Showing posts with label marathon training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marathon training. Show all posts

Friday, November 14, 2014

Countdown to Philly

16 weeks of training are done.
More than 750 miles run.
My first ever 200+ mile month is complete. And my second and my third.
Personal records have fallen in grand fashion as I've gotten stronger and faster.

I have trained in Florida, Maryland, New York, Idaho, Virginia, Illinois, and, of course, New Jersey. I have trained in the summer heat and once or twice already in the freezing cold. I have jumped over snakes, turtles, and frogs and have dodged spiders in their webs. I have eaten more than my share of bugs.

Covered in bugs from an evening towpath run.
I have grown to love track workouts as I got reacquainted with my days as a high school athlete. I bought my first ever headlamp so I can run at night and early in the morning. I have explored the depths of some really crappy hotel gyms and I have run with some of the most beautiful scenery I could imagine.

Towpath between Kingston and Princeton on late summer evening run.

I have just over 1 week of training left until I take to the streets of Philly in my quest for a Boston qualifying time. One more tempo run and then it's nothing but easy mileage between me and my biggest start line yet.

As the kids say, sh*t is getting real. The worst case scenarios are starting to play out in my head. There are creaks and tweaks making their way through my body as only the marathon taper can yield. My friend Malinda who is also chasing a BQ in Philly has been checking the weather forecast for almost a week already.

But I'm ready and my final confidence boost was a kick ass performance in the Trenton Half Marathon this past Saturday. I was careful not to race full out, but even my measured effort brought me in with a 7 minute personal record and a 3rd place finish for my age group.

Crossing back into NJ during the Trenton Half Marathon
on my way to a 7 minute half marathon personal record
This was a final test for me leading up to the Philly Marathon. I wanted to hit a 1:43:00 (7:51/mile) half marathon time because if I did that I would know my training had me on pace to achieve my BQ goal in Philly. But what I achieved in Trenton was a big deal for me for reasons way beyond the implications it has for Philly. It all goes something like this...

I was the "bigger" girl on our high school track distance contingent. My BEST 2-mile time then was pretty much dead on pace per mile for what I just held over 13.1 miles on Saturday.

When I first started running again 2 1/2 years ago, it was a struggle to get through 3 miles and I was doing it at a pace somewhere between 10-11 minutes. I have the Nike Plus app to prove it.

My first half marathon which I ran in March 2013 took me 2 hours 11 minutes and 39 seconds (10:02/mile) and that, to me, was AWESOME.

I started running after my husband Joe died from colon cancer and at that time I looked roughly like this (I'm the one on the left):
With my sister Naomi on Thanksgiving 2011. Joe took the photo.
I have since lost 45 pounds and traded in all my size 14 clothes for size 4s.

This journey has been one of body, mind, and soul.

So when I ran the Trenton Half Marathon on Saturday to test my speed for Philly and I completed it in 1:39:19 (7:35/mile) I felt all of the accomplishment well up inside of me. When I found out from my friend several hours later that I had placed 3rd in my age group and 12th overall, I was on top of the world. And completely shocked. The finish line in Trenton was sweet, but the best part was the energy I still had left. It made me realize that a BQ is truly within my grasp and has me counting the days until I toe my most important starting line to date.

Finishing the Trenton Half Marathon
I first knew I was on to something during this training cycle when I was finally able to break through on my 5k time in August. The 5k had been my nemesis going back to September 2013 when I ran my best time of 23:29 in Philly on a perfect fall morning. I had been training on this cycle using the Hansons Marathon Method for 3 weeks when I finally ran a fabulous 5k on a warm, sunny day at the beach in Asbury Park. I beat my previous best 5k time by 8 seconds and swore that no matter what this was the training plan for me. I broke that time once again by almost a minute just one month later in Long Branch and I knew that big things were happening.

Asbury Park 5k - Finally beating my nemesis...the 5k!
This training cycle has taken me way beyond what I thought was physically possible which means there have been plenty of times when I would have rather curled up in a ball on my couch than go for a run. But I haven't missed a single one with the exception of those that changed to properly recover from the 3 races I ran (2 5ks and the half marathon). On occasion I have shuffled the days and a few times I have scaled back mileage, but I have kept the integrity of my training program fully intact and I owe that entirely to 1) the amazing people who every day help take care of my son while I run and 2) the fire inside that won't let me step away from this journey to BQ.

