Thursday, October 22, 2009

First 10k with half marathon looming

On Columbus Day I signed up to run my first 10k, Boston Tufts 10k for Women. I had gotten very nervous the night before, as I usually do, I had to be talked down more than once! On Sunday, I picked up my race packet in Boston. Monday morning I took the T into the city with Dutch, my pack mule for the race. As soon as I arrived at Boston Common I felt a lot better about my race, nerves pretty much disappeared. I looked around and saw close to 7,000 other women who were about to do the same thing as me and all fear and anxiety left me! I liked the race slogan "start strong finish stronger."

It was a great energy on the common that morning. Music blasting with a Boston radio station broadcasting live. A real race expo and GEORGOUS weather! I lined up for what was the biggest race I have ever run and the longest. Everyone was seeded by race pace. Which helped get things moving but I don't think everyone knew where they should be.

The race rule said no iPod so I went without it. I am glad I did. I got to take in a lot more of the vibe of the day. As we ran under the bridges of Memorial Drive in Cambridge all the women threw their arms up in the air and screamed. Also- with the loop route we got to see the elite (olympic) runners go by. That was really good. Everyone was cheering everyone else on. Pushing eachother to keep going. I have never been in a race where people say excuse me to pass you.

It was a great race. I finished in 1:03. I wanted to be around 1 hour. Not bad for my first 10k. When I finished I felt like I could keep going. I wasn't compeletly drained. I really enjoyed it and can't wait to go back next year!

To update on the half marathon... registration paid... and plane tickets have been bought! I am REALLY doing this! Training has been going well. Long runs started with 5 then 6 then 7.5. What was going to be around 8 turned into 8.75- now up to almost 9 miles. I can't believe I ran almost 9 miles! My short runs are getting a lot faster. I ran 2 miles lastnight at a 8:50 per mile avg pace. Not bad considering my usual pace is 9:30 to 10. This weekend will be 10 miles.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Next Challenge Accepted!

So I have decided what the next fitness challenge is... HALF MARATHON! I decided 5k's are easy now. I mean I would love to get my PR down but the only way to do that is with miles...and to log miles why not train for something! I think a 10k wouldn't be too much of a challenge and I want to stretch myself beyond what would be an easy training goal. Why not push it right to the limit of what I think is possible?!

A friend of mine, Allison, lives in Atlanta and will be running the ZOOMA half marathon. She suggested a few of us come down to run with her. So I am taking her up on the offer. Granted it is coming up fast 8 November to be exact. So I am building a compressed training plan- as usual! haha ;-)

Long Runs on Sunday
Rest/Stretch on Monday
4-5 mi on Tuesday
2-3 mi on Wedns or cross-train
4-5 mi on Thursday
Rest/Stretch on Friday
Cross-train on Saturday

Each week on Sunday is the longest run I have ever done when I add a mile to the week before. I started at 5 and now am up to 7.5 miles. In the training plan was a 5k race and a 10k race. I will be racing my first 10k next weekend in Boston. It is an all women's event. It looks like a lot of fun. I will let you all know how the training and racing goes!