Friday, March 29, 2013

What Did I Do? MCM Registration

This Wednesday was the big day- at noon the Marine Corps Marathon Registration Opened. I sat attentively at my computer ready to pounce the minute registration opened. Then I spent an hour trying to register with the computer server clitches at Active.com. Only to end up with not 1 but 2 registrations in my name. Luckily one got refunded yesterday. And now as I look at the emails I get excited for what is to come and a little of "OMG what did I do?!" Running a marathon is on my list of things to do this year. I figure I am turning 30 so it is time to give it a shot. I hear Marine Corps is one of the best ones to do for a first. To be honest- I am scared. A little scared my hip will have issues when I go to build mileage. I know it can handle a half marathon but a marathon?! I am excited- this is something I have wanted to attempt for a long time and been to scared to pull the trigger. Well the trigger is pulled the registration confirmed. Now it is time to start the training clock- 20 weeks! LOL!

Next weekend we are going down to DC to run the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler. I hope to beat my 1:39 Army Ten Miler time. Goal is to be around 1:30. That is what the pace calculators tell me should be do-able with my recent paces in races. I am really looking forward to what is shaping up to be another EXCITING season!

Monday, March 25, 2013

Getting Faster? 2 PRs? 8 min miles?!

It seems like every season my times just seem to get faster- I can't complain- REALLY! So on March 10th we did the Celtic 5k which is always a fun race. It is less than a mile from my house. Some co-workers even joined us this year. I had done my computrainer class on Saturday and rode 45 mi of the Italian Alps so I had little to no expectation. My legs still were sore. But I love that course and its my 5k test route so I know it well. I started and decided I'd give it a shot. And it turned out pretty good 26:24! New 5k PR by 30 seconds and took a minute off my time here last year! Can't fight with that result. Getting even closer to that goal for this year of a 25 something. I need to learn a little more about pushing those limits.

This past Sunday with a last minute decision we got in the car and decided to head to a 5 Miler. I hadn't done a 5 Mile race since 2011. I had every intention of this race being a part of my training plan for the day. D and I did a little pre run of about a mile. I was deathly afraid I would be in DFL. There were like 75 people there. I think at run races EVERYONE will be faster than me. The gun went off and the first mile went fast. It was 8:20. OOOPS! Okay slow down- get into a better pace for the next mile and a half. I want to negative split this. So at 2.5 I looked down at my watch 23. Okay that looks good. I had thought I would run it at about a 46 so with a negative split even a slight bit I'll beat that's good. Well I then made a deal with myself no pace should read 9 anything for the next 2.5 miles. So I dug in, started to chase down the people in front of me, one lady down, another girl who was sweet and chatty but I had business, then passed another girl she wanted to quit I told her I had been chasing her. I passed a guy and then ... no mans land. Okay lets see I can barely see that yellow shirt lets go.... Well I ran out of race before I could catch the yellow shirt. But I came in at 44:00. The 5 Miler I did in 2011 was 54. Okay so 10 min off. NICE! I was pretty proud of myself. And yes I did negative split- 23 then 21. So much for that zone 2-3 training run! I came in 50th overall and much to my surprise even took home 2nd in the female open division. I can't believe I ran a 8:48 paced 5 Miler. I think it is time I start learning a bit more about what these legs are capable of! D even took 3rd in his division with a 3min PR! It was a great day for both of us after a last minute decision to run!

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

"If you have to ask you just won't understand"

This past year watching the Ironman Kona coverage on TV I was taken aback by something one of the athletes said when they were interviewed. They said people always ask why do you do that? And his response was "If you have to ask you just won't understand." I thought that was the perfect way to say to someone I enjoy this, it just makes sense to me, and since you ask you don't understand.

I was introducing myself at a work meeting a few months ago and I said my fun fact was I had finished 3 Half Ironmans and would be doing 2 more this season. The meeting lead responded with "You need a life." My response "This is my life." I think there is something about training and doing the racing, whether you are a runner or an Ironman competitor that other people just don't understand.

I am lucky enough to have a group of friends and a partner, D, that do understand, since they do it themselves. Then there is another group, those people in your life can try to understand. The people that still have a little bit in their head that say "I think you are nuts." Don't get me wrong a lot of my friends that don't do triathlon but run think I am nuts. I think some people think I am just addicted to it, which I think there is a little of that, a positive addiction. But it doesn't keep me from doing other things. I think setting goals and training to reach them is a great skill to have in life.

This weekend I was at a run/brunch with the Luna ladies and other runners in the Boston area. As we all sat and stuffed our faces after running 5 or so miles. I realized how nice it is to be in a room of people who understand. It is always nice to have groups that understand because let's face it in a country filled with an obesity problem and supersized menus we are the minority!