Just when I think I can't possibly get through another run there always seems to be something to push me on. Someone who tells me she started running because of me. A friend to join me for a track workout. The adoring eyes of my 4 year old asking me if I am going to "run fast" today. A text or a call or a friendly "get your ass in gear". They have all kept me moving and when I cross the finish line in Philly I will think of all the people who have driven me there and the places that have inspired me.

I have been tracking my runs in a running journal given to me by Joe's dad and it has been fun to look back over all the places I have run since I began training at the end of July: my trusty neighborhood route that includes Thompson Park, my parents' neighborhood, the Towpath (everywhere from Lawrenceville to New Brunswick), many hotel treadmills including in Syracuse, Atlantic City, Disney World, and Ithaca, all along the Jersey Shore, Kendall Park, Franklin Memorial Park Cemetery, Chicago, Utica NY, Disney World, Mercer County Park, Veterans Park, Johnson Park, Monroe HS Track, Sandbridge VA, Highland Park HS Track, Buffalo, Maritime Institute (BWI Bike Trail), and Pocatello, Idaho.

It's been 750 amazing miles and looking back I know that I have done all that I needed to do to be able to shout from the rooftops "I'M SHIPPING UP TO BOSTON" once I cross that finish line in Philly. Nine days and it can all be mine.






Sandbridge, Virginia
More Sandbridge, Virginia



September 21, Sunset in Thompson Park




October 8th, Thompson Park sunrise



My Halloween Half - hilly and beautiful in Pocatello, Idaho

Final speed workout - 11/11/14






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Monday, August 11, 2014

My Holy Shit Training Moment

"Holy shit, I get it!"

I admit those words came sputtering out of my mouth just after mile 7 of my 10 mile long run today. I repeated them several times too. I have just finished week 3 of my training for the Philadelphia Marathon and it is finally sinking in just how serious of a plan I have chosen. The concept is cumulative fatigue - designed to prepare you fully for the rigors of the marathon - and today for the first time in the training program I really really got it.

Yesterday, after just two weeks of following the Hansons Marathon Method I finally managed to defeat my nemesis and knock 8 seconds off my 5k time. I've been chasing a PR in that distance ever since I ran my 23:29 in Philly last September. I've watched as the minutes have fallen off all of my other distances, but in the 5k I had remained stuck. Until yesterday morning in Asbury Park. I didn't shatter my time, but 8 seconds was enough to make me feel like I had done something substantial. On a much hotter day and in certainly more humid conditions, I mailed in a 23:21 and kissed that Philly time goodbye. It felt so good.

After completing the Asbury Park 5k on Saturday, 8/9/14
Official Time: 23:21, 7:31/mile
Being stuck at 23:29 was part mental - I had some emotional ties to that race and I think for awhile I was having difficulty dealing with those. But it was also physical. I just needed to get faster and stronger. I can already feel that happening and it's amazing.

Today my plan called for a 10 mile long run. From reading the strategy behind the plan I know that it is designed so that the long runs begin to simulate the final miles of the marathon. You are running on tired legs from all the work done during the week. For some unknown, God-forsaken reason today I decided to run at 4pm along a hilly route with not so much shade. Yes, in August. It sounded much better in my head.

I felt great for the first 3 miles. See, life has been good these last few weeks and these last few days especially. Running is my thinking time and right about now thinking is good. I have a lot to look forward to over the coming weeks and months. Songs like "On Top of the World" and "Happy" which are currently on my running playlist don't seem to do it justice. Perhaps soon there will be a blog post about some of these things, but for right now they will just remain nebulous. Let's just say that vacation is coming up, dating is great, preseason football is on, and the Afghan Whigs are about to be back in the States. (And did I mention that I finally got a new PR in the 5k?)

So, I had a lot of good things to think about for the first few miles of this long run. And then I started to realize that my hip hurt a little. And my legs felt like lead. And I really would just rather be taking a nap. And who picked such a hilly freaking route to run on for 10 miles?! The internal debate began. I'll just do the one loop and then the second time I will take the shorter loop and then run around close to my car until I hit 10. As I debated, I slowed down.

