Favorite Places

Confession time: I took TWO AND A HALF WEEKS off of running. After the San Diego Rock 'n' Roll half-marathon, I lost control over my schedule. Everything went crazy.

Some of you may already know this, but for those who are unfamiliar, my other hobby is bicycles. Last fall, my friend Monica and I revived an all-women's monthly bicycle ride called Menstrual Monday. To get our name out to the Seattle lady cyclist population, we put our brains together and hosted an all-girl alleycat bicycle race on the Saturday after San Diego. It took months of planning, writing to sponsors, securing venues, and organizing volunteers, but it was well worth it. 46 racers was enough to convince us that a competitive all-girl bicycle race was long overdue. Stops included a "soccer mom" stop at Meridian park, where the girls had to pound a glass of Franzia, then spin around in circles and kick a soccer ball; the "pretty princess" stop where the ladies were welcome to their pick of decorations for their bike; a secret prom photo stop at Madrona Park along Lake Washington; a "rocker girl" stop at the old OK Hotel, where fake tattoos were applied; and finally, my brainchild, the big wheel tricycle time trials down the bridge to nowhere. Riders had a blast and in all, I consider it a great success.

I've also traveled quite a bit: my boyfriend brought me along for a work trip to Anchorage, AK, a place I've never visited but loved. I also just returned from a 3-day weekend in Boston, where I saw a dear friend from Montana marry a good man. On top of travel, I've helped a friend clean her house to put up for sale as an anticipated addition to her family means that they'll have outgrown their first home, I've joined a Corporate League ultimate frisbee team, I've taken to step aerobics classes at 24hour fitness, shopped for and purchased a great outfit that I can wear to this summer's weddings, occasioned bike rides with my marauding band of drunken cyclists, accomplished wrap-up tasks for the alleycat race (thank you notes to sponsors, sponsor profiles for our blog, posting photos on facebook, etc.), worked at least 40 hours a week, and somewhere in there, managed 1 load of laundry and attempted to be a good, albeit absent girlfriend.

Excuses, excuses, right?

I guess I just needed a little break. I get easily burnt out on things, especially in light of difficult weather patterns in Seattle. I hate to admit it, but the lack of sun has finally taken its toll. I'm coming to terms with it again, now that we are breaching 70F days, but for a while, I was feeling pretty blue.

That said, I'm back on the wagon, beginning yesterday with a 5 mile run on my favorite running loop, except in the opposite direction that I normally run it. I have to admit, it felt terrible at first. My legs were sluggish (possibly after a night in heels that hike me up to 6'2"?), my breathing was weird, and I had no evidence that I could ever find a smooth in my life. My first three miles were only willpower, but the fact that I could muster enough to keep running was empowering. I suppose that I probably had to acquiesce to the fact that I'd let myself slip, but that it is okay. And maybe that self-forgiveness and acceptance kept me from getting to frustrated or upset to give up.

But then I turned a corner and hit my favorite running spot in the whole wide world: Seattle's lush, green Interlaken Park.

The trees had a cooling effect (the balmy 68F was a bit too much for my delicate Seattle constitution!), but I was fully engulfed by the beauty, and by happy running memories from training last fall. I LOVE this place, and I think that the sudden pangs of joy were physically manifested by a spring in my step and a boost in my pace. Running felt the way I remembered - it was joyful and it was an opportunity. I was able to think about how my attitude had changed last fall, when I returned to running after a year-long injury and some extra time off - running was a privilege, even a blessing. I was lucky to be so healthy that I could take on 5 miles!

This is what I have been missing for the last few months!

I didn't even look at my finishing time. I felt great about this run because it brought me back. Now I'm ready. I have a big, big milestone to prepare for: my first full marathon is less than 4 months away! I am scared, even a bit intimidated, but I am excited. I am itching to get on the road again, and it feels SO GOOD to approach a run without that feeling of obligation, or even dread.

Do any of you have favorite running places and similar reactions to them? Tell me about them!

BIg Day

Happy running thoughts going out to my running buddy, ultimate frisbee friend, software engineer genius, and good friend ShortSkirts on her first half-marathon. She's been training hard for the Seattle RnR half-marathon for months and months and is turning into my inspiration to lace up my shoes every day - she's truly a strong woman and a dedicated runner. Race started 6 minutes ago. Have fun, ShortSkirts! I'm cheering you on from Boston and I can't wait to hear about the race!

Dreaming Big

I promise to you, my beloved readers, a recap of last weekend's San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon. For now, it should suffice to say that it was ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL! If you ever, ever get a chance to run in San Diego, jump on it like I might jump on bacon. I'm that serious.

For now, I want to get this onto my blog so that I can track my training whenever I need to. For those of you who don't know, I decided that the *perfect* way to celebrate my 28th birthday would be to run and complete my first (and depending on how it turns out, possibly my only) full marathon. I signed up for the Portland Marathon, which takes place on October 9th this year, 3 days after my 28th birthday.

