9 miles

So much for blogging every week…

I finally posted the race recap from the Kirkwood 5k that was 3 weeks ago. Since I forgot to take pictures I was waiting to see if the professional photographer would have some up on their website, but I haven’t seen them yet. The camera I have is a Kodak that’s an older model but it takes good pictures. It’s kind of cumbersome to load them up to the PC and all. My cell phone has a camera that’s decent but I’m sure it’s not the greatest. I would love an iPhone (since it’s supposed to be the greatest thing in the world) but I also like my smart phone that only costs $26 bucks a month (thanks Virgin Mobile!). Maybe Santa will bring me an iPhone for Christmas. Not the fake Santa at the mall, but the real one that lives in the North Pole. ;)

WRS coaching update: We are halfway through the school! My group is pretty amazing and all of them are doing a fantastic job! Each week their run interval increases and even though they dread it, they go out there and just do it! As I said before, it’s so exciting to see how quickly their running has progressed. Only 3 weeks now until the Women’s Only 5k and for some of them their first 5k. I have no doubt they will all be ready. I have really enjoyed coaching (or just being a cheerleader!) and I already hope I can do it again next year!

Half-marathon training update: I am also over halfway through this half training. I can’t believe the race is only 5 weeks away!! The week after the Kirkwood 5k, my runs were not so great. I think it was because of running hard for the race. And it didn’t help that it became hot and humid here in NC again. The first crappy run was a 6 mile trail run. I’m not a big fan of trails. This one actually wasn’t so bad as far as roots go. I just didn’t feel like running 6 miles that day and that was already in my head before I started. But I did it and hated almost every minute of it. My legs were sore and felt heavy; I was slow, hot, and getting bit by mosquitoes. There were several times I thought about just quitting and walking back to my car. But I stuck it out and finished the run.

The next crappy run was a tempo run. It wasn’t nearly as bad as the previous trail run. I say it was crappy because my coach set my tempo pace at 10:30 and I just couldn’t get to that pace (much less maintain it for 4 miles). Instead I averaged 10:45 pace. Again I still had the same excuses as the trail run (hot, humid, tired, sore, blah, blah, blah). My coach Jen was very encouraging that I did great job. The 10:30 pace was meant to push me. And all my excuses were valid, lol!

My long run two weekends ago was scheduled for 10 miles. I was so nervous about this run. My longest run before this was 7 miles. I was supposed to get 8 miles in on the Kirkwood 5k, but only got 7.5 miles and had a break in between them (before & after race). Several of us girls met on Sunday at 7:15am (crazy, I know!). Since my half is before most others, I was the only one with 10 miles on their schedule. The other girl’s distances varied from 4-8 miles. I figured I would run 8 miles with whoever was left and then finish out 2 on my own. And I planned to run slow (yes even slower than normal for all you speedsters). The first few miles were fine. I enjoyed chatting with some of the girls. The route was through a neighborhood that was kind of hilly (like most places around here). At mile 5 I decided to stop for a minute to use my Apple Cinnamon Hammer Gel. I have never been able to eat an entire packet of gel like you are supposed to. I only use about a quarter of it. I keep experimenting with different flavors but I just don’t really like them. I’m sure the quarter packet of gel is not doing much of anything for me but it's a mental thing I guess.

Anyways, after that I started back running and after another hill, I decided to ditch the neighborhood route and just finish my run out on the greenway where it’s mostly flat. During this whole time my stomach had been bothering me. I thought maybe a restroom break would help so I headed into the Harris Teeter. Feeling better I started my run on the greenway. The portion I was running was about 3 miles out and back so I knew I would have to get an extra mile going out and back again. But around 8.5 miles, my stomach really starting hurting. To the point that I had to walk a bit. I decided to get to 9 miles and call it a day. So 9 miles ended right at Harris Teeter and another pit stop at their restroom. I’m sure I looked crazy to keep going into the grocery store to use the restroom! Hey, I love me some HT and I spend tons of money there every week, so yeah that’s partially my bathroom anyways. Well, not this specific store as I was on the other side of town.

9 miles!!! Officially my longest run to date. If my stomach would not have been bothering me, I feel like I could have gone one more mile. I really wanted to see double digits, but it just wasn’t going to happen. I don’t think my tummy likes running that early. The bad thing is, I probably need to keep these long runs early to get ready for the 7:30am half start time. And this just adds to my list of "why I’m not a morning runner".