Then, I said...really? You are going to run past your car again and just keep running around randomly until you hit 10 miles? Dumbest. Idea. Ever. Do the full second loop (with all the hills included) and do a cool down walk back to the car when you hit 10. Full 10 miles. Full challenge. No cop out. So, that's what I did.

And as I came up on mile 7 and my "holy shit" moment I realized that not only was this run training my body for the marathon, it was also training my mind. Here I was coming up to the end. What was I going to do?

By the time I got to mile 8 1/2, I remember thinking, here you are. It's the last mile and a half of the marathon. Are you going to treat it the same way you have treated your first two and survive through it? Plod across the finish line and feel like you barely made it.

Or are you going to dig deep and run so you leave it all on the road? Force those tired legs to perform like you know they can. Get your BQ or pass out at the finish line trying. From somewhere I found it. And those tired legs worked because I willed them to work. And I learned two important lessons today: 1) what I do in training is what I will do on race day, and 2) when I think I can't, I can.

Perhaps good for life too, but that's probably another blog post.


After my 10 mile Long Run on Sunday, 8/10/14
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Sunday, July 20, 2014

Training My Brain

This morning I realized through heavy eyelids that my upcoming marathon training cycle will be much more about training my brain than training my body. As my obnoxious alarm beckoned me out of bed after a mere 4 1/2 hours sleep, the only thing I wanted to do was turn it off and roll back over. 

I hit snooze and allowed for the internal debate. 

I had already run 7 miles last night.

I haven't even started my official training program yet.

I'm so tired and this is my last chance to rest before my "real" marathon training starts.

But then...how would I feel at 9:00am rolling out of bed not having run?

There's a whole running club to meet up with at 8:00am.

It's been a really long, emotional, full week and 7 miles was good, but adding on another 6 would be divine.

Training to BQ is going to be so much harder than getting out of bed for a 6 mile run after a night out. If I can't do it now, how will I ever hope to do it for the next 18 weeks?

This was only Day 1 of many when I will not FEEL like getting it done, but I must train my brain to do it anyway. And so I rolled out of bed, threw on some running clothes, and got out the door in record time. I made it just in time for the quick club meeting at 8am and to tag along with two club members I've never met before on a 6 mile loop around the Rutgers campus. We had a great time together.

On Thursday, I will officially start my training program for the Philadelphia Marathon. I'm using the Hansons Marathon Method which will mean six days a week of running and an aggressive schedule of speed work, tempo runs, and strength training. There will undoubtedly be many days when I would rather curl up in a ball than run. Those are the days when I will dig deep and train my brain. I already know that the finish line demands it and come November 23rd I want to know that I gave everything I had to my training. No excuses and no regrets - 18 weeks of forward motion.

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Tuesday, July 1, 2014

The Past Two Months

Plugging along the final stretch
It's been just about 2 months since I ran the NJ Marathon and made my first attempt to achieve a qualifying time for Boston. Even though I knocked 12 minutes off my time from the NYC Marathon in November, I still didn't hit the sweet spot of sub 3:40. I did go sub-4 which is sort of a big deal and I knew when I crossed the finish line that I could do better next time out. A 3:55:16 was great, but it wasn't great enough for Boston.
Beach finish line!
It was no more than 15 minutes after finishing the race when I started talking with one of my fellow running club members about our next BQ attempt. That night we were texting back and forth about training plans and strategy. This running thing has definitely bored its way into my soul.
The morning after the NJ marathon I received a Facebook message from my training coach from the NYC Marathon. He had been at the NJ Marathon and cheered me forward at a critical moment as I was leaving Asbury Park and headed into the wind for the last 6 miles. Cliff's message was matter of fact - that I will get to Boston through Philly and a reminder that with the Philly Marathon I will have the good running months to prepare. It was exactly what I needed to hear in the midst of my mixed emotions about my finish in the NJ Marathon.
I rested for the week and then ran a 10k on Saturday morning, achieving a 5 minute PR completing the race in 48:39. I went for the trifecta of PRs in one week and ran a 5k that same evening, but couldn't quite pull it off. I missed a 5k PR (going back to a race in September 2013) by 23 seconds, but did manage to place first in my age group.
A lot has happened in the two months since those races - personally and professionally - and I am now on the verge of beginning my training for the Philadelphia Marathon. It will be my 2nd attempt at a BQ and the honest truth is that I'm just this side of mortified. The doubts are creeping in. I'm realizing just how much time 16 minutes is to knock off one's marathon time.