Since I tend to do well when I adhere to a running schedule, I asked a few of my marathoner friends what they have done to train in the past. My favorite of those recommended came from my friend Lafe, who completed the Seattle Marathon in less than 4 hours last fall. He suggested the Hal Higdon website, which has a lot of different schedules for people of different abilities. Since I'm coming right off of a half-marathon, it seemed okay, even reasonable to settle on Intermediate 2 schedule, which will allow me to do 2 20-mile runs before the race itself. It looks like it will challenge me, but not so much to scare or overwhelm me:



I'm surprisingly excited, which I think might be attributed to coming off of a sub-2-hour half marathon (yay!). Wish me luck, and come run with me sometime!

For the love

For that first time my Dad brought me along on his two-mile loop around our neighborhood, I trade my jeans for my running shorts and my gam-tastic heels for my running shoes.

For every time that I've scored a point in ultimate frisbee because I could simply outlast the competition, I push myself through that first, hardest mile.

For every time my running buddy, Zach has convinced me that the weather's not that bad and that perhaps we really should do that five miles I planned,

For the small handful of Seattle's sunny days, and for all of those torrential downpours I've conquered, and for every time I've swallowed my absolute hatred for wind, and for every time I've allowed it to beat me down,

For every single last exhausting hill that this city throws at me,

For every time that I've looked in the mirror and felt like crying from disappointment at my reflection and for every time I've taken pride in my muscles,

For all the people who make me feel unwanted,

For all the songs I discovered during a long route without a playlist,

For every time I fell for a boy and every time my heart's been broken,

For the year I spent rehabilitating my back and the physical therapist who told me I'd probably never run again,

For everyone I love so much who will be waiting for me at the finish line,

For the pain and for the joy that comes with the freedom of moving my body, and for the love of this sport,

For me,

I run.

FOr a variety of reasons, between weather and wind and bad luck with colds and bacteria, this has been the most difficult training season of my life. I'm just a few short days away from the San Diego half-marathon. When I set out my training schedule, I was so set that I'd force a personal best out of myself because my parents, my sister and her boyfriend and my boyfriend will all be at the finish line. I wanted to give them my best. I effectively lost weeks 9 and 10 of my 12-week schedule to illness, and I know I will not have fully recovered. Though I completed a 12.5 mile run on Saturday, my confidence in my ability to push through the fatigue is fading and I am less convinced that I can fight that pathetic, sad voice in the back of my head that tells me to give up.

I need to change my approach for this race. I cannot run to beat myself this time - I need to run to enjoy it. Regardless of my time, my people will still cheer for me and they will still love me. I'll run for the love of it, because, really, isn't that what it's supposed to be about?

Snapshots

Every time I see a photographer on a race, I smile. Before I adopted this policy, I ended up with really scary race photos.

I got an email today from Evan Pilchik Photography and opened it to discover that I'd made it into a lot of shots from the race. The following is my favorite, even though I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing with my arms here.



I also really like the one below because you can tell that I'm starting to dig for the finish.



I have a few problems with pictures of myself, mostly perpetuated by a hyperactive sense of self-loathing. When I look at the first picture, it's difficult for me to avoid honing in on my softer bits, on the things that I want to change, but hey. At least I'm smiling.

Silly

Remember how upset and disappointed I was about the outcome of the St. Paddy's Day Dash? How I was angry that I'd stopped, that I'd run with a bronchial infection? Remember how I claimed that it was the worst race of my life?

Well, I finally decided to rip off the band-aid and expose my ego to the elements. I navigated away from work to the race website and checked my time.

I finished in 31 minutes and 55 seconds.

That is a pace of 8 minutes and 24 seconds per mile to achieve 1322/7353 over all, 346/4085 women to run, and 70/785 in my division (women ages 26-29).

Not too shabby for running with compromised lungs and a cough. Don't get me wrong -- I still need a lot of work before San Diego, but man. Why do I freak out about the stupidest things???

Planning

11.5 weeks.

I have 11.5 weeks until I run the San Diego half-marathon, and as discussed in my last post, my recent performance worries me. Last time I signed up for a half-marathon, I could barely finish 2 miles without cursing and stopping to catch my breath. I followed an easy training schedule that added 1 mile to my long distance every week and worked my way up to almost 14 miles a few weeks before I ran. And then I ran the fastest half-marathon of my life.

Now I want to run faster.

Clearly, I've responded to training schedules before, so I did some lunchtime research and found this 9 week program. I think that I can do it. I don't live spectacularly close to any tracks that I know of, but I have a bicycle and a decent knowledge of where to ride to find one. I'm interested to see how I can hold up with speed training, etc. And if I train for 8-minute miles (which I *think* I can do), and maintain that pace during the race, I'd blow my personal record out of the water. I'm worried that the longest run prior to the race is 12 miles, but I know from November that I can, in fact, do 13.1. I'm also worried about how my body will hold up when I throw Sunday ultimate into the mix. I mean, I could just shift the schedule such that Sundays would be my rest day (which I would burn on ultimate), but my last bout of training tought me that rest days are important.

I'm torn. I like the fact that this would allow me 2.5 weeks to rebuild my cold-damaged endurance before jumping into training, but I have reservations that I described in the previous paragraph.

Could anyone please weigh in on their experiences with speed training? I haven't really done it since track in high school (which, OMG, is 9 years ago now). What are training schedules that have helped you achieve personal records? Finally, does anyone care to join me in this training program? As I've written numerous times, it's always easier to motivate myself and really push myself beyond my comfort zone when I have someone else there.