.m. My mission: run 7 miles.

Mission complete!

I'm so happy I made it to our group run on Sunday. It's so much better to run with a group and knock out the run early in the morning.

The first 2.5 miles of the run were really smooth, and then I hit a hill. I know I said Florida is completely flat, and it is. The hills are bridges. Since we added more mileage to our runs, we have to run a bridge across the bay (a very small portion of the bay) to get to an area to increase our mileage. Curses! So, I hit the hill, and I walked.

Once I got across the bridge, I wasn't sure of the route, and I lost the faster folks in front of me, and the slower folks were too far behind me. So, I had no idea where to go. I picked a route, which was a very bad choice (lots of street crossings). I ended up getting to an area where I could run along the bay fairly uninterrupted, but it was a frustrating process getting there. While frustrated, I walked. I managed to get my 3.5 miles in, took an energy gel and headed back. 

I missed the bridge entrance on my way back (argh!), but managed to realize it and correct myself in a  reasonable time. I walked the bridge again. Pesky, hilly bridge!

But, back on the flat land (and after a water refill — it was blazing hot by this time), I managed to run the last two miles without a walk break. I was super-impressed at myself, as was my assistant coach (who ran with me). Yay!

And, I'm super-impressed I felt as good as I did. My legs weren't sore. And, they weren't sore later in the day or the next day. I defnitely felt like I did some physical activity, but they weren't overly painful. Sweet!

I learned three things from this run:

1. I need a bigger water bottle. My baby bottle didn't cut it (despite its cuteness). Thank goodness there is a water fountain (with surprisingly cold water) along the route, so I could refill it.
   
2. Plan your route before heading out on your run. Kind of a duh!, I realize, but I never really experienced the misfortune of not doing this. It is extremely frustrating to not know where you're going or stumble on a bad route.
3. Training really works! I never thought I'd be able to say I ran 7 miles (with minimal walk breaks). And, not be in excruitiating pain from it. Mind-blowing!