But there have been some wonderful things going on in my life which only promise to get better and I find hope in them. I am happily back to dating again after my heartbreak of earlier this year. There have been 3 amazing Afghan Whigs shows with some of the coolest people I know, with more shows to come this fall. Two weeks ago I was able to once again travel to Sao Paulo, Brazil as a part of a campaign I am assigned to for work and it was inspiring on so many levels. My sister Karen and her husband are about to have their second child and my other sister Naomi will be visiting from Idaho twice this summer.

It hasn't been all roses though. Work has had its challenges. Fighting on the side of working people when corporations have so much power and influence isn't always encouraging. In May, we had a final vote count for an organizing effort I had spent long hours working on over the past year and we lost by 2 votes. The month of June has been spent fighting back against attacks on public workers in NJ. But, for two days in June we brought together all of the organizers working in our CWA District for a retreat and I found deep hope in all of the incredible work being done.

And then, on Thursday, June 19 there were two beautiful moments of the arc of justice bending which gave me hope in the midst of a lot of discouraging developments. I was sitting in a training class when we got the news that the union election for US Air and American Airlines agents would be moving forward this summer. US Air agents are currently CWA members and American Airlines agents have been actively organizing to join our Union for more than 20 years. With the recent merger of the two companies all agents will now vote on the question of Union representation. With this announcement came flashbacks to our most recent organizing effort during which workers came so close to winning and to the mountain AA workers faced as they fought for their Union. I cried when we lost that election in January 2013 and teared up again when word came on June 19 that the election would be moving forward. Support is overwhelming this time around and, with continued hard work, in just a few months AA agents will finally have their Union.

I was still in that same training class when my social networking feeds started exploding with news of the vote on same sex marriage in my denomination, the Presbyterian Church, USA.
Indeed, I witnessed the arc of justice bending just a bit that day and it was beautiful. I thought of all of those who can now know our church to be as welcoming as Jesus himself. I thought especially of our youth and how important it is for them to know they are loved and welcome. I pray that we can live it in a true and meaningful way. This one was deep for me and I am so thankful.

There is something about how all of these pieces are playing together in my life right now that reminds me of the delicate balance between hope and despair, between determination for change and the temptation to just give up. I will carry all of these life pieces into my training and as I prepare for my next BQ attempt I will get ready to go full throttle towards the finish line. No fear to attempt here. In every part of my life I choose hope over despair and the determination for change over the temptation to just give up. I find that it's a decision I must make daily. And so I will.
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Sunday, April 20, 2014

On Top of the World

After 4 months of training I am 1 week away from the NJ Marathon and my first attempt to achieve a qualifying time for the Boston Marathon. I still pinch myself at the thought. I can't believe that my running journey, which started as a way to cope after the loss of my husband, has brought me to this place of incredible personal fulfillment and challenge.

Since I started training for my first half marathon in December 2012 I've run more than 1,360 miles and I've completed six half marathons, one full marathon and many other shorter races. I've raised more than $6,000 for the American Cancer Society and the Colon Cancer Alliance in  memory of Joe. I've met amazing people who share in my life beyond the roads and trails and watched as friends and acquaintances have taken up running and told me that I was part of the inspiration.

I've had some big ups and some frustrating downs over the last 4 months, but I'm ready to make a go at it and see where my training has gotten me. I have been following a more aggressive training plan this time than when I trained for the NYC Marathon last year - incorporating more speedwork, regular core exercises, as well as higher mileage runs and more of them. I've been working on my mental game too, training my brain to push on when I think I can't and to keep moving no matter what. I've trudged through the snow, the freezing cold, plodded out long runs on the treadmill, and most recently eaten bugs for 12 miles (ah, spring!)

