Well, it might have taken me almost 2 weeks, but I’m so excited about this post because I love to reflect back on all the fun stuff! As a matter of fact I just might not even mention a thing about my injuries in this post because we all know they were a far cry from a highlight =)

January 26th, 2014: The Fred Lebow Manhattan Half Marathon

We sure had one very cold and very snowy winter and it was great to have a half marathon to run in the new year while everyone else was home in their PJs watching TV and staying warm. It was 17 degrees that day. I always feel like running in inclement or extreme weather gives you honorary rock star status.

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Enjoying some frozen Gatorade

My friend Carey was the only other brave peep with me that day and we ran together from start to finish. She’s such a consistently paced runner and I enjoyed letting her keep us nice and steady.

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Carey and me braving the cold for 13.1 miles in Central Park

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Just wanted to share some thoughts about the Expo and the race. I’ll focus on the first half marathon since that’s the race I completed.

EXPO

The Expo was held at the Fort Mason Festival Pavilion just past Fisherman’s Wharf headed toward the marina.

Fort Mason Festival Pavilion

Fort Mason Festival Pavilion

It was the perfect location, not too crowded, easily accessible and accompanied by the best views. Many runners plan some vacation/touristy stuff when they are in town so hitting up the Expo and then sight-seeing can be done on the same day. I’ve been to SF before but the views never get old. I stopped there the minute they opened to head straight to the “Solutions” desk to change from the Full to the Half.

Fort Mason Festival Pavilion

easily found with a sign that big!

They had limited spots and it was first come first served so I wanted to ensure I could make the switch. The process was relatively painless. They had spots for the first half so that’s what I chose. There was a $10 fee for switching but in hindsight I know it was money well spent.

race switch complete...

race switch complete…half the distance, half the hills….all the fun!

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Valerie’s first ever full marathon bib

The usual suspects were there selling merchandise and offering free samples of things. And I tried out the Vega Accelerator that TSA speaks so highly of.

RACE DAY

Race day offered a Full Marathon and a first Half Marathon which both started together along the Embarcadero at 5:40am. Valerie ran the full and Lisa and I ran the first half. They also offered a second Half Marathon (that started at 8:30am) at the halfway point of the full marathon course. My friends Michelle and Shane ran that one. And there was even a double marathon (52.4 ultra called “Worth the Hurt” that my friend Roger and also PavementRunner completed which started at midnight)  (There were shuttle buses that took runners from the finish to the start and vice versa. This was my only complaint overall about the day and I talk about it more later.)

There were multiple waves. Lisa, Valerie and I were seeded in Wave 5 which started about 6am. There were about 5 minutes in between each wave start which is really pretty efficient compared to some other large races I have participated in.

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Wednesday, July 16, 2014: I SURRENDER!

Yep. No more trying to delude myself into thinking I could possibly complete the full in 11 days. Last night we had a break in the crazy thunder/lightening and rain storms here and I was able to go out for a quick 3 miles before the next storm rolled in.

I call this Watch Dogs (HAHA)

I call this Watch Dogs (HAHA)

In those 34 minutes I paid attention to my head movies and realized they were all in the horror genre. I kept seeing myself crawling on my hands and knees trying to get to the finish line and not making the time cutoff. I gave it my best effort but seriously I hurt EVERYWHERE! My original injury isn’t so much the issue as some of my new aches and pains. I’m just feeling crappy day in and day out. Mornings are the worst as everything is stiff and sore. I go down 3 flights of stairs like an old lady. I spend more time foam rolling than I do anything else. I’m sure the heat and humidity have made my return to running more challenging too. Perhaps this is just plain ole too much too soon.  Here’s a diagram of the major issues:

OUCH!

So here’s my new plan: TAPER! =) 
I made it to 10 miles this past weekend and that’s where I peak for 1/2 marathon training anyway. Instead of trying to reach 13-15 this weekend I’ll just go out and run easy for as long or as short as I feel like. I’m going to focus on walking and stretching and icing and cleaning up my eating habits.

perhaps I should stock the fridge first

perhaps I should stock the fridge first

I guess I’ll need to hit the grocery store first. =) I know I originally said I’d make my final decision the day before but frankly I have been obsessing over this daily so I realized I just needed to release myself of the worry.

I’m really cool with this decision. It won’t change anything about my RUNcation other than crossing a different finish line. =)

So now you know.

 

Hard to believe the second half of the year is upon us.

Saw this on Facebook yesterday morning…

10450156_10152110645672721_5163773814846693070_nWho STARTS their marathon training 26 days before the race?!!! ME!!!! =)

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Aside from the two 10Ks I shuffled through in June and the two attempts to run 4 miles in May, I haven’t run since I crossed the finish line of the NJ Marathon back on April 27th thanks to my tendonitis. So yesterday’s “official” return to running was a happy day. A slow 5k! At 7:30am, the humidity was already 83% but I didn’t care….I was running and sweating out stuff, and listening to music! (I haven’t had music on my bike rides because I’ve wanted to be more alert for cars and pedestrians.)

It felt so good physically and mentally. Slow….but good.

I also spent a few minutes with the foam roller, stick and some weights (and COFFEE!!)

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And then I had a conference call (worked from home yesterday)…

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Next up in my “accelerated” marathon training schedule for dummies is a 5 miler on Thursday morning followed by another physical therapy session that afternoon and then over the holiday weekend I’ll be running an easy 8 miler and biking too. I’ll also be doing lots of stretching.

I’m actually feeling really relaxed about the marathon. It’s nice to have a goal of just finishing =) If I just keep my pace slow and slowly build my miles I’ll be doing all that I can do realistically to get me to the starting line healthy. Undertrained….but healthy. With a 6 hour time cutoff I could do run/walk intervals and still keep my pace slow. Or I could drop back to the half at the expo. So it’s a win win! And frankly, the reason I’m going and running San Fran is because Lisa’s sister Valerie is running her first full and when Lisa decided to go support her I wanted to go too….and then Michelle said she was running the half and then Roger said he was doing the 52.4 (which pavementrunner is also doing) and my favorite blog friend TSA is doing the half as well. So it’s really going to be a huge party and celebration.

OK off to get ready for work! Happy Humpday! Happy July!