I also decided not to race at all in the month leading up to the marathon because one thing that I have learned about myself as a runner is that it is not in me to treat a race as just a "training run". If I'm in a race, I run hard no matter what and I've learned that is a bad formula for the weeks leading up to a big race. For me, the not racing has been the hardest part of this training cycle. I have grown used to starting my race year sometime in February and not letting up. This year, my calendar has looked quite different - just two races in March and then nothing until the marathon on April 27 - so right about now I am more than a little antsy to toe a starting line. Hopefully, that's a good thing.

During my two races in March a song floated to the surface that has come to take on so much meaning for me during this training cycle and I have a feeling it will be central to carrying me through the race next week. I'll put it in my shuffle more than once for sure. On Top of the World by Imagine Dragons always seems to keep popping up at big moments. It played just as I was entering the Battery Park underpass during the NYC Half Marathon on March 16 - the last mile of the course. It came on during training just as I was running up the big hill in Thompson Park. It was the song playing as I ran along Lake Michigan two weeks ago with the sun shining and my heart positively overflowing as the bridge came through my earbuds. More times than I can count I've had it on repeat after a particularly rough day or to get me going in the morning.

I really do feel like this song is the story of me right now.

On Top of the World by Imagine Dragons

If you love somebody
Better tell them while they're here 'cause
They just may run away from you

You'll never know quite when, well
Then again it just depends on
How long of time is left for you

I've had the highest mountains
I've had the deepest rivers
You can have it all but life keeps moving

I take it in but don't look down

'Cause I'm on top of the world, 'ay
I'm on top of the world, 'ay
Waiting on this for awhile now
Paying my dues to the dirt
I've been waiting to smile, 'ay
Been holding it in for awhile, 'ay
Take you with me if I can
Been dreaming of this since a child
I'm on top of the world.

I've tried to cut these corners
Tried to take the easy way out
I kept on falling short of something

I coulda gave up then but
Then again I couldn't have 'cause
I've traveled all this way for something

I take it in but don't look down

'Cause I'm on top of the world, 'ay
I'm on top of the world, 'ay
Waiting on this for awhile now
Paying my dues to the dirt
I've been waiting to smile, 'ay
Been holding it in for awhile, 'ay
Take you with me if I can
Been dreaming of this since a child
I'm on top of the world.

And I know it's hard when you're falling down
And it's a long way up when you hit the ground
Get up now, get up, get up now.

And I know it's hard when you're falling down
And it's a long way up when you hit the ground
Get up now, get up, get up now.

'Cause I'm on top of the world, 'ay
I'm on top of the world, 'ay
Waiting on this for awhile now
Paying my dues to the dirt
I've been waiting to smile, 'ay
Been holding it in for awhile, 'ay
Take you with me if I can
Been dreaming of this since a child

I'm on top of the world.


 My March Races

My first half marathon was in Miami on March 9, 2013 and I ran it in 2:11:39. I loved the race so much that when the time came to sign up for the same one this year I did it right away. It's turning into quite the birthday weekend for me - I bring my little guy, we catch a Mets Spring Training game, and I get to run a race.

This year's race fell on March 2, 2014 - smack in the middle of my training for the NJ Marathon - and it became the race that made me feel like I really can qualify for Boston. After the harshest winter I can remember my body and soul both desperately needed a break so this long planned escape to Miami could not have come at a more perfect time.

My friend Juanita, my son and I boarded a plane early that Friday morning bound for sunny Fort Lauderdale. We took off from 10 degree overcast skies and landed in 77 degree sunny perfection. It didn't matter that my checked baggage was misplaced for an hour in the airport or that the line at the car rental counter took almost 45 minutes. We had a weekend of sun and warmth to help us forget about the more than 50" of snow and record cold temperatures that had plagued us all winter in NJ.

The weekend in Miami was just what I needed and by the time I toed the start line Sunday morning I had a feeling that I was ready for something big. My goal was to beat my previous best half marathon time - the 1:51:30 that I ran in the Rock n Roll Half on September 15, 2013. I was hoping to run a sub-1:50 half marathon.

When I got my results I almost couldn't believe what I had accomplished...not just sub 1:50, but WAY sub 1:50.


Running past the cruise ships along MacArthur Causeway
It felt amazing to start the year off with such a great race and although I knew conditions in NYC would not be quite as friendly (many more hills and a whole lot colder!) I also knew from that race that my fitness had improved greatly even since the fall.

Two weeks after I ran the half in Miami I was running 13.1 through the streets of Manhattan. I didn't originally make it in to the lottery for the NYC Half Marathon, but I'm so glad I made it in when they did the second draw. There really was nothing like running through Times Square even if I had to wait around in the 20 degree cold at the start line and run all the hills of Central Park to get there. This was an incredible race for me.

Towards the beginning of the race I had "I Run for Life" playing on my shuffle and kept seeing Team Determination runners and Fred's Team runners one after another. I freely admit getting choked up by that. As we ran through Times Square and then out 42nd street towards the West Side Highway I was overcome by the combination of the latest Afghan Whigs song playing in my ears and the memory of driving Joe along that route to his chemo treatments.

The crowd support was a blast. It was fun to end the race around the block from CWA's NYC office and to once again be part of a large race in the greatest city in the world. It was cold. It was windy. There were hills. But it was fun and I managed to finish in 1:48:10 - not too shabby considering the cold, windy and hilly parts.

At the finish line!

 Ready to Run

Running NYC & Miami built my confidence and taking this past month off have rested my body and cleared my mind. I'm hoping the combination has put me in the best place possible for Sunday. No matter what happens, I'm sure my first marathon in New Jersey will be unforgettable. I've been thinking a lot about this quote that my friend Malinda posted during her training and just being thankful that I haven't been afraid to name my goal and go for it, even though it is awfully big.

Here's to ATTEMPT #1!


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Sunday, January 26, 2014

Journey to BQ - The 1st Five Weeks

I am now 5 weeks in on my training for the NJ Marathon. With 13 weeks to go I am certainly looking forward to training in warmer weather, but I am proud of how I have stuck to my plan in spite of the seemingly never-ending snow, a hectic work schedule, and nagging head cold. 

I am using the "Own It" Plan from the book Train Like a Mother by Sarah Bowen Shea and Dimity McDowell. This time last year I was using the "Finish It" plan from the same book to train for my first half marathon and during the summer of 2013 I used the marathon version of the "Finish It" plan to train for the NYC Marathon. Now that my goal is to qualify for Boston I have gravitated towards the plan which is designed for improving your time, aka, "owning" the marathon. Oh boy.

Here's the overview from my first 5 weeks of training:

Out of 24 scheduled runs, I completed 23. I skipped the run on New Years Eve day and while now I'm kicking myself a bit for it I hardly think that will be the blockade between me and a BQ, so I'm over it.

I have shuffled some runs on the schedule and once in awhile gone 1 or 2 miles less than the plan called for but I have also occasionally added some get up and go so I think it has all evened out. It's no exaggeration to say that I am already in the best shape of my life and that includes when I played sports in high school.

I live in New Jersey and my training started on December 23rd. The weather has not been my friend. I did 14 of my runs on the good old treadmill (mostly at the gym although occasionally on my rickety old one with a non-working display). Seven of my runs were on the road and 2 on the trail. My most hardcore run? Ten and a half miles on the towpath at sunrise on Sunday, January 19. The temperature at the end of my run was 25 degrees, but the sunrise was beautiful.
January 19, 2014 Sunrise Run along Towpath
I have run 156.34 miles in training at an average pace of 8'41" per mile.

My cross training of choice has been yoga - both at home and whenever possible at a class near my office. I have also been planking for several minutes almost every night to increase core strength.

I got some relief from the rough northeast winter when traveling to Florida for work and took full advantage of my time there by running every day. I was only sent to the treadmill by rain once and had another lovely sunrise reward for an early run.
On a 4-miler near my hotel in Boca Raton
Lest anyone think I am spoiled by my job, I have also spent some of my winter on projects in upstate New York and have made good friends with the treadmills there.

On my long run on January 12th I had my first encounter with a stray dog. I was running downhill at the end of my 2nd time around on a 5 1/2 mile loop and noticed a dog running around in the yard up ahead. I didn't think too much of it until I realized it was a pitbull and then I realized it was not fenced in and not on a leash. The dog started running towards me in the street and so I made a quick beeline to one of the neighbor's houses. I rang the doorbell and after a quick conversation determined that the dog didn't belong to anyone he knew on the street. While we were talking, the dog had turned to go the other way so I decided to return in the direction I had come (back up the hill) and complete my run in reverse. I'm sure the extra hill work didn't hurt, but it definitely left me a little hesitant to return to the route.

On Monday, January 20 I did a 4.85 mile run that put my total mileage run since August 2012 over 1,000. Watching my Nike+ app flip to 1,004 miles after that run was cool. So was thinking about all the places I could have run to with that mileage. Chicago. Nashville. Orlando. Montreal (and back). It's amazing to think that in just over a year I have run more than 1,000 miles, completing 4 half marathons, 1 full marathon and many other races along the way. It makes me that much hungrier for my next goal.

Week 5 was a 35 mile week on my plan. Week 6 will be 39 miles. I am  hoping that I will be able to do some of those miles outside - I'm especially praying that Mother Nature is kind for the 18 miles I have on tap for my long run on Saturday. While the treadmill certainly helps me to keep my pace regulated (read slow) on my long runs, it certainly doesn't help my mood. If I can end February with a 50/50 split between treadmill and outdoors, I will consider that a training victory.

As always it's my parents and my sister Karen who consistently make my running possible. For almost every run they are the ones watching my son and for that I am so thankful. I also have an incredible support network on Twitter and in real life so on those days when I would rather just skip a run I know exactly who to go to for a swift kick in the rear. It works every time. When I cross finish lines, it's with a whole host of people pushing me and I'm so conscious of that fact.

So, 5 down and 13 to go until April 27. So far away, yet so close.

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Wednesday, October 9, 2013

NYC Marathon Training Update - 25 Days & Counting

After more than 5 months of fundraising and 3 1/2 months of training, I am $211.40 away from my minimum fundraising goal for the American Cancer Society and 25 days away from running the NYC Marathon. It's been quite a ride.

I have run over 360 miles in training.

I have watched my time in 5k races go from a 28:16 before my marathon training started to a 23:29 in my most recent race. I knocked almost 20 minutes off my half marathon time from March to September. I have completed my first ever 20 mile run.

On Sunday, I will run my final race before the marathon - an 18 miler on LBI that starts at one end of the Island and ends at the other. If you told me this time last year that I would be doing an 18 mile race I would have looked at you like you had two heads, but here I am trying to figure out whether I will do it at a 9'10" minute pace or if I can pull off something under 9.

I will run LBI with my friend Melissa. It's the same day that our friend Malinda will be running the Chicago Marathon. With that kind of high mileage, it's almost a guarantee that at some point that day all three of us will be listening to an Afghan Whigs song and running, sort of fitting given that it was those two things that brought us together around this time last year. I'm so thankful for these two amazing ladies who have inspired me and laughed with me and cried with me again and again since we first met.
With Melissa (left) & Malinda (center) after we all PRed at the Rock N Roll
Philly Half Marathon, 9/15/13
And looking back over the last 5 months I have realized that the most wonderful part of this ride has really been all of the support I have received along the way. The encouragement I got from each "A donation has been received..." email. The pure pleasure of chatting with a friend on a training run. The acquaintance who will tolerate my running stories about the snakes I saw on the towpath or the blisters I have on my feet. The fact that people from every corner of my life have reached out in various ways to express their support and excitement for this upcoming race and my fundraising efforts. 

So far I have received 68 donations totaling $3,588.40. I know that Joe would be so proud of all that we as a community have accomplished together.

I'm running the NYC Marathon with Team DetermiNation in memory of Joe.
Here we are with Domani at LBI, July 2011
I have one day left to raise the remaining $211.40 and up until I run the marathon to hit my goal of $5,000 raised for ACS. Given the amazing support I have already received from friends, family, co-workers, and even strangers I have no doubt that it will all come together. Then, on November 3rd, I will bask in all the excitement that is the NYC Marathon as 4 months of training comes together across 5 boroughs and 26.2 miles. It's going to be fabulous and I would be thrilled to see you somewhere along the course. Thank you all for being a part of my journey.

To make a donation to the American Cancer Society through my NYC Marathon fundraising page visit http://bit.ly/19BmD17.
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